Page Count

Dr. Valentino Zullo explores the Cleveland-created superhero’s origin story in honor of Superman’s 85th birthday. Dr. Zullo and Laura discuss some of the first-ever Superman comics; Superman’s early focus on fighting social inequities vs. super villains; how creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster came to dream up the famous superhero; and more.

Since the original episode aired, Superman has come home to Ohio: James Gunn filmed major parts of Superman (2025) in Cleveland and Cincinnati; the Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster Superman Plaza has been unveiled in downtown Cleveland, Siegel and Shuster are featured in a current exhibit at the Maltz Museum, and the premiere of Supergirl in Cleveland will feature a weekend of events with Mariko Tamaki.

Dr. Zullo is now Assistant Professor of English and Co-Director of the Rust Belt Humanities Lab at Ursuline College. He is co-editor-in-chief of Rust Belt Studies and Associate Editor of the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. He co-founded the Get Graphic! comics discussion program at Cleveland Public Library and is a board member of the Siegel & Shuster Society.

Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and a transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email [email protected] (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Twitter or on Facebook.

This summer, Page Count is settling down with a good beach read to take a hiatus—which means we’ll be bringing you some select episodes from our extensive backlist, complete with new introductions. First up is one of the first episodes ever produced by Page Count: The Ohio Literary Trail. Follow along as David Weaver, the former executive director of the Ohioana Library Association, and Betty Weibel, author of The Ohio Literary Trail: A Guide, discuss Ohio’s literary heritage and offer an audio tour of some of the notable literary sites found around the state.

As mentioned in this episode’s introduction, congratulations to Sonia Feldman on the publication of her debut novel. While the June 2 launch party at Loganberry Books is sold out, you can purchase a signed copy of Girl’s Girl here. Listen to Page Count’s interview with Feldman here.

Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email [email protected] (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

Page Count is pleased to share an episode of PASSAGES: On Morrison, a new podcast that follows Namwali Serpell on her book tour for ON MORRISON. This episode takes us to Columbus, Ohio, where Serpell was joined by Hanif Abdurraqib in the Ohio Celebrates Toni Morrison kickoff event to read and discuss the end of SONG OF SOLOMON. Serpell and Abdurraqib discuss this final passage, the challenges of adapting Morrison’s novels for film, the power of intentional ambiguity in writing, and the influence of African folk tales on Morrison’s work. 

You can buy Namwali Serpell’s ON MORRISON at this link and anywhere books are sold. 

PASSAGES: On Morrison is a Random House production. 

Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email [email protected] (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

It’s a podcast takeover! Five young writers—Moriah, Malikye, Victoria, Jordan, and Wilma—share poems and a story excerpt, all of which are about to be published in Lake Erie Ink’s 10th annual Teen Book Project. This year’s anthology is titled Lights, Camera, Action, a theme that speaks, in part, to the phenomenon of feeling seen in an online world.

To view the art and read all the writing in the anthology, purchase Lights, Camera, Action via Lake Erie Ink; at a local independent bookstore like Mac’s Backs, Loganberry, or Visible Voice; or at the book launch. The book launch for Lights, Camera, Action will take place Tuesday, May 19 at 6pm at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Branch of Cleveland Public Library and will feature contributor readings and light refreshments. Please RSVP here to attend.

Lake Erie Ink is a nonprofit organization providing creative expression opportunities and academic support to youth in the Greater Cleveland community, including writing workshops, camps, tutoring, school and community programs, and beyond. The organization supports a community where youth discover their voices, share ideas, and inspire each other as valued participants. Visit https://lakeerieink.org to learn more about programs for young writers; resources for students, teachers, and parents; and volunteer opportunities.

Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email [email protected] (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

Andre Norton is one of the pivotal figures in the history of science fiction and fantasy and remains eminently relevant for modern readers. She was a prolific writer, authoring more than 300 titles spanning a career from the 1930s to the 2000s. She was one of the earliest writers to create stories of a post-nuclear apocalyptic dystopia and works of post-humanism yet kept a thread of hope and optimism.

In her lifetime, Andre Norton was recognized by her readers and her peers as a towering figure, receiving a World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement and being named a Grandmaster by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association among other accolades. She was also the first writer to be invited to contribute to the Dungeons & Dragons universe. Sales of Norton’s  work in her lifetime rivalled George R. R. Martin, Arthur C. Clarke, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.

And yet, Andre Norton has become somewhat obscure, an unsung Ohio writer who flourished during her lifetime and deserves renewed attention. Today’s podcast episode will hopefully entice you to delve into her work and to help fulfill her final words: “I just don’t want to be forgotten.”

Don Boozer, Coordinator of the Ohio Center for the Book and Manager of the Literature Department at Cleveland Public Library, hosts this episode. He’s joined by Dr. Jeff Karem, a Professor of English at Cleveland State University, to illuminate the life and work and Andre Norton. Dr. Karem received his Ph.D. from Yale University, and his research and teaching focus on exploring the contributions of diverse regional and ethnic writers and works on 20th century American Literature.

To view photographs and documents relating to Norton, see this episode’s accompanying blog post, “The Imaginative History of Andre Norton.”

Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email [email protected] (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

In this supernatural spectacular, Laura is joined by her spouse, Peter, for an overnight ghost-hunting expedition at the Thurber House in Columbus. Do they experience any paranormal phenomena? Do they resurrect hazy, decades-old memories of the film Ghost? Do they demonstrate a stunning lack of knowledge about everything from religious philosophy on ghosts to Star Wars, the mechanics of night vision cameras, and beyond? Furthermore, does Laura get freaked out by steam and dress forms and filing cabinets? Does she almost break the recorder by emitting an ear-shattering scream? Finally, just why is the Thurber House, former home of renowned humorist James Thurber, considered haunted? You’ll have to listen to find out. Boo!

After joining Laura and Peter on their ghost-hunting adventure, learn more about James Thurber by listening to Page Count’s earlier audio tour of the Thurber House. Then, view photos of the house on the accompanying blog post, “Inside the Thurber House.”

Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email [email protected] (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

Laura sits down with Tiffany Graham Charkosky, Director of Arts and Culture at Cleveland Public Library, to recap the 2026 Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Conference in Baltimore in early March. From exploring the bookfair, meeting up with writing friends, attending panels and offsite readings, pushing their social batteries to the limit, and more, they get into it all. Come for the conference recap, but stay for Laura’s inexplicable digression into her interest in the Devil. Enjoy.

Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email [email protected] (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

Grab your ginger ale, your hockey pucks, and your intense sense of longing, because we’re heading to the cottage. Cleveland author Sonia Feldman joins us to discuss the Heated Rivalry phenomenon—the hit show and its cultural impact, the art of adapting romance novels, and what it means to be girls who love boys who love boys. We also turn to another form of queer love found in Feldman’s forthcoming debut literary novel, Girl’s Girl.

Come for the hockey romance but stay for an in-depth discussion covering Feldman’s writing process, how she discovered the true heart of her novel midway through writing, why she read the entire manuscript out loud to a friend, how she determined she was ready to query literary agents, and more. Finally, be sure to stick around to the end for some rapid rivalry questions that make us contemplate ginger ale and vodka cocktails, raves vs. book events, favorite Heated Rivalry episodes, and our love of figure skating. See you on the ice for the happily ever after.

Content warning: This episode generally references sex depicted on screen in Heated Rivalry and in romance novels at large.

Sonia Feldman is a recipient of the PEN America PEN/Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers, and her poetry and fiction have been published in literary journals like The Missouri Review, The Southern Review, and Waxwing. She runs Sonia’s Poem of the Week, a popular email newsletter. Girl’s Girl, her first novel, is forthcoming from Dial Press on June 2, 2026. Sonia lives and writes in Cleveland. Visit her website, follow her on Instagram at @writsonia, and preorder Girl’s Girl from Loganberry Books or wherever books are sold. Author photo credit: Lizzy Montana Myers.

Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email [email protected] (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

Welcome to the dark world of horror author Tracy Cross! In this episode, Cross discusses her Conjure series trilogy, which follows a young girl developing into a powerful Hoodoo practitioner in Louisiana in the late 1800s. In the process, Cross sheds light on the practice of Hoodoo, why she was drawn to writing about this time period and setting, her research process, how Black writers are reclaiming the narrative surrounding Hoodoo and Voodoo, her experiences in an MFA program focusing on popular fiction, why writers must persist, and more.

Content warning: This episode includes a discussion of some dark topics horror writers might research as part of their work, including tanning practices for human skin. Please proceed with caution as needed.

Tracy Cross is a horror author based in Washington, DC. She is author of the Conjure Series (Dark Matter INK), which includes the novels Rootwork (2022), A Gathering of Weapons (2024), and The Legend of Pee Wee Conway (forthcoming 2026). A short story collection, The Journal of Small Hours, is also forthcoming. Her writing has been featured in numerous anthologies, and she has received awards from the Ladies of Horror Fiction and the Horror Writers Association. Follow her in Instagram @tracycrosswrites or visit her website, tracycrossonline.com.

Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email [email protected] (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

It’s the year of Toni Morrison! Our friends at Literary Cleveland, in partnership with Ohio Humanities, are leading a yearlong, statewide celebration of the life, literature, and legacy of Toni Morrison, a Lorain, Ohio, native and the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. With the event kickoff just around the corner on February 18, Page Count is celebrating by rerunning our 2024 exploration of the Toni Morrison Reading Room. Listen to learn more about Morrison’s legacy, and then head over to ohiocelebratestonimorrison.org/events to get the scoop on the many incredible events, screenings, discussions, book clubs, and other programs held statewide this year.

To view images from the Toni Morrison Reading Room, visit “Inside the Toni Morrison Reading Room.”

Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email [email protected] (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.