An Evening With Author Rebecca A. Fannin

Join Fairfield County District Library in welcoming local author and tech journalist, Rebecca Fannin, for an evening of conversation about her newest book Silicon Heartland. Fannin's latest book is an extensive examination of the migration of Silicon Valley tech giants to the Central Ohio area, and their development and investment in and around Fairfield County.

Rebecca will be here to do a book talk, sign purchasable copies, and speak with patrons about her work. Mayor David Scheffler will also be in attendance, conducting a one-on-one fireside chat with the author as part of the program.

Chronicling her return to America's heartland, CNBC contributor Rebecca A. Fannin provides an optimistic and engaging look at the current entrepreneurial comeback happening in the Midwest, documenting its transformation from Rust Belt to Tech Belt. The American Midwest was once a proud bastion of good-paying jobs and middle-class life. Recently it has come to evoke bleakness: job loss, opiate addiction, despair. But without fanfare, a pivotal movement has grown, quietly transforming the heartland into a high-tech hub, including central Ohio as an epicenter. In Silicon Heartland, tech journalist Rebecca A. Fannin returns to her hometown region to report on how tech ecosystems—of entrepreneurial talent, venture capital, accelerators, incubators, universities, and R&D—are retooling mid-sized heartland cities and Appalachian towns. Remote regions that were nearly forgotten when the money and power shifted to Silicon Valley—and to China—are being rebooted and re-energized like never before. This movement of tech startups burgeoning in Middle America bodes well not only for leading the region to greater heights, but also for boosting our economy and morale nationwide.

Rebecca A. Fannin is a CNBC contributor. She grew up in Lancaster, Ohio, graduated from Ohio University and worked at Dayton’s morning newspaper. After leaving the Appalachian foothills for new horizons in New York City and Silicon Valley, she wrote for several publications including Forbes and Harvard Business Review. She also launched Silicon Dragon Ventures as a media venture covering tech innovation frontiers including China.  Her research and writing about Asia’s entrepreneurial boom led to three prior books that have been published in multiple languages:  Silicon Dragon (2008), Startup Asia (2011), and Tech Titans of China (2019).  A guest on BBC, Bloomberg, Fox News, and NPR, and a quoted expert in the New York Times, she also has spoken at the Brookings Institution, Asia Society, and many universities, including Harvard, Yale, and Oxford. Silicon Heartland brings Rebecca back to her homeland to explore the region’s comeback from the Rust Belt and to discover the roots of her own journey. Rebecca currently divides her time between Silicon Valley and New York City. 

Register online, on our app, or by calling (740) 653-2745, extension #160.