Photograph by Alessandro Sosa
Explore the real locations behind a local author’s novel during a literary walk through Over-the-Rhine on October 24.
A Day in the Life Walk is a two-hour, two-mile bar crawl hosted by Urban Hikers cofounder Vanny Mwamba and author Mark E. Scott. The immersive literary walk through OTR is inspired by Scott’s novel dark comedy Drunk Log, the first book in his “A Day in the Life” series.
“This book takes place over eight hours. That’s why we call it ‘A Day in the Life,’” says Scott of his novel.
Participants will explore the real locations that are connected to the novel and hear the stories behind them from Scott himself. The walk begins at 7 p.m. at Liberty’s Bar & Bottle Shop and walkers will receive a signed copy of Drunk Log and a welcome drink.
Drunk Log tells the story of Jack Current, who has decided to end his life by throwing himself off of the Roebling Bridge—“our most iconic bridge,” Scott notes. But before doing so, Current takes a final bar crawl through downtown Cincinnati. “He decides he’s gonna get drunk first for beer courage,” says Scott.
Accompanying him during his final hours is a dollar-store notebook referred to as “The Drunk Log.” The book takes place during the eight-hour period from happy hour until midnight, and is continued with two sequels spanning a combined time period of 24 hours.
Throughout the book, many well-known downtown Cincinnati areas and landmarks are referenced. “Essentially all of it is in the 45202 area code,” says Scott.
When Scott and Mwamba were initially planning the literary walk’s route, they considered a crawl that bounced around many locations from the book, but ultimately settled on limiting it to just the bars on Main Street.
The route is directly inspired by the bars Current visits in the book. “All the bars are real,” says Scott. “He [Jack] starts at Liberty’s, goes to MOTR then Japp’s and then Bay Horse.” Each bar will be visited on the walk, including the now-closed Bay Horse Café. Each location on the walk will use NFC technology on the bar doors to unlock specially recorded excerpts from the book. Scott will also be there, eager to answer any questions, while Mwamba provides knowledge of the neighborhoods and Cincinnati’s history.
The two came together through their mutual friend, John Young, who is part of Urban Hikers and a writer friend of Scott’s. According to Scott, Mwamba asked Young if he had a book that took place mostly or totally in downtown Cincinnati that could influence a walk through the area. “I don’t, but I know who does,” Scott recalls Young answering. Soon after, the two were connected.
The walk’s collaborative leadership aims to bridge its literary audience with locals familiar with the Urban Hikers program. “I think the target audience for the walk is people interested in drinking and learning more about downtown,” says Scott.
The author himself wanted to turn Current’s walk into a real life literary event because of a piece of feedback he received on the novel: “Somebody said to me, they felt like when they were reading, they were walking next to Jack, and following him, just being wherever he is, that’s what I was speaking to.”
