Author Profiles

Ohio has a rich literary heritage as well as some wonderful contemporary authors. Learn more about them here! You can sort by various categories and see who has participated in our annual book festival by using the category search on the left, or search by keyword (including partial author names) by using the search field on the right.

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Photo of Namara L. Dafney

Namara L. Dafney

Namara L. Dafney is a professional Executive Business Coach who works with non-profits and the private sector to promote organizational transformation. She is the author of Habits From The Inside Out: A Holistic Perspective. In her book, Namara uses insights from St. Augustine, Aristotle, and other sage scholars, along with the Bible’s timeless wisdom, and coaching to create a uniquely novel and relevant voice on habits.…Read More

Namara L. Dafney is a professional Executive Business Coach who works with non-profits and the private sector to promote organizational transformation. She is the author of Habits From The Inside Out: A Holistic Perspective.

In her book, Namara uses insights from St. Augustine, Aristotle, and other sage scholars, along with the Bible’s timeless wisdom, and coaching to create a uniquely novel and relevant voice on habits. The book speaks about how to create good habits and change or let go of unhealthy ones.

With a Masters of Arts in Professional Practice in Coaching from Middlesex University in London, England, Namara authored her thesis on: The Impact of Coaching on Habit Development for Sustained Change. She has also written business blogs and delivers impactful presentations about habits for business, community, and educational settings. Namara is also a contributing writer to Leadership Narratives: Reflective Journeys of Sales Professionals (Routledge, publication date January 2024).

Namara L. Dafney is a lifelong learner and on any given day, she can be found reading an enjoyable book, autobiography is one of her favorites. Along with reading, she loves spending time with family and friends, scrapbooking, and challenging herself with new skills such as juggling.

Photo of James Dailey II

James Dailey , II

A native of Wapakoneta, Ohio, James Dailey II graduated from the School of Advertising Art in Dayton, Ohio. He is curator of the Dailey Archives, an important assembly of artifacts, early photography, and ephemera. It also comprises the largest privately held collection of Ohio prison memorabilia. Inside the Ohio Penitentiary is his debut work as an author.Read More

A native of Wapakoneta, Ohio, James Dailey II graduated from the School of Advertising Art in Dayton, Ohio. He is curator of the Dailey Archives, an important assembly of artifacts, early photography, and ephemera. It also comprises the largest privately held collection of Ohio prison memorabilia. Inside the Ohio Penitentiary is his debut work as an author.

Photo of Casey Daniels

Casey Daniels

Casey Daniels once applied for a job as a tour guide in a Cleveland cemetery. She didn’t get the job, but she did get the idea for the heroine in her popular Pepper Martin mystery series. Pepper works at a historic cemetery and solves mysteries for the ghosts there. In addition, Casey has a new series, the Button Box mysteries, written as Kylie Logan.…

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Casey Daniels once applied for a job as a tour guide in a Cleveland cemetery. She didn’t get the job, but she did get the idea for the heroine in her popular Pepper Martin mystery series. Pepper works at a historic cemetery and solves mysteries for the ghosts there. In addition, Casey has a new series, the Button Box mysteries, written as Kylie Logan. Casey has also written both historical and contemporary romances as well as books for young adults and one children’s book. She lives in the Cleveland area and teaches fiction writing classes at the Brecksville Center for the Arts. She is a frequent presenter at workshops nationwide.

Photo of Mark Darden

Mark Darden

Mark Darden, aka Madison Square Darden, is originally from Cleveland, Ohio and is a 2012 graduate of The Ohio State University. Now residing in Columbus, Ohio, Mark is a sports and travel enthusiast who has attended many sports events and has visited cities across the world. His favorite teams are the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Ohio State Buckeyes.…Read More

Mark Darden, aka Madison Square Darden, is originally from Cleveland, Ohio and is a 2012 graduate of The Ohio State University. Now residing in Columbus, Ohio, Mark is a sports and travel enthusiast who has attended many sports events and has visited cities across the world. His favorite teams are the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Ohio State Buckeyes. Some of his favorite places to visit are Washington, D.C., Chicago, Toronto, and Los Angeles. You can follow Mark on his blog, buckeyemuscle.com, as well as on social media @buckeyemuscle.

Photo of Karin Cecile Davidson

Karin Cecile Davidson

Karin Cecile Davidson is the author of the novel Sybelia Drive (Braddock Avenue Books, 2020). Her story collection The Geography of First Kisses was awarded the 2022 Acacia Fiction Prize and is forthcoming from Kallisto Gaia Press in 2023. Her stories have appeared in Five Points, Story, The Massachusetts Review, Colorado Review, Passages North, Post Road, The Los Angeles Review, and elsewhere.…Read More

Karin Cecile Davidson is the author of the novel Sybelia Drive (Braddock Avenue Books, 2020). Her story collection The Geography of First Kisses was awarded the 2022 Acacia Fiction Prize and is forthcoming from Kallisto Gaia Press in 2023. Her stories have appeared in Five Points, Story, The Massachusetts Review, Colorado Review, Passages North, Post Road, The Los Angeles Review, and elsewhere. Her awards include an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, the Waasmode Short Fiction Prize, the Orlando Prize for Short Fiction, a Peter Taylor Fellowship, and residencies at the Fine Arts Work Center, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and The Studios of Key West. Originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, she now lives in Columbus, Ohio. https://www.karinceciledavidson.com/

Photo of Kathleen Davies

Kathleen Davies

Kathleen Davies earned her Ph.D. from Indiana University and taught English and Women’s & Gender Studies for many years before retiring to write full time. In addition to her memoir, Sacred Groves, she has published shorter creative nonfiction in literary journals such as Imitation Fruit, Ray’s Road Review, and South Loop Review.…

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Kathleen Davies earned her Ph.D. from Indiana University and taught English and Women’s & Gender Studies for many years before retiring to write full time. In addition to her memoir, Sacred Groves, she has published shorter creative nonfiction in literary journals such as Imitation Fruit, Ray’s Road Review, and South Loop Review. Kathleen is also an award-winning visual artist, who has exhibited her photography and mixed media locally. For the Sacred Groves project, she traveled to over fifty cemeteries all over Ohio and beyond taking thousands of photographs, some of which are included in the book. Originally from Gallipolis, she now lives in Columbus with her husband, Lynn Slimmer, also an artist and a musician.

Visit Kathleen at https://www.kathleendaviesauthors.com

Photo of Robin Davis

Robin Davis

Robin Davis is from Dublin, Ohio. She is a senior writer and editor at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Prior to joining the staff at Kenyon, she was the food editor at the Columbus Dispatch for 11 years and hosted Dispatch Kitchen cooking segments and specials on the local CBS affiliate, WBNS-TV. Before coming to Columbus, Robin was a restaurant critic and food writer for the San Francisco Chronicle.…Read More

Robin Davis is from Dublin, Ohio. She is a senior writer and editor at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Prior to joining the staff at Kenyon, she was the food editor at the Columbus Dispatch for 11 years and hosted Dispatch Kitchen cooking segments and specials on the local CBS affiliate, WBNS-TV. Before coming to Columbus, Robin was a restaurant critic and food writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Robin has a bachelor of arts in English and psychology from the University of Dayton and an associate’s degree in culinary arts from the California Culinary Academy. Visit her online at http://foodcookeat.com/.

Photo of Teri Ellen Cross Davis

Teri Ellen Cross Davis

Teri Ellen Cross Davis is the author of Haint, published by Gival Press. She is a Cave Canem fellow and has attended the Soul Mountain Writer’s Retreat, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. She is on the Advisory Committee for the biennial Split This Rock Festival and is a semi-finalist judge for the NEA’s Poetry Out Loud.…Read More

Teri Ellen Cross Davis is the author of Haint, published by Gival Press. She is a Cave Canem fellow and has attended the Soul Mountain Writer’s Retreat, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. She is on the Advisory Committee for the biennial Split This Rock Festival and is a semi-finalist judge for the NEA’s Poetry Out Loud. She is part of the Black Ladies Brunch Collective. Her work can be read in many anthologies including Bum Rush The Page: A Def Poetry Jam, Gathering Ground: A Reader Celebrating Cave Canem’s First Decade, Full Moon on K Street: Poems About Washington, DC; The Golden Shovel Anthology: New Poems Honoring Gwendolyn Brooks and Not Without Our Laughter: poems of joy, humor, and sexuality and the following journals Poet Lore, The North American Review, Gargoyle, Natural Bridge, Torch, Fledgling Rag, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Delaware Poetry Review, Harvard Review, Tin House and Auburn Avenue. She coordinates the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series at the Folger Shakespeare Library and lives in Silver Spring, MD, with her husband poet Hayes Davis and their two children. Their website is http://www.poetsandparents.com.

Photo of Mark Dawidziak

Mark Dawidziak

No less than Ken Burns has said, “Nobody gets Mark Twain the way Mark Dawidziak does.” The television critic at Cleveland’s Plain Dealer since 1999, Mark Dawidziak is the author of many books, including Mark My Words: Mark Twain on Writing, Horton Foote’s The Shape of the River: The Lost Teleplay About Mark Twain, Mark Twain in Ohio, and Mark Twain’s Guide Diet, Exercise, Beauty, Fashion, Investment, Romance, Health and Happiness.…Read More

No less than Ken Burns has said, “Nobody gets Mark Twain the way Mark Dawidziak does.” The television critic at Cleveland’s Plain Dealer since 1999, Mark Dawidziak is the author of many books, including Mark My Words: Mark Twain on Writing, Horton Foote’s The Shape of the River: The Lost Teleplay About Mark Twain, Mark Twain in Ohio, and Mark Twain’s Guide Diet, Exercise, Beauty, Fashion, Investment, Romance, Health and Happiness. He has four times been the guest scholar at Elmira College’s Center for Mark Twain Studies.

In addition to being a recognized Twain scholar, he has been portraying Mark Twain on stage for 36 years. A television, film and theater critic for more than 37 years and an adjunct faculty professor at Kent State University since 2009, his other books include the 1994 horror novel Grave Secrets, The Bedside, Bathtub and Armchair Companion to Dracula, and two histories of landmark television series, The Columbo Phile, and The Night Stalker Companion. He and Paul J. Bauer are the co-authors of Jim Tully: American Writer, Irish Rover, Hollywood Brawler, the first full-length biography of the “hobo writer” from Ohio. Before joining the Plain Dealer, he spent 16 years at the Akron Beacon Journal, holding such posts as TV critic, film critic, and critic-at-large. https://www.markdawidziak.com/

Photo of Keila V. Dawson

Keila V. Dawson

Keila V. Dawson is a two-time Ohioana finalist and former educator who writes fiction and nonfiction picture books. Her books have been featured on the numerous best books lists and nominated for various awards. She is a co-editor of No World Too Big: Young People Fighting Global Climate Change, a companion title to the International Reading Association Children’s Book Award-winning title, No Voice Too Small: Fourteen Young Americans Making History, and the forthcoming No Brain the Same: Young Neurodivergent Activists Shaping Our Future.…Read More

Keila V. Dawson is a two-time Ohioana finalist and former educator who writes fiction and nonfiction picture books. Her books have been featured on the numerous best books lists and nominated for various awards. She is a co-editor of No World Too Big: Young People Fighting Global Climate Change, a companion title to the International Reading Association Children’s Book Award-winning title, No Voice Too Small: Fourteen Young Americans Making History, and the forthcoming No Brain the Same: Young Neurodivergent Activists Shaping Our Future. She is the author of Opening the Road: Victor Hugo Green and His Green Book, The King Cake Baby, and Yumbo Gumbo. A New Orleans native, Dawson has also lived and worked in different states, and abroad in the Philippines, Japan, and Egypt. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. Learn more about her at http://www.keiladawson.com, on Twitter @keila_dawson, or Instagram @keilavdawson.