Ohio 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.
If you would like to know which Ohio authors and illustrators are available for school and library visits or workshops, visit our School & Library Visits page here.
We continue to add authors, so check back soon!
Nannette V. Maciejunes
Nannette V. Maciejunes has served as Executive Director of the Columbus Museum of Art since November 2003. Prior to that, Nannette began at the Museum as a curatorial research assistant in 1984, with a brief absence while she served as Curator of Collections and Exhibitions (1989-1990) at The Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis. In 1980-1981, she was Director of Denison University’s Gallery. She is a graduate of both Stanford’s Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders and the Getty’s Leadership Institute for Museum Management (MMI). She has been active as a community leader, serving on numerous boards, including a five-year tenure on the Columbus Art Commission. She has been a member of the Denison University Research Foundation Board since 2003. In 2006, Nannette received the Ohio Governor’s Award for the Arts in the category of Arts Administration and the South Side Settlement House Spirit of Volunteerism Award. In 2009, Nannette was named a YWCA Woman of Achievement. Nannette was named a 2015 Columbus Business First C-Suite Award Honoree.
Under Nannette’s leadership, the Museum adopted and implemented the mission to create great experiences with great art for everyone. She was instrumental in CMA’s acquisition of The Photo League collection and the Philip J. and Suzanne Schiller Collection of American Social Commentary Art, 1930-1970, which is considered to be the most important collection of its kind. In 2011, CMA opened the Center for Creativity, an innovative new space which demonstrates the Museum’s leadership in the field of the visitor-centered museum experience and commitment to creativity. In 2013, the Museum was awarded the Institute of Library and Museum Services’ National Medal, the Nation’s highest honor for museums. Nannette spearheaded the largest and most successful endowment and capital campaign in CMA’s history. In October 2015, the Museum completed its major renovation and expansion, which included the renovation of the historic 1931 building and the addition of a new 50,000 sq. ft. wing and sculpture garden. The Margaret M. Walter Wing was named one of Wall Street Journal’s Architecture Picks of 2015. The Walter Wing was also recognized with the 2016 James B. Recchie Design Award, the 2016 AIA Columbus Architecture Honor Award, and the 2017 AIA Ohio 2017 Design Merit Award. Due to tremendous impact that the Walter Wing has made on the community, the Columbus Museum of Art was awarded the 2016 GCAC Columbus Makes Art Excellence Award, the 2016 Columbus Foundation Award, the 2016 James B. Recchie Design Award, the 2016 AIA Columbus Architecture Honor Award, the 2017 AIA Ohio Award, and the 2017 Design Merit Award.
Dandi Daley Mackall
Dandi won her first writing contest as a 10-year-old tomboy. Her 50 words on “Why I Want to Be Batboy for the Kansas City A’s” won first place, but the team wouldn’t let a girl be batboy. It was her first taste of rejection. Since then, Dandi has become an award-winning author of about 500 books for all ages (from infant to adult) and in every genre. The Silence of Murder (Knopf/Random House) won the Edgar Award for Best YA and ALA-YALSA Best Fiction. Legend of Ohio and Rudy Rides the Rails: A Depression Era Story won Notable Book awards, a Children’s Book Council award, the Angel Award, the “Award of Excellence” from Chicago Book Show. A Girl Named Dan (her own “batboy” story, and a lesson on Title IX) won a Mom’s Choice & the Amelia Bloom. My Boyfriends’ Dogs (now a Hallmark movie, “most watched” 2014), gained her national attention. With Love, Wherever You Are, Dandi’s grown-up novel about her parents, Army Dr. and Nurse in WW2, won the Reader’s Choice Award and earned PW and Booklist starred reviews. Other awards: the Helen Keating Ott Award for Contributions to Children’s Literature; OCIRA Hall of Fame; ALA Best Book; Top Teen Read by New York Public Library; Romantic Times’ Top Pick; Gold Medallions, Christian Book Awards, etc. Dandi is a national speaker, keynoting at conferences and Young Author events, enjoying school visits, and making appearances on TV (ABC, NBC, and CBS). Dandi writes from rural Ohio, where she lives with her family, including horses, dogs, cats, and an occasional squirrel, deer, or raccoon.
KaraLynne Mackrory
Award winning author KaraLynne Mackrory is no newbie to the writing world. She made her debut as an author at the tender age of thirteen when she wrote her first set of bad poems. Angsty, emotional, and filled with teenage drama, they were unbelievable disasters. Such contributions to the literary world were so terrible that today they are kept behind lock and key to protect others from their awfulness. As a young adult she steered clear of soap opera-inspired works and achieved a degree in social work. It was not until her late twenties that she returned to her roots in writing. Since then she has published four Jane Austen-inspired novels so full of romantic sensibilities as to give you a toothache and a grin and hopefully a few contented sighs. Her book Haunting Mr. Darcy won a 2015 IPPY Bronze Medal in the category of Romance. Visit her online at karalynnemackrory.merytonpress.com.
Donna MacMeans
Award winning author Donna MacMeans made a wrong turn many years ago when she majored in Accounting at Ohio State University. What the heck was she thinking? Balancing books just can’t compete with crafting plots and inventing memorable characters. While still a licensed CPA in Ohio with an active tax practice, she also writes witty and seductive Victorian historicals and the occasional time-travel.
MacMeans’s books have won numerous awards including the Golden Heart from Romance Writers of America (RWA), and the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Historical Love & Laughter. Her books consistently receive high praise and glowing reviews and have been published in Japanese, Deutsch, Turkish and Norwegian. Her debut novel was even turned into a manga graphic novel. Who would have imagined that! She’s published six historicals with the Berkley imprint of Penguin Books, a romantic suspense with Samhain Publishing and a rollicking reverse time-travel via independent publishing. A French charm teacher from 1853 suddenly lands in modern day New Orleans in Charming the Professor. It’s a long way from debits and credits.
But maybe not that far…she’s also the current Treasurer for RWA, the recipient of a 2013 RWA service award and the 2014 Pro mentor award. She’s taught Taxes for Writers at RWA University, at the national convention, and at numerous chapters across the country and Plotting workshops for the Nora Roberts Writing Institute. When not at her keyboard, Donna enjoys painting, traveling, and creating luscious alcoholic desserts. An avid reader, she uses the analytical skills learned as an accountant to analyze novels in an effort to constantly improve her own craft – and then teaches those skills in workshops around the country. You can find her blogging with the popular blog group, Romance Bandits. A resident of Columbus, Ohio, she lives with her husband of forty+ years, a daughter who does all the cooking, and a shy vampire-cat with a taste for ankles. It’s never a dull day in the MacMeans household. Please contact her at DonnaMacMeans.com
Beth Macy
Beth Macy is a Virginia-based journalist, the author of Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America, and an executive producer and cowriter on Hulu’s Peabody Award-winning “Dopesick” series.
Erica Magnus
A first generation American, Erica Magnus grew up in rural Connecticut’s natural beauty, delighting in her three freedoms; exploring nature’s wonders barefoot whenever possible, fulfilling her deep love for drawing in color or with sticks in the dirt if that was all at hand, and satisfying her endless passion for stories. Her Norwegian family kept their European culture and values their cornerstone through good times and bad. For them, creative expression was assumed and expected. ! Later, these forces all came together when Erica began her career in publishing. Picture books proved a good home for her wide range of freelance art skills as author and illustrator, and illustrator for others, for over 22 years. She continued to write and illustrate them until her passions for stories drew her to film as storyboard, concept, and creature design artist. Moving to LA to work and live led to exciting creative collaborations in television. She also applied these skills to graphic novel development projects for professional writers. ! Teaching art classes throughout her career continues, providing many opportunities to contribute what she has learned. But most of all, Erica is happy to return to Athens County, Ohio, where she lives again near family and grandchildren, good neighbors and old friends. Her journey brought her back to publishing too. Now her three freedoms bring daily delights once again and a new old way to share them.
Amit Majmudar
Amit Majmudar is a diagnostic nuclear radiologist in Dublin, Ohio, where he lives with his wife, twin sons, and daughter. He is also an acclaimed poet, essayist, and novelist. Majmudar’s poems and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Granta, New York Review of Books, and Best American Poetry.…
Read MoreAmit Majmudar is a diagnostic nuclear radiologist in Dublin, Ohio, where he lives with his wife, twin sons, and daughter. He is also an acclaimed poet, essayist, and novelist. Majmudar’s poems and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Granta, New York Review of Books, and Best American Poetry. His poetry collections include: 0°0° (2009) and Heaven and Earth (2011) which received the Donald Justice Prize. His first novel, Partitions (Metropolitan Books, 2011), received featured reviews in the Wall Street Journal and on the National Public Radio program “All Things Considered.” Visit him at http://www.amitmajmudar.com/.
Charles Malone
Charles Malone grew up in rural Northeastern Ohio, headed west to the Rockies, came back to the Great Lakes, and has loved all of it. His first full-length collection, Working Hypothesis, is out with Finishing Line Press in 2020. His chapbook “Questions About Circulation” was published by Driftwood Press as part of the Adrift Chapbook Series. He edited the collection “A Poetic Inventory of Rocky Mountain National Park” with Wolverine Farm Publishing and has work recently published or forthcoming in Hotel Amerika, The Best of Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac, The Sugar House Review, The Dunes Review, and Saltfront. Charles now works at the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University coordinating community outreach programs.
Dr. Peter Mansoor
Dr. Peter Mansoor, Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired), is the General Raymond E. Mason, Jr. Chair of Military History at The Ohio State University. He assumed this position in September 2008 after a 26-year career in the U.S. Army that culminated in his service as the executive officer to General David Petraeus, the Commanding General of Multi-National Force-Iraq.…
Read MoreDr. Peter Mansoor, Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired), is the General Raymond E. Mason, Jr. Chair of Military History at The Ohio State University. He assumed this position in September 2008 after a 26-year career in the U.S. Army that culminated in his service as the executive officer to General David Petraeus, the Commanding General of Multi-National Force-Iraq. A 1982 distinguished graduate of the United States Military Academy, Col. Mansoor served in a variety of command and staff positions in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East during his military career. Dr. Mansoor holds a Masters and Ph.D. in military history from The Ohio State University, a Masters in Strategic Studies from the Army War College, and a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy. He is the author of The GI Offensive in Europe: The Triumph of American Infantry Divisions, 1941-1945, winner of the Society for Military History distinguished book award and the Army Historical Society distinguished book award in 2000; and Baghdad at Sunrise: A Brigade Commander’s War in Iraq, winner of the Ohioana Library Association nonfiction book of the year award in 2009. His most recent work is Surge, a finalist for the inaugural Guggenheim-Lehrman Military History Prize.
Paul Many
Maybe it’s happened to you: Waking from troubled dreams, you find you’ve turned into a scaly, scary T. rex. No? Lucky. For this is exactly what happens to Gregory in my picture book, Dinomorphosis. And this on the very day of his big class presentation, no less! Gregory tries to make believe that nothing is wrong, blundering through with his clumsy, scaly body and voice the level of ROAR, until his classmates and an understanding teacher finally come to his rescue.
Paul Many wrote Dinomorphosisis for those of us who don’t have a good day every day and are sometimes surprised about who we see in the mirror. He’s the author of five previous children’s books, one of which won a Los Angeles Times’ Best Children’s Book of the Year, and has appeared on the NBC national Today show promoting another. His hardcover YA books have been reprinted in paper and translated into three languages including Danish (!). He has an MFA in creative writing and a chapbook of poems among other publications. His PhD dissertation, “The Effect of Advertising on Consumer Press Credibility” has sold two copies.