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.
Susan Gee Heino
I was always one of those kids constantly writing stories and forcing my parents—and my sisters, teachers, friends, neighbors, and the family dog—to read them. I wrote stories about everything from animals and Star Wars to worms and haunted school buses. One thing was constant, though: there was always a happy ending.
In college, my talents led my into the Theatre where I discovered writing scripts for others to perform was a whole lot more fun than memorizing
someone else’s.…
I was always one of those kids constantly writing stories and forcing my parents—and my sisters, teachers, friends, neighbors, and the family dog—to read them. I wrote stories about everything from animals and Star Wars to worms and haunted school buses. One thing was constant, though: there was always a happy ending.
In college, my talents led my into the Theatre where I discovered writing scripts for others to perform was a whole lot more fun than memorizing
someone else’s. After several years working with improvisational groups, collegiate drama, small community theatres, church drama ministries, and whatever other job helped to pay the bills, I figured it was time to settle down. I accepted the permanent role of preacher’s wife and child herder.
To preserve my sanity, I took my love of happy endings and began to focus on writing romance. In 2008 I won RWA’s Golden Heart ® Award in the Regency Historical category and my first book, MISTRESS BY MISTAKE, was published by Berkley Sensation in 2009. Since then, I have gone on to publish multiple Historical Romances all set in the fascinating Regency time period.
Today I’m living out my own Happily-Ever-After in rural Ohio with an ever-changing menagerie of creatures, my very supportive husband, and the two most adorable –and frighteningly creative– children imaginable. We are all addicted to happy endings, and that seems to be working out just fine.
Nancy Herriman
Nancy Herriman has fronted a cover band, acted on stage, and worked in the tech industry as an engineer. Writing is her current and most long-lasting passion. Her work has won the Daphne du Maurier award, and Publishers Weekly says her ‘A Mystery of Old San Francisco’ series “…brings 1867 San Francisco to vivid life.” Her latest release is NO REFUGE FROM THE GRAVE. She is also the author of the Bess Ellyott Mysteries. When not writing, she enjoys singing, gabbing about writing, and eating dark chocolate. Learn more at: https://www.nancyherriman.com/
Victor Hess
Victor Hess’ first novel, Jesse Sings was acknowledged as a finalist in the William Faulkner – William Wisdom Creative Writing competition in 2015. It was also recognized as an Award-Winning Finalist in the Fiction: Inspirational category of the 2018 Best Book Awards sponsored by American Book Fest. His short stories have received Honorable Mention in a recent Glimmer Train competition and one made the short list for the 2017 Faulkner competition. He is currently working on a third novel centered around Jesse Hall, the main character of his first two novels. Besides a successful businessman he has been an Army Bomb Disposal Instructor, and, for decades, has taught Bible Study for both children and adults. He was raised in Ohio, attended college at Central State and Ohio University. He lives in Slidell, Louisiana with his wife and dog.
Anita M. Hessenauer
I am a poet and writer from Dublin, Ohio. My articles have appeared in literary journals and magazines. I have given poetry readings, and I am an active member of The Ohio Poetry Association. I was a participating poet at the Columbus Book Festival in July 2023.
I have a Doctorate in French Literature from The University of Strasbourg, France and have been in academia. I have taught in the Modern Languages Department at The Ohio State University, the University of Michigan, and Bowling Green State University.
My debut collection of poems, Authenticity, was published in 2019, followed by my second poetry collection, We All Belong, in 2021. My latest poetry collection, Let Go, was published in June 2023.
My poetry speaks to the inherent dignity of the human person and the value and worth of our natural world. I address the nefarious effect of man-made barriers as well as the social and cultural mores which rob the human person of dignity and self-worth.
My work challenges the reader to adopt a new vision of heart and mind; to cast aside all preconceptions, prejudices, egotism, and a divisive mentality that keeps us from working for the good of the human person and of our created world.
My interest in this topic grew out of my personal experience amidst an exclusionary society in India, my country of origin.
Dennis Hetzel
“Season of Lies” is Dennis Hetzel’s second novel, following the award-winning “Killing the Curse” (Headline Books, 2014) in which events precede those that unfold in the latest novel.
As a journalist and media executive, Hetzel has won numerous awards for writing, industry leadership and community service, including the 2003 Paul Tobenkin Memorial Award from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism for leadership in coverage of race and diversity issues. Since 2010, he has been president and executive director of the Ohio News Media Association in Columbus, Ohio, and president of the Ohio Coalition for Open Government. He is also on the board of the Capitol Square Foundation in Columbus and an active member of Columbus Rotary.
He began his career as a weekly newspaper sports editor in the Chicago suburbs and has been a reporter, editor, general manager and publisher at newspapers including the Madison, Wis., Capital Times, the Cincinnati Enquirer and the York, Pa., Daily Record, where he was editor and publisher for 13 years. Under his leadership, the York paper won national awards from the Scripps Howard Foundation in public service journalism and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. He also has taught journalism at Penn State and Temple universities.
Hetzel grew up in the Chicago area and inherited his lifelong affection for and frustration with the Cubs from his late father. He has a degree in political science and a minor in journalism from Western Illinois University, where he met his wife, Cheryl, a school psychologist and guidance counselor. They have three grown children and a home they love in Holden Beach, North Carolina, where he does much of his writing.
Hetzel also plays guitar and bass in an acoustic trio, “Phil’s Five & Dime,” which includes fellow author Rick Robinson on mandolin. He’s still hoping “this guitar thing” works out when he grows up.
You can find him on Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and http://www.dennishetzel.com. He also blogs from time to time for the Huffington Post, particularly on media and politics.
Leanna Renee Hieber
Leanna Renee Hieber is an actress, playwright, ghost tour guide, and an award-winning, bestselling author of 16 novels and non-fiction books for Tor and Kensington Books such as the Strangely Beautiful, Eterna Files, and Spectral City series. She writes and narrates several speculative fiction series for Scribd.com. Her non-fiction book co-authored with Andrea Janes, A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America’s Ghosts, was a Bram Stoker Award finalist for “Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction”. Leanna’s Strangely Beautiful series became a 3-time Prism Award winner and Darker Still was a Daphne du Maurier award finalist. A licensed NYC tour guide working for Boroughs of the Dead, Leanna has been featured on TV shows like Mysteries at the Museum and Beyond the Unknown discussing Victorian Spiritualism. She gives lectures and theatrical presentations around the country at conventions and prestigious institutions such as New York University, Miami University, the Cambridge Public Library, Morbid Anatomy and more, focusing on paranormal themes and 19th century women’s history. http://www.leannareneehieber.com.
Gwendolyn Joslin Hiles
Gwendolyn Joslin Hiles was born in Columbus, Ohio, and spent the majority of her youth in nearby Delaware County, just two miles from Lewis Center, a town founded by her great-great-grandfather. Living close to her ancestral roots fostered a love of history and cultural background that was reinforced by a major in American Studies at Bowling Green State University. She began her professional career teaching English and speech but soon transitioned into publishing where she served as editorial manager and art director. Leaving publishing, she continued editorial work in a freelance capacity and added the title, president, of a small commercial printing facility she owned along with her husband, Gary. In 2005 the business was sold creating time for travel and the research that led to a connection with co-author, Margaret Casterline Bowen, and ultimately to Jersey Gold.
Will Hillenbrand
I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, where my family owned a barbershop. As a kid, I often walked to the shop in the summer and delivered my Dad’s hot lunch. Then, I would take a break and listen to the conversations. Many customers told “big fish” stories laced with humor and exaggeration. I enjoyed drawing those stories at the kitchen table when I returned home. Later, I went to art school, and after taking a class in picture book art, I decided to try illustrating children’s literature. After over 76 books, I still feel lucky to do what I love. I live with my wife, Jane, and son, Ian, in Terrace Park, Ohio. Information about my books, selected readings, art process videos, and activity ideas can be viewed at http://www.willhillenbrand.com.
Noor Hindi
Noor Hindi (she/her/hers) is a Palestinian-American poet and reporter. She is a 2021 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellow. Dear God. Dear Bones. Dear Yellow is her debut collection of poems. She lives in Dearborn. Learn more at: https://noorhindi.com/
Conrade C. Hinds
Conrade C. Hinds was born in Nashville and graduated from Ball State University, where he studied architecture and industrial technology. He has lived in Ohio for forty years. A registered architect and a retired projects manager with the City of Columbus Department of Public Utilities, he is also a retired adjunct faculty member in the Engineering Technology Department at Columbus State Community College. His latest books is History of Buckeye Inventions, and he has published three other books: The Great Columbus Experiment of 1908, Columbus and the Great Flood of 1913, and Lost Circuses of Ohio.