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!

 

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
Photo of Tadgh Bentley

Tadgh Bentley

Tadgh Bentley is a picture book author and illustrator originally from the UK, now living in the Hocking Hills of Ohio with his wife Emily and puppy Atticus. After six years teaching elementary aged children in Britain and Jordan, he had some time to pursue a long-held dream of writing and illustrating his own picture book.…Read More

Tadgh Bentley is a picture book author and illustrator originally from the UK, now living in the Hocking Hills of Ohio with his wife Emily and puppy Atticus.

After six years teaching elementary aged children in Britain and Jordan, he had some time to pursue a long-held dream of writing and illustrating his own picture book. Many months and several false starts later, Emily had the hiccups at dinner and ‘Little Penguin Gets the Hiccups’ was born. Little Penguin is due to be published by Balzer + Bray in fall 2015, with ‘Samson’, the tale of a picky piranha on a culinary mission, to follow in late 2016.

Photo of Connie Bergstein Dow

Connie Bergstein Dow

Connie Bergstein Dow began dancing when she was four, and has been dancing ever since. After attending Denison University, and earning an MFA from the University of Michigan, she danced professionally in the US, Venezuela, and Guatemala. During her career as a dance educator, she has taught dance to three-year-olds, to senior adults in wheelchairs, and every age in between.…Read More

Connie Bergstein Dow began dancing when she was four, and has been dancing ever since. After attending Denison University, and earning an MFA from the University of Michigan, she danced professionally in the US, Venezuela, and Guatemala. During her career as a dance educator, she has taught dance to three-year-olds, to senior adults in wheelchairs, and every age in between. In addition to her picture book From A to Z with Energy! (Free Spirit Publishing, 2019), she has written two books for teachers published by Redleaf Press: Dance, Turn, Hop, Learn! Enriching Movement Activities for Preschoolers, and One, Two, What Can I Do? Dance and Music for the Whole Day. She also writes articles for magazines and journals, and verses for Highlights magazines.

Chris Berhalter

Chris Berhalter attended The Ohio State University where he received a BA in journalism and also obtained his law degree. Chris began practicing law with a small firm. There he rose through the ranks and became a partner in that firm, as well as becoming an assistant public defender. He wrote his first novel, Heir to the Throne, by hand on legal pads as he was waiting in court for his cases to be called.…Read More

Chris Berhalter attended The Ohio State University where he received a BA in journalism and also obtained his law degree. Chris began practicing law with a small firm. There he rose through the ranks and became a partner in that firm, as well as becoming an assistant public defender. He wrote his first novel, Heir to the Throne, by hand on legal pads as he was waiting in court for his cases to be called. Berhalter resides on a small farm with his wife Vanessa and their three children and serves as Prosecuting Attorney for Belmont County, Ohio.

Photo of Ted Bernard

Ted Bernard

Ted Bernard has been a faculty member at Ohio University for over thirty years. He has done stints abroad as a senior lecturer and Senior Fulbright Scholar at Kenyatta University, a visiting scholar at Populations Studies and Research Institute of Nairobi, a visiting research professor and Rotary International Fellow at Harry Oppenheimer Okavango Research Center in Botswana, and an external examiner at the University of Dar es Salaam and the University of Botswana.…Read More

Ted Bernard has been a faculty member at Ohio University for over thirty years. He has done stints abroad as a senior lecturer and Senior Fulbright Scholar at Kenyatta University, a visiting scholar at Populations Studies and Research Institute of Nairobi, a visiting research professor and Rotary International Fellow at Harry Oppenheimer Okavango Research Center in Botswana, and an external examiner at the University of Dar es Salaam and the University of Botswana. Bernard’s teaching areas include Sustainability, American conservation history, natural resource management, and global environmental issues.

Photo of Emma Carlson Berne

Emma Carlson Berne

Emma Carlson Berne has written over eighty titles for children and young adults on a variety of fiction and non-fiction topics. She often works with American Girl Publishing and has written five books of historical fiction and non-fiction for that press, focusing on the characters of Kaya, Josefina, Melody, and Samantha. Recently, Emma has written a new Star Wars series for Disney-Lucasfilm Press (Forces of Destiny: Daring Adventures 1-4, 2017).…Read More

Emma Carlson Berne has written over eighty titles for children and young adults on a variety of fiction and non-fiction topics. She often works with American Girl Publishing and has written five books of historical fiction and non-fiction for that press, focusing on the characters of Kaya, Josefina, Melody, and Samantha. Recently, Emma has written a new Star Wars series for Disney-Lucasfilm Press (Forces of Destiny: Daring Adventures 1-4, 2017).

In addition, Emma has published four YA novels with Simon Pulse (Flirt #4: Sunset Ranch, 2014< , Never Let You Go, 2012, Still Waters, 2011, Hard to Get, 2010), as well as ghostwriting YA thrillers and romances with Alloy Entertainment under the names Hailey Abbott and Elizabeth Woods. Emma often writes historical biography and has published biographies of Sacagawea, Christopher Columbus, and Helen Keller. Emma also writes sports fiction under the name Jake Maddox for Stone Arch Press, and many other non-fiction titles for Capstone Press, Lerner Publishing Group, Rosen Publishing, and others.

Photo of Connie Berry

Connie Berry

Connie Berry is the author of the Kate Hamilton Mysteries, set in the UK and featuring an American antiques dealer with a gift for solving crimes. Like her protagonist, Connie was raised by antiques dealers who instilled in her a passion for history, fine art, and travel. In 2019 Connie won the IPPY Gold Medal for Mystery and was a finalist for the Agatha Award’s Best Debut.…Read More

Connie Berry is the author of the Kate Hamilton Mysteries, set in the UK and featuring an American antiques dealer with a gift for solving crimes. Like her protagonist, Connie was raised by antiques dealers who instilled in her a passion for history, fine art, and travel. In 2019 Connie won the IPPY Gold Medal for Mystery and was a finalist for the Agatha Award’s Best Debut. She’s a member of Mystery Writers of America and is on the board of the Guppies and her local Sisters in Crime chapter. Besides reading and writing mysteries, Connie loves history, foreign travel, cute animals, and all things British. She lives in Ohio with her husband and adorable Shih Tzu, Emmie. You can learn more about Connie and her books at her website http://www.connieberry.com.

Photo of Jesse Bethea

Jesse Bethea

Jesse is a journalist, author, videographer, and the winner of the 2019 Great Novel Contest. Born and raised in Fairfax, VA, he to moved to Ohio in 2010. In 2014, Jesse moved to Columbus and immediately started writing for ColumbusUnderground.com, where his work has been recognized several times by the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists. By 2015, he was working for The Ohio Channel (Ohio’s version of C-SPAN) as an assistant producer.…Read More

Jesse is a journalist, author, videographer, and the winner of the 2019 Great Novel Contest. Born and raised in Fairfax, VA, he to moved to Ohio in 2010.

In 2014, Jesse moved to Columbus and immediately started writing for ColumbusUnderground.com, where his work has been recognized several times by the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists. By 2015, he was working for The Ohio Channel (Ohio’s version of C-SPAN) as an assistant producer.

On the rare occasions when Jesse gives himself a break from writing, he enjoys hiking, true crime podcasts, and reading, specifically non-fiction disaster/survival narratives. If there’s a situation where people have had to eat each other, he’s interested in reading more about it.

Jesse currently lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife Melissa.

Visit his website: https://jessebethea.com/

Photo of Tom Betti

Tom Betti

Tom Betti serves on the board of Columbus Landmarks Foundation and is also chair of the Education Committee charged with leading the organization’s educational tours and extensive programming. He also founded and leads the Historic Preservation Committee of the Athletic Club of Columbus, celebrating, organizing, and documenting the club’s one-hundred-year history.

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Tom Betti serves on the board of Columbus Landmarks Foundation and is also chair of the Education Committee charged with leading the organization’s educational tours and extensive programming. He also founded and leads the Historic Preservation Committee of the Athletic Club of Columbus, celebrating, organizing, and documenting the club’s one-hundred-year history.

Photo of Matt Betts

Matt Betts

Matt Betts is an author and former radio personality. His work includes such science fiction novels as the critically recognized adventure Odd Men Out and its sequel Red Gear Nine, the urban fantasy Indelible Ink, the giant monster vs. giant robot book The Shadow Beneath the Waves, and the cryptid horror tale White Anvil: Sasquatch Onslaught.…Read More

Matt Betts is an author and former radio personality. His work includes such science fiction novels as the critically recognized adventure Odd Men Out and its sequel Red Gear Nine, the urban fantasy Indelible Ink, the giant monster vs. giant robot book The Shadow Beneath the Waves, and the cryptid horror tale White Anvil: Sasquatch Onslaught. He is also an accomplished speculative poet, and lives in Columbus with his wife and children.

Jill Bialosky

Jill Bialosky is the author of three previous poetry collections: The End of Desire, Subterranean, and Intruder. Her poems have appeared in journals such as the Paris Review, the Kenyon Review, the New Yorker, and the Atlantic Monthly. She is also the author of several novels and the memoir History of a Suicide: My Sister's Unfinished Life.…Read More

Jill Bialosky is the author of three previous poetry collections: The End of Desire, Subterranean, and Intruder. Her poems have appeared in journals such as the Paris Review, the Kenyon Review, the New Yorker, and the Atlantic Monthly. She is also the author of several novels and the memoir History of a Suicide: My Sister’s Unfinished Life. Bialosky is an editor at W.W. Norton and lives in New York City.