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.

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
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Jillian Scudder

Dr. Jillian Scudder is an astrophysicist and associate professor of Physics & Astronomy at Oberlin College, Ohio. Her previous book was Astroquizzical: A Beginner's Journey Through the Cosmos (Icon Books, 2019), and her writing has appeared in Forbes, Quartz, Medium, and The Conversation. Learn more at: https://www.jillianscudder.com/.Read More

Dr. Jillian Scudder is an astrophysicist and associate professor of Physics & Astronomy at Oberlin College, Ohio. Her previous book was Astroquizzical: A Beginner’s Journey Through the Cosmos (Icon Books, 2019), and her writing has appeared in Forbes, Quartz, Medium, and The Conversation. Learn more at: https://www.jillianscudder.com/.

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Julie Seabrook Ream

JULIE SEABROOK REAM is an artist who never could pick a favorite color. She lives in Columbus, Ohio.Read More

JULIE SEABROOK REAM is an artist who never could pick a favorite color. She lives in Columbus, Ohio.

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Cathy Seckman

Cathy Hester Seckman is a lifelong resident of East Liverpool, Ohio, and a graduate of East Liverpool City High School and West Liberty State College (now University). She is a writer, indexer, speaker, and dental hygienist. Arcadia Publishing released her book, East Liverpool, an Images of America title. Seckman is also the author of Weirdo World, a young adult fantasy novel.…Read More

Cathy Hester Seckman is a lifelong resident of East Liverpool, Ohio, and a graduate of East Liverpool City High School and West Liberty State College (now University). She is a writer, indexer, speaker, and dental hygienist.

Arcadia Publishing released her book, East Liverpool, an Images of America title. Seckman is also the author of Weirdo World, a young adult fantasy novel. She is an indie co-author of Bad Moon Rising, a murder mystery set between Woodstock and the Kent State shootings, and an anthology, H2O Mysteries. Her short fiction has been published in several magazines and she has written hundreds of magazine articles and thousands of newspaper articles.

As a back-of-the-book indexer, she has also written more than 130 indexes, mostly for textbooks, on a wide range of topics from dentistry to terrorism to literary criticism.

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Steve Sefner

Steve Sefner is a former play-by-play announcer for Kent State Athletics. He has broadcasted well over 1,000 basketball & football games in his career including the 2001-2002 men's basketball Golden Dream Season. Steve spent several years in the sports industry, most notably Division I Athletics, the NHL, AFL, and MLS. Steve has had the opportunity to work in a variety of capacities including broadcasting, corporate sponsorship, ticket sales, marketing, promotions, and management.…Read More

Steve Sefner is a former play-by-play announcer for Kent State Athletics. He has broadcasted well over 1,000 basketball & football games in his career including the 2001-2002 men’s basketball Golden Dream Season. Steve spent several years in the sports industry, most notably Division I Athletics, the NHL, AFL, and MLS. Steve has had the opportunity to work in a variety of capacities including broadcasting, corporate sponsorship, ticket sales, marketing, promotions, and management. He enjoys public speaking, a CTA (Certified Tourism Ambassador) and is on the Board of Directors for his local Chamber of Commerce. Steve is a native of Northeast, Ohio and an avid sports fan. Check out his new book here: The Golden Dream: The Story of the 2001-2002 Kent State Men’s Basketball Elite Eight Season

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Marilyn Seguin

Marilyn Weymouth Seguin is the author of fifteen books, many of them Ohio-based historical fiction and nonfiction for young readers. She teaches in the Writing Program of the English Department at Kent State University. When she is not helping her students with their writing, she is busily crafting another story. Marilyn lives with her husband Rollie and little dog Jerzee in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio and Gray, Maine.Read More

Marilyn Weymouth Seguin is the author of fifteen books, many of them Ohio-based historical fiction and nonfiction for young readers. She teaches in the Writing Program of the English Department at Kent State University. When she is not helping her students with their writing, she is busily crafting another story. Marilyn lives with her husband Rollie and little dog Jerzee in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio and Gray, Maine.

Photo of David M. Selcer

David M. Selcer

DAVID SELCER graduated from Northwestern University where he studied in the Medill School of Journalism. He then obtained a law degree from the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University, and practiced immigration, labor and civil rights law in Columbus, Ohio for 35 years. His book, LINCOLN'S HAT and the TEA MOVEMENT'S ANGER, won first place in the Chanticleer Reviews Best book competition in 2017, and he is the author of four mysteries in the Buckeye Barrister Series: DEADLY AUDIT; DEAD BUT STILL TICKING; MUSCLES, MUSIC AND MURDER; and, DREAM CATCHER MURDERS.Read More

DAVID SELCER graduated from Northwestern University where he studied in the Medill School of Journalism. He then obtained a law degree from the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University, and practiced immigration, labor and civil rights law in Columbus, Ohio for 35 years. His book, LINCOLN’S HAT and the TEA MOVEMENT’S ANGER, won first place in the Chanticleer Reviews Best book competition in 2017, and he is the author of four mysteries in the Buckeye Barrister Series: DEADLY AUDIT; DEAD BUT STILL TICKING; MUSCLES, MUSIC AND MURDER; and, DREAM CATCHER MURDERS.

Photo of Kenneth Sewell

Kenneth Sewell

During the Cold War years, Kenneth R. Sewell served aboard the USS Parche, a fast attack submarine that was the Navy’s most decorated ship. Parche conducted a number of special operations, some of which were revealed in Blind Man’s Bluff, The Story of American Submarine Espionage. Since leaving the Navy, Mr. Sewell has remained connected to the US military and intelligence community.…

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During the Cold War years, Kenneth R. Sewell served aboard the USS Parche, a fast attack submarine that was the Navy’s most decorated ship. Parche conducted a number of special operations, some of which were revealed in Blind Man’s Bluff, The Story of American Submarine Espionage. Since leaving the Navy, Mr. Sewell has remained connected to the US military and intelligence community. He has held both Department of Defense and Department of Energy security clearances and has participated in a number of projects for the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency. He is the primary author of the New York Times bestseller Red Star Rogue, All Hands Down (Simon & Schuster), and co-author of Code Name Caesar (Berkley/Penguin). Sewell collaborated with director Todd Robinson to create the full length feature film Phantom, which is based on Red Star Rogue and stars Ed Harris, David Duchovny and William Fichtner. A Buckeye by birth and graduate of Urbana University, he currently resides in Gahanna, Ohio.

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Bev Shaffer

Bev Shaffer is an author, food writer, and culinary instructor. Her weekly column “Ask Bev” in the Cleveland Plain Dealer food section and her weekly radio spot on Akron, Ohio’s WAKR’s “Morning Drive Time” feature her signature humor and her uncanny ability to create uncomplicated recipes and calm food and cooking phobias. She has developed more than eight thousand recipes on a wide variety of subjects, including seafood, sides and grains, and desserts.…

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Bev Shaffer is an author, food writer, and culinary instructor. Her weekly column “Ask Bev” in the Cleveland Plain Dealer food section and her weekly radio spot on Akron, Ohio’s WAKR’s “Morning Drive Time” feature her signature humor and her uncanny ability to create uncomplicated recipes and calm food and cooking phobias. She has developed more than eight thousand recipes on a wide variety of subjects, including seafood, sides and grains, and desserts. She has also received many national and local commendations and more than one hundred cooking awards, including the Ohio Dietetic Association Outstanding Contribution Award. Born and raised in North Brunswick, New Jersey, Chef Shaffer resides in Seville, Ohio.

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Margie Shaheed

Margie Shaheed is a community poet, writer and teaching artist. She is the author of three chapbooks, Mosaic, Onomonopoeia, and Playground. She is currently completing a non-fiction book, Tongue Shakers: Interviews and Narratives on Speaking Mother Tongue in a Multicultural Society.Read More

Margie Shaheed is a community poet, writer and teaching artist. She is the author of three chapbooks, Mosaic, Onomonopoeia, and Playground. She is currently completing a non-fiction book, Tongue Shakers: Interviews and Narratives on Speaking Mother Tongue in a Multicultural Society.

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Janet Shailer

Janet Shailer received a B.A. from Bowling Green State University in 1971. In her early career, Shailer worked as a broadcast engineer for two NBC-TV affiliated TV stations and Warner Qube's cable TV network. Later she worked as a videographer/writer/producer of public affairs programming for Columbus Community Cable Access. Her writing career includes working as a contributing editor for Television Broadcast magazine and writing for other national and regional magazines.…Read More

Janet Shailer received a B.A. from Bowling Green State University in 1971. In her early career, Shailer worked as a broadcast engineer for two NBC-TV affiliated TV stations and Warner Qube’s cable TV network. Later she worked as a videographer/writer/producer of public affairs programming for Columbus Community Cable Access. Her writing career includes working as a contributing editor for Television Broadcast magazine and writing for other national and regional magazines.

She worked as editor of the Southwest Messenger newspaper for nine years, and spent another five as a reporter/photographer. She co-authored two books, with Laura Lanese, for Arcadia Publishing – Images of America: Grove City and Images of Modern America: Grove City, and has written a novel. She serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for Southwest Public Libraries.