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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Gloria Adams
Gloria G. Adams spent most of her career as a children’s librarian and storyteller. She has been published in books and magazines, along with a picture book, Ah-Choo! with co-author Lana Wayne Koehler, published by Sterling Children’s Books in 2016. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), and she has three non-fiction titles published through Rosen, Enslow, and Greenhaven Press. She is a partner, with author Jean Daigneau, in a manuscript editing company, Two-4-One Kid Critiques, LLC.
Rachele Alpine
One of Rachele Alpine’s first jobs was at a library, but it didn’t last long, because all she did was hide in the third-floor stacks and read. Now she’s a little more careful about when and where she indulges her reading habit. Rachele is a high school English teacher by day, a wife and mother by night, and a writer during any time she can find in between. She lives in Cleveland, Ohio, where she writes books for children, tweens, and young adults. Visit her at rachelealpine.com.
Jeff Alt
Jeff Alt is a celebrated author and avid outdoor enthusiast. His other books include: Four Boots-One Journey, Get Your Kids Hiking, and A Walk for Sunshine. Each of his books are award-winning and have received high praise from readers and educators all over the world. Jeff is a member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA) and the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI). Jeff’s expertise and books have been featured in Scholastic Parent & Child, Backpacker, Discoverchannel.com, ESPN, Hallmark Channel and more. He has walked the Appalachian Trail, the John Muir Trail with his wife; he carried his 21-month old daughter across Ireland, and his son was on the Appalachian Trail at six weeks of age. Jeff has spent over 20 years perfecting his ability to engage kids to learn as an educator. He has now combined his educational experience with his outdoor talents in writing The Adventures of Bubba Jones series. Learn more at: http://www.jeffalt.com
Pamela R. Anderson
Pamela R. Anderson is a traveler, blues music lover, yoga practitioner, and former public radio fundraiser who grew up in Ohio’s Steel Valley. Her chapbook Just the Girls: A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies; A Drift of Honeybees was published by The Poetry Box in 2020; Finishing Line Press published her chapbook Widow Maker in 2021, and Kelsay Books/Daffydown Dilly Press published her book of poems for children: The Galloping Garbage Truck. Much of her writing focuses on the Holocaust and her father’s WWII service in the 82nd Airborne; her Holocaust poem “My Brother’s Coat” won an AWP Intro Journals Project award. Anderson’s poetry has appeared in JennyMag.org, Atticus Review, Volney Road Review, and elsewhere. She is a graduate of the NEOMFA Program.
Mindee Arnett
Mindee Arnett is the author of the critically acclaimed sci-fi thriller Avalonas well the Arkwell Academyseries. An avid eventer, she lives on a farm near Dayton, Ohio with her husband, two kids, and assorted animals. When not telling tales of magic, the supernatural, or outer space, she can be found on a horse, trying to jump anything that will stand still. Onyx and Ivoryis her first foray into high fantasy. Find her on the web at mindeearnett.com
Patricia Averbach
Patricia Averbach, a Cleveland native, is the former director of the Chautauqua Writers’ Center in Chautauqua, New York. Her first novel, Painting Bridges dealt with historic issues in deaf education. It was described by Michelle Ross, critic for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, as “an intelligent, introspective and moving novel.” Averbach was the 2013 winner of the London based Lumen/Camden Prize for Poetry. Her poetry chapbook, Missing Persons, was featured in the Times of London Literary Supplement as one of the top poetry pamphlets of the year. For more on Averbach go to her website at patriciaaverbach.com.
Janet Beard
Born and raised in East Tennessee, Janet Beard moved to New York to study screenwriting at NYU and went on to earn an MFA in creative writing from The New School. Her first novel, ‘Beneath the Pines’, was published in 2008, and her follow-up, ‘The Atomic City Girls’ became an international bestseller 2018. Janet’s latest novel, The Ballad of Laurel Springs, was published in October 2021. Janet has lived and worked in Australia, England, Boston, and Columbus, Ohio, where she is currently raising a daughter and working on a new novel.
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. 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.
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. 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.
Jenn Bishop
Jenn Bishop is the author of five novels for young readers, including the Parents’ Choice Gold Award winner Things You Can’t Say and 2023 & 2024 Choose to Read Ohio title Where We Used to Roam. Her books have been named Junior Library Guild selections and Bank Street College of Education best books and have been finalists for state book awards. She currently calls Cincinnati, Ohio, home. What team do you think she roots for?