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.
- You are searching within category(ies): 2017
Ian Adams
Ian Adams is a landscape photographer, writer and educator specializing in Ohio’s natural, rural, historical and garden areas. Twenty-one books of his color photography have been published, including his most recent, A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio – Volume 2, which was released by Ohio University Press in April, 2015 and a centennial edition of Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, published by the University of Akron Press in May, 2015. Ian has produced more than 60 Ohio calendars and conducted over 200 seminars and workshops in nature, garden, and digital photography throughout North America. He is an adjunct lecturer at Ohio State University’s Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster, Ohio where he teaches digital photography. Ian shares a home in Cuyahoga Falls with two cats, Fuji and Spicer, and an assortment of cameras. Find him online at http://ianadamsphotography.com.
Lisa Amstutz
Lisa Amstutz is the author of more than 150 books for children. She holds degrees in Biology and Environmental Science. A former outdoor educator, she specializes in topics related to nature, sustainability, and agriculture. Lisa lives with her family on a small farm in Ohio. https://www.lisaamstutz.com
Nin Andrews
Nin Andrews’s poems and stories have appeared in many literary journals and anthologies including Ploughshares, The Paris Review, Best American Poetry (1997, 2001, 2003, 2013), The Best American Erotic Poems from 1800, The Best American Prose Poems, No Boundaries, Sudden Stories: A Mammoth Anthology of Miniscule Fiction, The House of Your Dreams: An International Collection of Prose Poems, Seriously Funny, and Nothing to Declare: A Guide to the Flash Sequence. The recipient of an individual artist grant from the Ohio Arts Council in 1997 and again in 2003, she is the author of six chapbooks and six full-length poetry collections. Her book, Why God Is a Woman, won the 2016 Ohioana award in poetry. Her next book, Miss August, will be published in the spring of 2017. The mother of two grown children, she lives in Poland, Ohio, with her husband, a physics professor and bass player, and their Boston terrier, Froda.
Christopher Bachelder
Chris Bachelder’s fourth novel, The Throwback Special, was a finalist for the 2016 National Book Award and the winner of The Paris Review’s Terry Southern Prize for humor. His other novels include Abbott Awaits, U.S.!, and Bear v. Shark. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Cincinnati, where he teaches writing at the University of Cincinnati.
Vidas Barzdukas
Vidas Barzdukas is an award-winning writer and director whose films have been screened at numerous U.S. film festivals, featured on PBS stations, and broadcast on television networks in Asia. In 2015, Vidas earned accolades from the Columbus Dispatch for his “stirring and amusing” stage adaptation of Rafael Sabatini’s 1922 swashbuckling novel Captain Blood. His film, the black-and-white fantasy “The New Mr. Phillips,” won Best Narrative Short at the Oregon Film Awards, and he also won the Best Screenwriting award for his short film “Cold” at the Cincinnati Winterfilm Film Competition. Vidas was nominated for “Best Writer—Drama” by the International Academy of Web Television (IAWTV) for his work on the science fiction series Aidan 5, which was nominated for 19 IAWTV awards. Vidas is a writer on the Emmywinning Nite Owl Theatre starring Fritz the Nite Owl, which is a long-running, late-night staple of Central Ohio’s film scene. In addition to theatre and film, Vidas works in educational publishing, where he writes a wide variety of textbooks and classroom materials for K-12 students. His educational publishing subjects include reading, language arts, and history. Vidas’s passion for education also earned him a spot on the Emmy-winning children’s show Taylor’s Attic as its Educational Writing Consultant. A proud member of the Dramatists Guild, Vidas lives in Ohio with his wife and two daughters.
Will Bashor
Will Bashor, MBA, Ph.D., also has a B.A. degree in French and an M.A. degree in French literature from Ohio University. He earned his Ph.D. in International Studies from the American Graduate School in Paris where he gathered letters, newspapers, journals, and plays during his research for his trilogy on Marie Antoinette. Professor at Franklin University and Southern New Hampshire University, he is also a member of the Society for French Historical Studies. In 2013 he attended its annual meeting at Harvard University where he presented the political importance of the role of Leonard Autié, Marie Antoinette’s coiffeur, in the royal family’s unsuccessful flight to Varennes. Visit him at http://www.willbashor.com
Laura Bickle
Laura Bickle grew up in rural Ohio, reading entirely too many comic books out loud to her favorite Wonder Woman doll. After graduating with an MA in Sociology – Criminology from Ohio State University and an MLIS in Library Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she patrolled the stacks at the public library and worked with data systems in criminal justice. She now dreams up stories about the monsters under the stairs, also writing contemporary fantasy novels under the name Alayna Williams. Her work has been included in the ALA’s Amelia Bloomer Project 2013 reading list and the State Library of Ohio’s Choose to Read Ohio reading list for 2015-2016. Her newest project is the Wildlands contemporary fantasy series for Harper Voyager. The latest updates on her work are available at http://www.laurabickle.com/
Mansel G. Blackford
Mansel G. Blackford is Professor Emeritus at The Ohio State University.
Tim Bowers
Tim Bowers fueled his childhood imagination with comic book superheroes, television comedies and his grandparents’ many animals, including dogs, cats, chickens, a talking parrot, a house pig and a squirrel monkey, named Joe. It’s no surprise that Tim’s career in illustration would be filled with humorous stories and animal characters. Bowers has illustrated over fifty children’s books, including collaborations with Olympian Kristy Yamaguchi (Dream Big, Little Pig!) and singer/songwriter Kenny Loggins (Footloose). Several of Bowers’ books have been New York Times Bestsellers and he has received numerous state book awards, including the prestigious Texas Bluebonnet Award, for the book Memoirs of a Tortoise. When he isn’t creating art for a children’s book, he is probably strumming his ukulele and writing songs… filled with humor and animal characters. Tim and his family live in Ohio. To find out more about Tim and his art, visit http://www.timbowers.com.
Debra Sue Brice
Debra Sue Brice was born and raised in Ohio. Her fictional characters closely follow the real life adventures of her and her best friends. When not living in her fictional world, Debra Sue is a first grade teacher, avid baker, fanatic Cleveland Monster hockey fan, and successful equestrian who loves spending time with her family.