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.
For more information about our collection and programming for authors, please click on the "Authors" main tab above.
- You are searching within category(ies): 2024
Hanif Abdurraqib
Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. His poetry has been published in Muzzle, Vinyl, PEN American, and various other journals. His essays and music criticism have been published in The FADER, Pitchfork, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. His first full length poetry collection, The Crown Ain’t Worth Much, was released in June 2016 from Button Poetry. It was named a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Prize, and was nominated for a Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. With Big Lucks, he released a limited edition chapbook, Vintage Sadness, in summer 2017 (you cannot get it anymore and he is very sorry.) His first collection of essays, They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, was released in winter 2017 by Two Dollar Radio and was named a book of the year by Buzzfeed, Esquire, NPR, Oprah Magazine, Paste, CBC, The Los Angeles Review, Pitchfork, and The Chicago Tribune, among others. He released Go Ahead In The Rain: Notes To A Tribe Called Quest with University of Texas press in February 2019. The book became a New York Times Bestseller, was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, and was longlisted for the National Book Award. His second collection of poems, A Fortune For Your Disaster, was released in 2019 by Tin House, and won the 2020 Lenore Marshall Prize. In 2021, he released the book A Little Devil In America with Random House, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the The PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. The book won the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction and the Gordon Burn Prize. Hanif is a graduate of Beechcroft High School. Check out his website: http://www.abdurraqib.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
Breshea Anglen
Breshea is a fantasy author with a penchant for penning stories with magical realism, adventure, and romance, centering BIPOC characters. She attended BGSU and obtained both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Education. After graduating from BGSU in 2016, Breshea returned to Cleveland and began her career as a middle school English teacher. During this time, she self-published her first novel, A Shrouded Spark. Breshea resides in Cleveland with her daughter and family. Check out her website at: https://www.bresheaanglen.com.
Kalynn Applewhite
Kalynn Applewhite is a writer at heart with a lifetime love of fantasy. She is a work-at-home mom and lead creator for Applewhite Games. Through her books she pursues her passion for exploring feminist themes through fiction. Kalynn loves playing games, taking hikes, and eating super dark chocolate. She lives in Ohio with her husband and their menagerie of children, cats, chickens, and houseplants.
David Arnold
David Arnold is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Mosquitoland, I Loved You in Another Life, The Electric Kingdom, Kids of Appetite, and The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik. He has won the Southern Book Prize and the Great Lakes Book Award, and was named a Publishers Weekly Flying Start for his debut. His books have been translated into over a dozen languages. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky, with his wife and son. Learn more at davidarnoldbooks.com and follow him on Instagram @iamdavidarnold.
Jashar Awan
Growing up outside of Washington, DC, Jashar Awan loved drawing and reading. In fact, he still does. Jashar debuted as an author-illustrator in 2020 and has published picture books with Norton, Simon & Schuster, and Tundra Books. His works have been recognized with an ALA Notable and Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selections and have been included on Choose to Read Ohio’s Booklist and Bank Street College’s Best Books of the Year. They have also received numerous starred reviews from Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, and School Library Journal. A longtime New Yorker, Jashar moved to Ohio in 2017 with his wife and son, who love drawing and reading, too. Learn more at http://jasharawan.com/
Karina Bartow
Karina Bartow hails from Northern Ohio. Though born with Cerebral Palsy, she’s never allowed her disability to define her. Rather, she’s used her experiences to breathe life into characters who have physical limitations, but like her, are determined not to let them stand in the way of the life they want. She may only be able to type with one hand, but she writes with her whole heart!
To learn more, visit http://www.KarinaBartow.com.
Tom Batiuk
In Tom’s own words: “Okay, here we go, gang, biography lite. I was born in Akron, Ohio, in 1947. After graduating from Kent State University in 1969 with a BFA and a certificate in education, I taught art in Elyria, Ohio at Eastern Heights Jr. High. In 1970, while I was teaching, I began drawing a panel for the teen page of the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram. Those strips led to the creation of Funky Winkerbean in 1972. Funky is syndicated by King Features Syndicate to more than 400 newspapers nationwide. I skipped over a lot of hard work in the middle there, but that’s basically the gist of it for those of you doing term papers. In 1979. I launched John Darling into syndication working with Tom Armstrong, Gerry Shamray, and Bob Vojtko, in that order. Great artists all. John Darling was a talk show host who first saw the light of day in Funky, and who was quite literally killed off when his strip ended. Another character from Funky, Ed Crankshaft, soloed in his own strip in 1987, on which I work with the inimitable and talented Dan Davis.”
S. F. Baumgartner
S.F. Baumgartner is a Christian suspense thriller author. She graduated from the University of Hawaii and the University of Cincinnati. When not writing, she enjoys spending time with her cats, staying active, and binge-watching crime TV shows. She lives in Ohio with her family.
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?