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): Juvenile
Camille Licate
Camille Licate, author of “Bree and Me : A True Story of a Rescue Rooster’s
Journey” is Bree, the Rescue Rooster’s Mom! She is the Founder of
Kids for Positive Change, a multimedia environmental education company
reaching, teaching and inspiring kids to take positive action for animals,
people and the planet, through live events and the Kids for Positive Change
television show, currently airing on WQLN PBS, and online, on PBS Learning
Media. Camille is the creator, writer and host of the Kids for Positive Change
television show, which features the KPC Team, young changemakers from
coast to coast, expert guests, and Bree the Rescue Rooster! When not on
set, Camille and Bree are on stage, as guest speakers, (or in Bree’s case
guest “beaker”) at live Kids for Positive Change school and community
outreach events.
Born in Ashtabula, Ohio, Camille always had a great affinity for animals,
writing, education and entertainment. She graduated from Mercyhurst
University, in Erie, PA, earning a degree in Dance and a minor in
Anthropology. Camille lived in NYC, where she studied and performed with
The Martha Graham Dance Company and worked as a pottery analyst for
The American Museum of Natural History. She was hired as a “dancer who
could act,” by The Shakespeare Theatre, in Washington D.C., and went on to
star in many stage productions before making the coastal leap to Los
Angeles, CA, where she worked as a professional actress and screenwriter,
making her screenwriting debut with her animated children’s film, “IZZIE’S
WAY HOME.” An animal advocate, Camille worked for Orangutan Foundation
International and traveled to Camp Leakey, in Borneo, Indonesia, to film and
study the endangered orangutan. In 2017, Camille founded Kids for Positive
Change, piloting her programs at Ashtabula Area City Schools, in Ashtabula,
Ohio and, over the years, expanding her live event programs to schools in
Ohio and New York. Season one of the Kids for Positive Change television
show, debuted on PBS stations in New York, North Carolina, Michigan,
Pennsylvania and Colorado, in 2021 and 2022, and season two is set to
debut on WQLN, PBS, in Erie, PA, in early 2023.
Camille serves on the board of Kent State University’s Rising Scholars
Program, in Ashtabula, Ohio, and is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni
award, from Mercyhurst University, in Erie, PA, for Outstanding Service to
the Community. In addition to “Bree and Me,” Camille has authored and
self-published the books, Small Shoes : Outgrowing Old Relationships and
Finding the Right Fit and Breelieve! A Coloring and Picture Book, featuring
Bree, the rescue rooster.
Camille’s three favorite things: Dogs in coats, airport reunions and vegan
donuts. Learn more: https://www.camillelicate.com/about/
Loren Long
Loren Long is the author and illustrator of the New York Times bestselling picture books Otis, Otis and the Tornado, Otis and the Puppy, An Otis Christmas, Otis and the Scarecrow and Otis and the Kittens. He is the #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator of President Barack Obama’s picture book Of Thee I Sing, Matt de la Pena’s Love, the re-illustrated edition of The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper, and Mr. Peabody’s Apples by Madonna. Loren’s new edition of Clement C. Moore’s The Night Before Christmas is a modern, more inclusive take on the classic. His most recent works are Someone Builds the Dream by Lisa Wheeler and the much anticipated picture book, Change Sings written by Inaugural Poet Amanda Gorman. The Otis series has been developed as an animated television series, Get Rolling With Otis, on Apple TV, which Loren Executive Produced. To learn more, please visit LorenLong.com, @lorenlong or @thelorenlong on IG.
Visit his website at: https://lorenlong.com/
J.A. Love
Author J.A. Hall was born and raised in Athens County, Ohio. She has a PhD in Communication Studies from Ohio University. Hall is the proprietor of Little Meadow Farm, which is a private sanctuary that gives animals of all shapes and sizes forever homes.
Margeaux Lucas
Margeaux Lucas has illustrated many books for children, including My Little Golden Book About Betty White (with co-author Jean Colebank) and My Little Golden Book About Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Living near New York City, she is inspired by the diversity of it’s people, the many galleries, museums and charming coffee shops, and, closer to home, the beauty of the historic Hudson River. She is currently at work on My Little Golden Book About Jane Goodall. https://margeauxlucas.com/books
Tammie Lyon
Tammie Lyon is the award-winning author and illustrator of numerous picture books for children. Her first authored picture book, Olive and Snowflake, was released to starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal. Let's Hear It For Almigal was recently awarded the Mom’s Choice Award Gold Medal Winner.…
Read MoreTammie Lyon is the award-winning author and illustrator of numerous picture books for children. Her first authored picture book, Olive and Snowflake, was released to starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal. Let’s Hear It For Almigal was recently awarded the Mom’s Choice Award Gold Medal Winner. My Pup and Bugs In My Hair have both been included on the list of the “Top 100 Best Children’s Books” by the Bank Street College of Education. She is known for her work on the Eloise series for Simon and Schuster as well as her new series, Katie Woo, published by Stonearch Books. Visit her online at http://www.mbartists.com.
Dandi Daley Mackall
Dandi won her first writing contest as a 10-year-old tomboy. Her 50 words on “Why I Want to Be Batboy for the Kansas City A’s” won first place, but the team wouldn’t let a girl be batboy. It was her first taste of rejection. Since then, Dandi has become an award-winning author of about 500 books for all ages (from infant to adult) and in every genre. The Silence of Murder (Knopf/Random House) won the Edgar Award for Best YA and ALA-YALSA Best Fiction. Legend of Ohio and Rudy Rides the Rails: A Depression Era Story won Notable Book awards, a Children’s Book Council award, the Angel Award, the “Award of Excellence” from Chicago Book Show. A Girl Named Dan (her own “batboy” story, and a lesson on Title IX) won a Mom’s Choice & the Amelia Bloom. My Boyfriends’ Dogs (now a Hallmark movie, “most watched” 2014), gained her national attention. With Love, Wherever You Are, Dandi’s grown-up novel about her parents, Army Dr. and Nurse in WW2, won the Reader’s Choice Award and earned PW and Booklist starred reviews. Other awards: the Helen Keating Ott Award for Contributions to Children’s Literature; OCIRA Hall of Fame; ALA Best Book; Top Teen Read by New York Public Library; Romantic Times’ Top Pick; Gold Medallions, Christian Book Awards, etc. Dandi is a national speaker, keynoting at conferences and Young Author events, enjoying school visits, and making appearances on TV (ABC, NBC, and CBS). Dandi writes from rural Ohio, where she lives with her family, including horses, dogs, cats, and an occasional squirrel, deer, or raccoon.
Erica Magnus
A first generation American, Erica Magnus grew up in rural Connecticut’s natural beauty, delighting in her three freedoms; exploring nature’s wonders barefoot whenever possible, fulfilling her deep love for drawing in color or with sticks in the dirt if that was all at hand, and satisfying her endless passion for stories. Her Norwegian family kept their European culture and values their cornerstone through good times and bad. For them, creative expression was assumed and expected. ! Later, these forces all came together when Erica began her career in publishing. Picture books proved a good home for her wide range of freelance art skills as author and illustrator, and illustrator for others, for over 22 years. She continued to write and illustrate them until her passions for stories drew her to film as storyboard, concept, and creature design artist. Moving to LA to work and live led to exciting creative collaborations in television. She also applied these skills to graphic novel development projects for professional writers. ! Teaching art classes throughout her career continues, providing many opportunities to contribute what she has learned. But most of all, Erica is happy to return to Athens County, Ohio, where she lives again near family and grandchildren, good neighbors and old friends. Her journey brought her back to publishing too. Now her three freedoms bring daily delights once again and a new old way to share them.
Paul Many
Maybe it’s happened to you: Waking from troubled dreams, you find you’ve turned into a scaly, scary T. rex. No? Lucky. For this is exactly what happens to Gregory in my picture book, Dinomorphosis. And this on the very day of his big class presentation, no less! Gregory tries to make believe that nothing is wrong, blundering through with his clumsy, scaly body and voice the level of ROAR, until his classmates and an understanding teacher finally come to his rescue.
Paul Many wrote Dinomorphosisis for those of us who don’t have a good day every day and are sometimes surprised about who we see in the mirror. He’s the author of five previous children’s books, one of which won a Los Angeles Times’ Best Children’s Book of the Year, and has appeared on the NBC national Today show promoting another. His hardcover YA books have been reprinted in paper and translated into three languages including Danish (!). He has an MFA in creative writing and a chapbook of poems among other publications. His PhD dissertation, “The Effect of Advertising on Consumer Press Credibility” has sold two copies.
Allison and Wayne Marks
English majors who met in a college Chaucer class, husband and wife Wayne and Allison Marks share a love for words and revel in a tale well-told. They enjoy spinning tales from the porch of their 100-year-old home in Akron, Ohio, where they raised twins, Elliott and Claire.
Melissa Martin
Melissa Martin, Ph.D., is a clinical child therapist with experience as a play therapist, adjunct professor,
workshop leader and trainer, and behavioral health consultant. Her specializations include mental health trauma treatment, EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing), and expressive therapies. A self-syndicated newspaper columnist, she writes about children’s mental health issues and parenting. Melissa lives in Ohio.