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): Nonfiction
Megan E. Griffiths
Megan E. Griffiths is an adjunct professor in the department of Biological Science at Kent State University. Over the past two decades, Dr. Griffiths has studied plant-plant interactions with particular focus on understanding the mechanisms by which disturbance and competition impact plant communities.
W.H. Chip Gross
Freelance writer, photographer, speaker, and editor Chip Gross has been fascinated by the out-of-doors all his life. At an early age, Gross was taught to fish by his grandfather and as a young teenager learned to hunt from his father. Gross attended Ohio State University, majoring in Wildlife Management. In 1976, Gross was hired by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, as a State Wildlife Officer.…
Read MoreFreelance writer, photographer, speaker, and editor Chip Gross has been fascinated by the out-of-doors all his life. At an early age, Gross was taught to fish by his grandfather and as a young teenager learned to hunt from his father. Gross attended Ohio State University, majoring in Wildlife Management. In 1976, Gross was hired by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, as a State Wildlife Officer. He has also written four books: Home, At Last, Is The Hunter, a fiction novel; Pro Tactics: Steelhead & Salmon; Ohio Wildlife Viewing Guide; and Young Beginner’s Guide to Shooting & Archery. A member of Outdoor Writers of Ohio and the Outdoor Writers Association of America, Gross has been tired from the Ohio DNR since 2002.
Jill Grunenwald
Jill Grunenwald has her BFA from Bowling Green State University and her MLIS from the University of Kentucky. She is the author of two memoirs: Running with a Police Escort: Tales from the Back of the Pack(Skyhorse, 2017) and Reading Behind Bars: A Memoir of Literature, Law, and Life as a Prison Librarian (Skyhorse, 2019). Currently, she is employed as a marketing & communications specialist at OverDrive, the leading ebook and audiobook app for libraries, where she is also the creator and co-host of the Professional Book Nerds podcast.
Ted Gup
Ted Gup is the author of the bestseller The Book of Honor, winner of the Investigative Reporters and Editors Book-of-the-Year Award, and Nation of Secrets, winner of the Shorenstein Book Prize. He is Professor and Chair of the Journalism Department at Emerson College. A former investigative reporter for The Washington Post, where he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and Time magazine, he has taught at Case Western Reserve University, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing as a Fulbright Scholar. He has written for publications such as the Smithsonian, National Geographic, The New York Times, Boston Globe, Village Voice, Sports Illustrated, Slate, GQ, Mother Jones, Audubon, Columbia Journalism Review, NPR, and Newsweek. Visit Ted’s website: http://www.asecretgiftbook.com/.
Sandra Gurvis
Sandra Gurvis (http://www.sandragurvis.com) is the author of 18 commercially published books and hundreds of magazine and web articles. Her titles include DAY TRIPS FROM COLUMBUS, 3rd ed.; OHIO CURIOSITIES, 2nd ed.; CAREERS FOR NONCONFORMISTS, which was a selection of the Quality Paperback Book Club; and more. Along having her books featured on radio, television and in newspapers and magazines, PARIS HILTON: A BIOGRAPHY was translated into Chinese and her second novel, COUNTRY CLUB WIVES was optioned as a television series by Insight Productions out of Toronto, Canada.
Recent titles include 111 PLACES IN COLUMBUS THAT YOU MUST NOT MISS, MYTHS AND MYSTERIES OF OHIO and a re-issuing of her first novel, THE PIPE DREAMERS. Her most current project, THREE RINGLING CIRCUS: THE HISTORY OF SARASOTA, FLORIDA AND THE FAMOUS RINGLING BROTHERS is forthcoming from Pineapple/Rowman in early 2024. She is currently at work on DOING HARD TIME IN SENIORVILLE, the first of a series of satire/mysteries set in The Villages of Florida.
A freelance writer for over 30 years, Sandra has written corporate profiles and technical articles for clients such as Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Ohio Health, Merrill Lynch, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Association of American Medical Colleges and publications such as Selling Power, Creativity, ASRT Scanner, Optical Technology, B’nai B’rith magazine, Currents and AAA Today. Additionally, she has created Web content for Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, Palm Beach Media, worth.com and many others. Along with rewriting and editing books on medical and business topics, she prepares newsletters and assists in the writing and publication of magazines and web content covering a variety of healthcare and business issues.
A major aspect of her work has been on the Vietnam protests and their aftereffects. Her nonfiction title, WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWER CHILDREN GONE? delves into all facets of the Vietnam era, from tracking the student protest and conservative movements to comparing the controversy surrounding Vietnam and the Middle East. Her novel, THE PIPE DREAMERS is a fictional exploration of the late ’60s/early 70s, mostly set in the small college town of Hampton, Ohio.
She has also written on this topic for the Ohio State Alumni Magazine, People and many other publications. Other bylines and credits include People, YM, Entertainment Weekly, Fiction Writer, Woman’s World, Parenting, The World and I, Coast to Coast, USA Weekend, Chicago Tribune, as well as travel articles, promotional materials and advertorials. Along with being selected for residencies and fellowships at the Mary Anderson Center in Mt. St. Francis, Indiana; the Vermont Writers Studio in Johnston; and receiving grants from the National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) and the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas as well as certification from the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) Sandra is a longtime member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). She lectures frequently on writing and her books and lives in Bradenton, Florida.
Susan Guy
Susan M. Guy was born and raised in Jefferson County, Ohio. Following in the footsteps of her father, a retired Wintersville police captain, Susan served as the first female police officer on the Cross Creek Township Police Department for fifteen years, acheiveing the rank of sergeant. Since 1994, she has been employed by the State of Ohio as a correctional officer.
She is a member of the Fort Steuben Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and is the public relations director for the Tri State Writers Society. She credits the Tri State Writers Society and its president, author Karina Garrison, for asking her to write a short story on prostitution in Steubenville. The story took on a life of its own, as the urge to dig for more information took over. The result is this book, Mobsters, Madams & Murder in Steubenville, Ohio (The Story of Little Chicago).
Ann Hagedorn
Ann Hagedorn has written for the Wall Street Journal and New York Daily News and is the author of five critically acclaimed books, including the Ohioana Award-winning Beyond the River and Savage Peace, Her latest book is The Invisible Soldiers: How America Outsourced Our Security.…
Read MoreAnn Hagedorn has written for the Wall Street Journal and New York Daily News and is the author of five critically acclaimed books, including the Ohioana Award-winning Beyond the River and Savage Peace, Her latest book is The Invisible Soldiers: How America Outsourced Our Security. (Photo by Jeanie Wulfkuhle)
Andrea Hall
Andrea Hall is an author and children’s book editor. She received a BA in English/creative writing from Miami University in Ohio. She’s a former book reviewer for the Ohioana Quarterly and a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. When not writing, Andrea can be found crafting, baking, and reading. Raised in Ohio, Andrea currently lives in Chicago.
Blaine Paxton Hall
Blaine Paxton Hall was born in Cambridge, Ohio and grew up in Chicago and Woodstock, IL. He is the author of Hestia’s House, a literary memoir with the overarching theme of home.
Including historical photos, his memoir documents his growing up in the Woodstock Children’s Home–which had a historical connection to Orson Welles.
But the challenges of being abandoned by his parents and having to provide for all his college education could not have prepared him for the existential struggles of his medical, surgical, legal and social gender transition in 1983 at age 31. He was the first to transition in NC, going his trajectory, where he’s lived since July 1981. See hestiashouse.com.
His childhood and early adulthood experiences gave rise to his developing keen intuition into the suffering of others; and he became a highly accomplished trailblazer, not only in his life, but also in his medical career. He is the Founder of the American Academy of Nephrology PAs (May 1997) and the Founder of the Duke Adult Gender Medicine Clinic (Jan 3, 2018). See: https://pahx.org/bios/hall-blaine-paxton/
Upon concluding his clinical and teaching activities at Duke University Health System, he founded The School of Athens, an adult academy which, in the classical liberal arts tradition, provides educational experiences to inspire lifelong learning in the pursuit of the most noble ideas, artistic and intellectual accomplishments of mankind. See: theschoolofathens.net
The theme of home has been pervasive throughout Hall’s life. In December 2020, Ohio became the second-to-the-last state in the Union to allow one to amend the gender marker on one’s birth certificate. Working through Probate Court in Guernsey County, Ohio, Mr. Hall was finally able to obtain his amended birth certificate in December 2021. He framed his coveted, new birth certificate in white, to signify innocence, rebirth and hope. And he displays it right next to his original, handwritten, Cambridge Ohio, 1952 birth certificate. He is equally proud of both.
Anietra Hamper
Anietra Hamper is an award-winning published travel writer and photographer and owner of ThreeWordPress.
Her travels take her around the world covering destinations, adventure travel and fishing for regional and national publications including AAA, USAToday, Game & Fish, PlanetWare.com, FIDO Friendly magazine, TourismOhio.com, Columbus Parent Magazine and official Visitor Guides for several counties in Ohio. Anietra’s quick rise in the travel writing industry led to her admission into the prestigious Society of American Travel Writers.
As a Columbus, Ohio native and owner of ThreeWordPress, Anietra writes corporate marketing content for websites, blogs, videos and Apps. She is also an executive speech coach and on-camera talent for corporate videos as well as commercials and television shows.
Before starting her own business, Anietra spent nearly 20 years as a top-rated television news Anchor and Emmy nominated investigative Reporter. Her stories ranged from investigations into the dangers of commercial popcorn flavoring to interviewing presidential candidates to pulling 9G’s in an F-16 fighter jet with the U.S. Thunderbirds.
Anietra has won numerous industry awards for travel writing and television news reporting. She is also a recipient of the YWCA Women of Achievement Award, Jefferson Award and Congressional Award.
Anietra and her dog Sunny live in Gahanna.