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): Fiction
Robin Gianna
After completing a degree in journalism from Ohio State University, working in the advertising industry, then becoming a stay-at-home mom for a few years, Robin Gianna had what she likes to call her midlife awakening. She decided she wanted to write the romance novels she’d loved since her teens, and embarked on that quest.
Robin loves pushing her characters to grow until they’re finally ready for their well-deserved happily-ever-afters! When she’s not writing, Robin’s life is filled with a cheerfully messy kitchen, a needy garden, a grand piano she doesn’t practice enough, her own doctor hero husband, three great kids, a drooling bulldog, and one grouchy Siamese cat.
Kellie DuBay Gillis
Kellie DuBay Gillis writes picture books about things you find in nature, things you might not find in nature unless you know the magical places to look, things that happen to most kids, and things most kids wish would happen. Kellie graduated from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment and is an environmental scientist/communications specialist with over 25 years of experience blending her passion for protecting the planet with storytelling. She grew up on a street in Bay City, Michigan with kids who loved to make things and share neighborhood adventures on an old purple tandem bike. She now lives outside of Cleveland in Fairview Park, Ohio with her family, where they ride an old purple tandem bike that they fixed up like new.
Geoffrey Girard
Geoffrey Girard writes thrillers, historicals, dark fantasy, young adult novels, and short speculative fiction for publications including Writers of the Future and the Stoker-nominated Dark Faith anthology. Born in Germany and shaped in New Jersey, Geoffrey graduated from Washington College with a literature degree and worked as an advertising copywriter before shifting to high school English teacher.…
Read MoreGeoffrey Girard writes thrillers, historicals, dark fantasy, young adult novels, and short speculative fiction for publications including Writers of the Future and the Stoker-nominated Dark Faith anthology. Born in Germany and shaped in New Jersey, Geoffrey graduated from Washington College with a literature degree and worked as an advertising copywriter before shifting to high school English teacher. He’s since earned an MA in Creative Writing from Miami University and is the Department Chair of English at a private boys’ school in Cincinnati. Simon and Schuster published two Girard novels in 2013: Cain’s Blood, a techno thriller, and Project Cain, a spinoff novel for young adult readers. For more information, visit http://www.GeoffreyGirard.com.
MaryAnn Givens-Hayes
Times flies after you hit the snooze button. I am MaryAnn Givens-Hayes, born into a large extended family of fifteen in the Tar Heel state of North Carolina. I relocated to New Jersey at the age of nine. I have been married for forty years. Our seven plus four children have given me thirty grands and ten great grandchildren. As a child I loved to listen to my mother read books or tell stories. Those times took me to another world. I began to create my own stories and eventually I wrote them down. Reading is my passion. Writing is my life. Coming from a large family gives me comfort when I’m surrounded by children. I reboot in their company. I’ve had many professions over the years while seeking to find one that I loved more than working with children. I’m now working as an administrator in Columbus, Ohio at a childcare learning center. I’m living my life to write for what I love, children.
Janyce Denise Glasper
Janyce Denise Glasper is a Dayton, Ohio based multidisciplinary artist, writer, and independent scholar. Her essays and short stories have appeared in ÆQAI Journal, Belt Magazine, RaceBaitr, Black Youth Project, and other publications. Currently, she is an Andy Warhol/Creative Capital Art Writer Grant recipient, Roots, Wounds, & Words: Words of Resistance + Restoration Fiction Fellow, and remote contributing arts writer for the Philadelphia based publication artblog. “Route” is her debut illustrated novel.
Robert Glinski
Robert Glinski is the author of A Friendship of Criminals, his first novel. A graduate of Washington University and Temple University School of Law, he was a criminal defense attorney in Philadelphia and New Jersey for a decade before transitioning to investments and global asset positioning. With two writing pieces recently optioned in Hollywood, he now spends his time crafting his next novel and finishing his first screenplay. He lives in Mason, OH with his wife and two children and enjoys traveling anywhere he can bring his fly-fishing rod.
Scott Gloden
Scott Gloden lives in Philadelphia, on unceded Lenape land. His stories have appeared in American Short Fiction, Glimmer Train, and StoryQuarterly. He has a Master’s in Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon and works on homeless and housing initiatives.
Steve Goble
Steve Goble, author of the Spider John historical novels blending piracy and mystery from Seventh Street Books, is introducing a hard-boiled detective series in 2021 with CITY PROBLEMS, from Oceanview Publishing. After more than 30 years in journalism, he now works for a cybersecurity company based in Cleveland. He lives in Ashland County, Ohio.
Shari Goldhagen
Shari Goldhagen is the author of the adult novels IN SOME OTHER WORLD, MAYBE (St. Martin’s Press, 2015) and FAMILY AND OTHER ACCIDENTS (Doubleday, 2006), as well as the YA novel 100 DAYS OF CAKE (Atheneum, 2016). A fellow at both Yaddo and MacDowell and the winner of Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant, Shari has a BSJ from Northwestern University and an MFA from The Ohio State University. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in outlets including, Salon, Cosmopolitan, Prism International, Esquire.com, Conjunctions, Small Spiral Notebook, Indiana Review, and KGB Bar Lit, and she regularly writers about pop culture, travel and relationships for publications including Us Weekly, Life & Style Weekly, Penthouse, NY Metro, and DaySpa. Shari has taught creative writing at OSU, Mediabistro, and the Gotham Writers Workshop. You can find out about her at Sharigoldhagen.com (when she remembers to update her website).