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.
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Dawn Combs
Dawn Combs is an ethnobotanist with over 20 years experience in botanical based wellness. Dawn is a nationally respected educator and speaker, an online and in print contributor to several national magazines, co-owner of Mockingbird Meadows and Director of its educational programs. She lives on a farm in Central Ohio with her husband, Carson, and two children, Aidan and Jacy. Dawn is the author of Conceiving Healthy Babies: An Herbal Guide to Support Preconception, Pregnancy and Lactation, and Heal Local, 20 Essential Herbs for Do-it-Yourself Home Healthcare.
Jane Congdon
Jane Congdon grew up in the mountains of West Virginia. After graduating from Concord College (now Concord University) she made a career of words, working as an English teacher and a newspaper reporter before finding her niche as a textbook editor in Cincinnati, Ohio. She retired in 2009 after 30 years to write and take on selected editing projects.
At age 59, Jane followed Dracula’s footsteps through Transylvania with a guide, resulting in the memoir It Started with Dracula: The Count, My Mother, and Me. She then co-authored her brother’s memoir, Mr. Joe: Tales from a Haunted Life. Mr. Joe was a finalist for the 2014 Ohioana Book Award in Nonfiction.
At 69, Jane returned to the mountains as a backpacker on the Appalachian Trail. To date she has hiked 1,195 miles of the AT in 7 of its 14 states–Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Maine–alone, with friends, and with a glass good-luck charm named Ms. Rabbit. How the WILD EFFECT Turned Me into a Hiker at 69 is the story of Jane’s unlikely journey from the Ohio suburbs to the back country of the Appalachian Mountains.
All three books were published by Bettie Youngs Book Publishers and are available from Amazon and other outlets.
Christina Consolino
A graduate of the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) with a BA in French and PhD in physiology, Christina Consolino taught college-level anatomy and physiology for close to twenty years before concentrating her passion on writing and editing. She’s the author of Rewrite the Stars and The Weight We Carry, and she’s co-author of Historic Photos of University of Michigan. She lives in Kettering, Ohio, with her husband, four children, and a rotating cast of pets. Learn more at https://christinaconsolino.com/
Renee Casteel Cook
A Buckeye not by birth but by choice, Renee Casteel Cook is a Columbus-based author of culinary history and travel titles, including The Columbus Food Truck Cookbook and Ohio Ice Cream: A Scoop of History. Her passion for writing and chocolate are equally matched, making this book a labor of nothing but love. Eternally impressed at the drive and dedication of food-focused entrepreneurs and the continuing commitment of generational family-run businesses, Renee strives to successfully share their stories, capturing a curated selection of legacies both established and developing. Her hope is to inspire future creators of all types to take the leap toward what they love.
Amanda Nicole Corbin
Amanda Nicole Corbin is an Ohio-based poet who has had her work published in The Notre Dame Review, The London Magazine, Door is a Jar, and more. Her work was nominated for Best Microfiction 2024. Her debut full-length collection, addiction is a sweet dark room, (Another New Calligraphy, 2024) focuses largely on her journey and struggles with mental health and addiction. She is currently working on a full-length manuscript around the topics of bodily autonomy, loss, and early motherhood. Find her on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram at @ancpoet or at http://www.amandanicolecorbin.com
Carey Corp
CAREY CORP wrote her first book, a brilliant retelling of Star Wars, at the prodigious age of seven. Since then, her love affair of reinvention has continued to run amuck. She harbors a voracious passion (in no consistent order) for mohawks, Italy, musical theater, chocolate, and Jane Austen. Her debut novel for teens, THE HALO CHRONICLES: THE GUARDIAN, earned her national recognition. DOON, her latest young adult series from BLINK/HarperCollins, is inspired by the musical Brigadoon (used with permission from the Alan Jay Lerner Estate & the Frederick Loewe Foundation) and co-written with Lorie Langdon.
Shelley Costa
SHELLEY COSTA is a 2004 Edgar Award nominee for Best Short Story, and 2014 Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel (You Cannoli Die Once, Simon and Schuster). She is the author of Basil Instinct (Simon and Schuster, 2014), Practical Sins for Cold Climates (Henery Press, 2016) and A Killer’s Guide to Good Works (Henery Press, 2016). Shelley’s short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Blood on Their Hands, and The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories. She teaches fiction writing at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Visit her at http://www.shelleycosta.com.
Bill Cotter
Bill was cooked slowly and evenly in the warm embrace of midwest suburbia. After studying art in Baltimore, he then moved to New York City where he found work as a pre-K art and music teacher. In between fingerpainting and singing songs he wrote and illustrated is debut book “Don’t Push the Button!” which has gone on to be a USA Today bestseller. Bill has since moved back to his hometown of Cleveland and spends his days drawing, playing music, and daydreaming.
Cynthia Crane
Cynthia A. Crane, Ph.D. is the author of All About Winston Churchill (Cardinal Press) and the acclaimed historical nonfiction, Divided Lives: The Untold Stories of Jewish-Christian Women in Nazi Germany (St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan), and is Associate Professor of English at the University of Cincinnati, BAC. Her poetry, nonfiction, and book reviews have appeared in various publications, such as Mid-American Review, Popular Culture Review, History Magazine, and H-Net.…
Read MoreCynthia A. Crane, Ph.D. is the author of All About Winston Churchill (Cardinal Press) and the acclaimed historical nonfiction, Divided Lives: The Untold Stories of Jewish-Christian Women in Nazi Germany (St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan), and is Associate Professor of English at the University of Cincinnati, BAC. Her poetry, nonfiction, and book reviews have appeared in various publications, such as Mid-American Review, Popular Culture Review, History Magazine, and H-Net. Crane has appeared on national radio and television programs, including C-Span Book-TV, and is a sought after speaker, having given nearly one hundred public presentations. Among her awards, she has received a Fulbright Scholarship, a Holocaust Education Foundation Summer Institute Fellowship, and a P.E.O. National Scholar’s Award.