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): 2025
Terreece M. Clarke
Bestselling author and journalist Terreece M. Clarke writes epic love stories about smart, courageous Black women loved without reservation or hesitation. She is active in her artistic community, including as Lincoln Theatre Artist Fellow (2018 Cohort) and a member of the 100 Authors Project. A longtime journalist, she has written for various websites, magazines, newspapers, and as a YA and children’s book reviewer for Common Sense Media. Her work has garnered the attention of the New York Times, Disney, and Jezebel, and her company’s digital marketing clients have landed media appearances for national outlets including Fox Business News, BET, CNN, Ebony Magazine, The Root, and MSNBC. As a successful writer, journalist, entrepreneur, mother of three, and wife to one, she is often asked to lead discussions on women and parenting issues and diversity in media, pop culture, and tech. Terreece’s first book – Olivia’s Potty Adventures, a potty training storybook featuring an African American character – spent 16 weeks as a top new release. Heartbeat: A Courageous Love Novel, her debut romantic suspense novel became a top international romance novel in two categories and kicked off the bestselling Courageous Love Novel series. You can find Terreece writing through life on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook – come join the conversation! https://terreececlarke.com
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
Angela Crook
Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Angela Crook lives in Shaker Heights with her son, and three crazy kitties. She served eleven years in the United States Air Force. She is a proud member of a writer’s group of two other up-and-comers (the Literary Llamas) who meet once a month to critique, encourage, and revel in the pursuit of literary greatness. She has three self-published novels: Fat Chance, Chasing Navah, and Maria’s Song. Her short story, Bitter, is featured in the anthology Cleveland Noir (August 2023). Her first traditionally published novel, Hurt Mountain, was released on March 1st, 2024. Angela can be found on Facebook at @AngelaCrookAuthor, on Instagram as @Angela__Crook, or Threads @Angela__Crook
Ajanaé Dawkins
Ajanaé is a poet, conceptual artist and theologian. She works through poetry, visual art, performance, and audio to explore the politics of faith, grief, and intimate relationships between Black women. As a theologian, she blends cultural criticism, memoir, and theology as autotheory to consider the relationship between Black church history, spirituality, and creation. Her work has appeared in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, The Rumpus, Prairie Schooner, the Indiana Review, Frontier Poetry, The BreakBeat Poets Black Girl Magic Anthology and more. Her solo-exhibition, No One Teaches Us How To Be Daughters, debuted at Urban Arts Space in 2024. Her chapbook, BLOOD-FLEX, won the New Delta Review’s Chapbook prize and is forthcoming in Spring 2025. Ajanaé has performed for the United Nations Secretary of Sexual Violence in Conflict. She contributed to the Solomon R. Guggenheim’s Poetry is Not a Luxury project, led by Ama Codjoe. Her work has been featured on PBS, For Harriet, and Def Jam. She is the winner of the Tinderbox Poetry Journal’s Editors Prize. She was the Taft Museum’s 2022 Duncanson Artist in Residence and is a fellow of Torch Literary, The Watering Hole, and Pink Door. Ajanaé is currently a co-host of the VS Podcast with the Poetry Foundation, and Ohio State University’s UAS Community Artist-in-Residence. Learn more at: https://www.ajanaedawkins.com/
Darren Demaree
Darren C. Demaree is the author of twenty-three poetry collections, most recently So Much More (Harbor Editions, November 2024). He is the recipient of a Greater Columbus Arts Council Grant, an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, the Louise Bogan Award from Trio House Press, and the Nancy Dew Taylor Award from Emrys Journal. He is the editor-in-chief of the Best of the Net Anthology and the managing editor of Ovenbird Poetry. He is currently working in the Columbus Metropolitan Library system. https://darrencdemaree.com/
Sharon M. Draper
Sharon M. Draper is a professional educator as well as an accomplished writer. She has been honored as the National Teacher of the Year, is a five-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Literary Awards, and is a New York Times bestselling author, with Out of my Mind staying on the list for almost two years. She was selected as Ohio’s Outstanding High School Language Arts Educator, Ohio Teacher of the Year, and was chosen as a NCNW Excellence in Teaching Award winner. She is a Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award winner, and was the Duncanson Artist-in-Residence for the Taft Museum. She is a YWCA Career Woman of Achievement, and is the recipient of the Dean’s Award from Howard University School of Education, the Pepperdine University Distinguished Alumnus Award, the Marva Collins Education Excellence Award, and the Governor’s Educational Leadership Award. Last year she was named Ohio Pioneer in Education by the Ohio State Department of Education, and in 2008 she received the Beacon of Light Humanitarian award. In 2009 she received the Doctor of Laws Degree from Pepperdine University. In 2011, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions to the field of adolescent literature by The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English, as well as the 33rd Annual Jeremiah Luddington Award by the Educational Book and Media Association, also for lifetime achievement. In 2015 she was honored by the American Library Association as the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime literary achievement. In 2015 she was honored with the Anne V. Zarrow Award by the Tulsa Library Trust., as well as the 2016 Upstander Award by Antioch College.
John Philip Drury
John Philip Drury is the author of six collections of poetry: The Stray Ghost (State Street Press Chapbooks, 1987), The Disappearing Town (Miami University Press, 2000), Burning the Aspern Papers (Miami University Press, 2003), The Refugee Camp (Turning Point Books, 2011), Sea Level Rising (Able Muse Press, 2015), and The Teller’s Cage: Poems and Imaginary Movies (Able Muse Press, 2024). His first book of narrative nonfiction is Bobby and Carolyn: A Memoir of My Two Mothers (Finishing Line Press, 2024). He has also written Creating Poetry and The Poetry Dictionary (both published by Writer’s Digest Books). His awards include an Ingram Merrill Foundation fellowship, two Ohio Arts Council grants, a Pushcart Prize, and the Bernard F. Conners Prize from The Paris Review for Burning the Aspern Papers. After teaching at the University of Cincinnati for 37 years, he is now a Professor Emeritus of English and lives with his wife, fellow poet LaWanda Walters, in a hundred-year-old house on the edge of a wooded ravine.
Jeffrey Ebbeler
Jeffrey Ebbeler has worked as an art director, book designer, and illustrator. He is a graduate of the Art Academy of Cincinnati. After college he worked for a puppet theater sculpting marionettes and performing. He has since become a full-time freelance illustrator and has illustrated over 40 children’s books, including One Is a Feast for Mouse, Cinco de Mouse O!, Haunted House, Haunted Mouse, and Snow Day for Mouse, all by Judy Cox. He has also written and illustrated A Giant Mess and Kraken Me Up, which was named a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection.
Sue Erhart
Sue Erhart, author of Lose Your Critic for Good, is a lawyer, writer, and fellow traveler on the journey of life. She is a respected leader at a major corporation, while on the side she maintains her popular website, Practical Spirituality. Her weekly newsletter provides practical advice for spiritual journeys, reflecting her professional experience and positivity. Sue’s writings are a testament to her life’s lessons, offering readers a smoother path to self-discovery. Residing in Cincinnati, Ohio, she balances her roles as a wife, mother, cook, and quilter with her passion for writing. Sue invites readers to embark on their own spiritual journey through her website, sueerhart.com.
Savanna Flakes
Savanna Flakes is an award-winning speaker and international educational consultant whose mission is to ignite fires within others to create sustainable change on topics such as inclusion and equity, social emotional learning, and shaking up special education. Savanna is the founder and CEO of Inclusion For a Better Future and partners with school communities around the world to share effective instructional practices for students with exceptionalities. As a champion for inclusive education, Savanna has received numerous honors and awards for her work on behalf of students with disabilities, such as a TEDxTalk; her book for teachers, Shaking Up Special Education: Instructional Moves to Increase Achievement, and many education articles. Savanna is a changemaker, and she is working to positively impact the lives of teachers, children, and families. With her pen and paper, she hopes to continue to bring families and school communities together. As a united team, we can ensure every child shines, and that no dream is impossible!