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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Photo of C. F. Payne

C. F. Payne

C. F. Payne has illustrated more than a dozen picture books, including the New York Times bestselling Mousetronaut by astronaut Mark Kelly, the Texas Bluebonnet winner Shoeless Joe & Black Betsy, written by Phil Bildner, and the New York Times bestsellers The Remarkable Farkle McBride and Micawber, both by John Lithgow.…Read More

C. F. Payne has illustrated more than a dozen picture books, including the New York Times bestselling Mousetronaut by astronaut Mark Kelly, the Texas Bluebonnet winner Shoeless Joe & Black Betsy, written by Phil Bildner, and the New York Times bestsellers The Remarkable Farkle McBride and Micawber, both by John Lithgow. He teaches at the Columbus College of Design, where he is the chair of the Illustration Department. Payne lives with his wife and children in Cincinnati, Ohio. Visit him online at CFPayne.com.
Sue Macy is the acclaimed author of many books for young readers, among them the award-winning Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom; Basketball Belles: How Two Teams and One Scrappy Player Put Women’s Hoops on the Map; and Bylines: A Photobiography of Nellie Bly. A former editor at Scholastic, she lives in Englewood, New Jersey.

Photo of Shelley Pearsall

Shelley Pearsall

Shelley Pearsall is the nationally-recognized author of seven fiction novels for readers in grades 4 to 8. Her novels, All of the Above, and The Seventh Most Important Thing, were ALA Notable Books. Trouble Don't Last was the winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction and an Ohioana award winner. Shelley's books are frequent choices for community and all-school reads.…Read More

Shelley Pearsall is the nationally-recognized author of seven fiction novels for readers in grades 4 to 8. Her novels, All of the Above, and The Seventh Most Important Thing, were ALA Notable Books. Trouble Don’t Last was the winner of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction and an Ohioana award winner. Shelley’s books are frequent choices for community and all-school reads. They cover a wide variety of topics including art, U.S. history, geometry–and even, Elvis! Shelley is a former teacher with a Master’s in Education and she is a frequent school presenter.

Photo of Carlotta Penn

Carlotta Penn

Carlotta Penn has loved writing since she was a young girl. At age eight she wrote in her diary, “I love to write books. I am an author.” Now all grown up, she has written several picture books, including Bright Boy ABCs and The Turtle With an Afro series. She plans to write many more.…Read More
Carlotta Penn has loved writing since she was a young girl. At age eight she wrote in her diary, “I love to write books. I am an author.” Now all grown up, she has written several picture books, including Bright Boy ABCs and The Turtle With an Afro series. She plans to write many more. Carlotta lives in Columbus, OH with her husband and three children.
Photo of David Pepper

David Pepper

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Photo of Nomar Perez

Nomar Perez

Nomar Perez was born on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico, in the city of Ponce, and moved with his parents and five siblings to Ohio when he was ten. Nomar is heavily influenced by all types of media, most especially animation, puppetry, and computer art. He studied computer animation and painting at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and since then has worked as a designer, illustrator, and art director on social expression products in the categories of humor, children, and young adults.…Read More

Nomar Perez was born on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico, in the city of Ponce, and moved with his parents and five siblings to Ohio when he was ten. Nomar is heavily influenced by all types of media, most especially animation, puppetry, and computer art. He studied computer animation and painting at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and since then has worked as a designer, illustrator, and art director on social expression products in the categories of humor, children, and young adults. Nomar has also illustrated numerous children’s board books and school publishing books and is a recipient of the Pura Belpré Author & Illustrator Honor for his picture book, Coquí in the City.

Photo of Morgan Perryman

Morgan Perryman

Morgan Perryman is a new author from the Midwestern United States. She is a true bibliophile, who has always had a love for books. Morgan has a Master's in Education and a Bachelor's Degree in English, who previously taught 7th and 8th-grade reading and writing.She is a mother of three and comes from a huge family.…Read More
Morgan Perryman is a new author from the Midwestern United States. She is a true bibliophile, who has always had a love for books. Morgan has a Master’s in Education and a Bachelor’s Degree in English, who previously taught 7th and 8th-grade reading and writing.She is a mother of three and comes from a huge family. Her early writer influences include a variety of classic and modern writers, including Jane Austen and Tamora Pierce.
Photo of Brian Petkash

Brian Petkash

Brian Petkash was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from University of Tampa and his stories have appeared in Midwestern Gothic and Southword, among other publications. He currently lives in Tampa, Florida, where he remains an avid fan of Cleveland sports.Read More

Brian Petkash was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from University of Tampa and his stories have appeared in Midwestern Gothic and Southword, among other publications. He currently lives in Tampa, Florida, where he remains an avid fan of Cleveland sports.

Photo of Susan Petrone

Susan Petrone

Susan Petrone is the author of the The Heebie-Jeebie Girl (2020,) The Super Ladies (2018), Throw Like a Woman (2015), and A Body at Rest (2009), which won a bronze medal for regional fiction from the Independent Publishers Book Awards (IPPY). The Super Ladies was a General Fiction finalist in Foreward Reviews’ 2018 Book of the Year Awards.…Read More

Susan Petrone is the author of the The Heebie-Jeebie Girl (2020,) The Super Ladies (2018), Throw Like a Woman (2015), and A Body at Rest (2009), which won a bronze medal for regional fiction from the Independent Publishers Book Awards (IPPY). The Super Ladies was a General Fiction finalist in Foreward Reviews’ 2018 Book of the Year Awards. She is a recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award for FY 2020.

Susan’s short fiction has been published by Glimmer Train, Muse, Conclave, Cleveland Review, and Whiskey Island. Her short story, “Monster Jones Wants to Creep You Out” (Conclave, 2010) was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her non-fiction has appeared in CoolCleveland, Belt magazine, and ESPN.com. She is also one of the co-founders and former president of Literary Cleveland (litcleveland.org).

Photo of L. Philips

L. Philips

Philips went to Ohio University for a degree in music education, decided that job was entirely too noisy, and became a librarian instead. When she’s not working, she enjoys belting out show tunes when she thinks no one is listening and watching the same episodes of Thomas the Tank Engineover and over (or at least that’s what she tells her toddler son). …Read More

Philips went to Ohio University for a degree in music education, decided that job was entirely too noisy, and became a librarian instead. When she’s not working, she enjoys belting out show tunes when she thinks no one is listening and watching the same episodes of Thomas the Tank Engineover and over (or at least that’s what she tells her toddler son). L. Philips is a cataloger at the Chillicothe and Ross County public library in Chillicothe. She was born in Chillicothe, educated at Ohio University and Kent State University, and now raises her son in Chillicothe. She is the author of SOMETIME AFTER MIDNIGHT, PERFECT TEN, MY FAIRE LADY (under the name Laura Wettersten), and the ghost writer of the forthcoming Anonymous book, BREAKING RACHEL.

Roger Pickenpaugh

Roger Pickenpaugh was a teacher at Shenandoah Middle School in Sarahsville, Ohio, for 30 years before retiring. His books have focused mainly on outstanding Ohio weather events and the Civil War. His most recent work, Johnson’s Island: A Prison for Confederate Officers, won the Bowling Green Center for Archival Collections Local History Publication Award.Read More

Roger Pickenpaugh was a teacher at Shenandoah Middle School in Sarahsville, Ohio, for 30 years before retiring. His books have focused mainly on outstanding Ohio weather events and the Civil War. His most recent work, Johnson’s Island: A Prison for Confederate Officers, won the Bowling Green Center for Archival Collections Local History Publication Award.

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