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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M. Earl Smith
M. Earl Smith is the author of Little Karl. With work for children and adults, he seeks to stretch the boundaries of genre and style. A graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, Smith resides in Philadelphia, PA.
Jamie Lyn Smith
Jamie Lyn Smith is a writer, editor, and teacher. She earned her BA in English and Theatre from Kenyon College, her Masters in Education from Fordham University, and her MFA in Creative Writing from Ohio State. Jamie Lyn is the Fiction Editor at BreakBread Magazine and a Consulting Editor for the Kenyon Review. Her work has appeared in The Pinch, The Mississippi Review, The Kenyon Review, American Literary Review, Yemassee, Bayou, and other fine literary magazines. She is currently working on Hometown, a novel about millennial crises and the rise of white nationalism in the rural Midwest, for which she received a 2020 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award. Her short story collection, Township, is forthcoming from Cornerstone Press in January 2022.
A.V. Smith
A.V. Smith is an athlete turned writer. With a passion for storytelling, he paints with words that captivate readers. Smith writes on an emotional level to empower readers to engage in deeper conversations about their past, their relationships, and their connection with the Universe.
With his first book, Madison: God’s Fingerprint 1.618, he won the 2019 Author Academy Award for Best Romance. Book two in the Madison series: Madison: In the Presence of God, reached #1 Best Seller, and the third installment, Madison: Vengeance Is Mine also achieved #1 Best Seller ranking. Book four, Madison: Upon This Rock is set to release January of 2025.
Smith took a break from romance and focused his literary talent on crime and social issues that divide our society with OHIO 10 and OHIO 10 II. Both books garnered #1 Best Seller upon release.
Normal Chaos: Ledoma (Book 1) is his first Fantasy Fiction book. He strives to push the boundaries of creativity, realizing there is no box in writing fiction or our shared journey.
Through life and love, he has learned our steps are temporary, yet the journey intensely meaningful. This understanding led him to donate a kidney to his younger brother. As the father of three children, his desire is to see his children overcome the fear of success by being the best version of themselves. He strives to lead by example, at times falling short, but understanding human beings are still a work in progress. When he is not engaged in his passion, you can find him with a fishing pole in his hand, attending a local artist event or somewhere deep in the woods hiking and enjoying the gift of nature. Learn more about A.V. Smith and his work at avsmithbooks.com
Jennifer Sommer
As a children’s librarian for twenty years, Jennifer Sommer’s annual Halloween Mad Scientist’s Lab was always her favorite program for the ghouls and gals. Jennifer’s culinary witch skills improved each year as new, scary, and surprisingly tasty additions were added to her Witchy Kitchen Cookbook. Every Creature Eats includes just a few of the creepy edible treats. Learn more at: https://jennifersommer.weebly.com/
Amy Spears
Amy Spears (she/her) graduated from Denison University with a degree in cinema and creative writing. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, where she is in her second decade as a skater with Ohio Roller Derby. She spent several years active in the leadership of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association and has given presentations, workshops and talks about the sport at Pecha Kecha Columbus, the Roller Derby World Summit, and Rollercon. Her digital essay (with Julie Driscoll) “Worlds Collide! facebook, family & George Costanza” was published in Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion, and her prose and poetry have appeared in Columbus Alive, Lynx Eye, and Wine X. A self-described “collector of hobbies,” she’ll try just about anything once.
Tricia Springstubb
Tricia Springstubb is the award-winning author of fiction for readers of all ages- picture books, chapter books, middle grade and early young adult novels. Her newest book, How To Tell A True Story, is a suspenseful story about the slippery nature of truth, especially in the light of social media. She lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and is a frequent speaker at schools, libraries and conferences. Visit her online at triciaspringstubb.com
Jyotsna Sreenivasan
Jyotsna Sreenivasan is the author of the short story collection These Americans and the novel And Laughter Fell From the Sky. Both are about Indian Americans. She was selected as a Fiction Fellow for the 2021 Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Her short stories have been published in literary magazines and anthologies. She received an Artist Fellowship Grant from the Washington, DC Commission on the Arts. She was born and raised in Ohio. Her parents are immigrants from India. For information about Jyotsna as well as other writers who are children of immigrants, please see http://www.SecondGenStories.com.
Linda Stanek
Linda Stanek has a passion for teaching, animals, and conservation. Her book, Cheetah Dreams (Arbordale Publishing), released in fall of 2018. Other books include award-winning Once Upon an Elephant (Arbordale Publishing) Night Creepers (Arbordale Publishing), Beco’s Big Year: A Baby Elephant Turns One, (Columbus Zoo and Aquarium), and more. She is the author of Sheeba and the Private Detectives (AZ Corp, 2018) a leveled comic book series that teaches STEM concepts to children in Pakistan. She is a co-author of college textbook Cheetahs: Biodiversity of the World: Conservation from Genes to Landscapes (Academic Press, 2017). In addition to winning the Children’s Choice Book Award’s 3rd-4th grade Book of the Year, Linda’s books have been nominated for a number of other awards, and have been placed on state reading lists. Her book Once Upon an Elephant is a 2019-2020 Choose to Read Ohio title. She is a frequent visitor in schools, and has spoken at zoos and at conferences for museum personnel, librarians, teachers, and writers. In 2019, Linda will work with the Columbus Zoo and The Ohio State University on a scientific study to measure the impact of authors, literature, and ambassador cheetahs in schools.
Sarah Stankorb
Sarah Stankorb is a journalist, essayist, and the author of Disobedient Women. She was born near Youngstown, Ohio, and often found escape in books. She studied world religions and philosophy at Westminster College, a place surrounded by rolling Pennsylvania farm country. A chance to study abroad in Northern Ireland, then Israel further opened her eyes to how faith (and conflict) can shape people’s everyday existence. She earned her master’s degree from University of Chicago’s Divinity School, where she studied ethics and South Asian religion and history. Hundreds of her pieces have been featured in publications, including: VICE, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Republic, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, and others. Her beat spans religion, politics, gender, and power, but is informed by questions of basic morality. She’s more fun than all this sounds. Sarah lives in Ohio with her husband and two children, and she writes a few times a month about the quirks of American faith at In Polite Company via Substack.
Dorri Steinhoff
Dorri Steinhoff grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago where she developed a love of nature, art and architecture. She met Joe Kuspan while in graduate school in Cincinnati. Their common interest in art and architecture led to numerous design and renovation projects including two boutique shops in the Short North Art District of Columbus, Ohio and five central Ohio homes. They are currently enjoying watching the seasons change at Glenbrow with their two daughters, Maren and Sofia, while continuing to restore the 1964 Glenbrow tower.