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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Cari Dubiel
Cari Dubiel is an author of nonfiction and speculative fiction. Ordinary people encounter extraordinary monsters in her latest book, I Loved the Mothman and Other Stories (2024). Cari is a librarian and an active member of Sisters in Crime.
Martha Dunsky
Martha Dunsky (pen name for Martha Caprarotta) grew up writing and drawing stories with her nine siblings. Her debut book, “Fire and Forgiveness: A Nun’s Truce with General Sherman,” is illustrated by her sister Monica Wyrick. A member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and graduate of the University of Dayton, Martha is a former award-winning TV reporter/videographer and producer, and retired technical editor for the National Air and Space Intelligence Center. Born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, she resides near Dayton with her husband and five cats. Martha loves delving into history and finding inspirational true stories.
R.C. Durkee
R.C. Durkee is both a writer and an artist who blends her love of history, nature and the rural life into her creative projects. The sixth generation to have lived on the family’s 182 year old farm, she has raised horses, sheep, cows and crops. She is also an avid gardener.
An award winning artist, her artwork has appeared on magazine covers, in art books and in art galleries in Ohio and beyond. She has written and published short stories and essays for over twenty-five years, and her debut novel, published in 2014, is the historical fiction, RUM RUN set during 1920’s Prohibition. It has received many rave reviews including Midwest Book Review, the Historical Novel Society and the Great Lakes Historical Society. She painted the book’s dramatic cover design at the suggestion of her publisher.
RUM RUN was selected to participate in the 2015 Ohioana Book Festival in Columbus, Ohio where she participated in a panel discussion on historical fiction and attended a reception at the governor’s residence. She has done many programs on her novel and Lake Erie Prohibition history at libraries, societies and continuing education courses as well as book and writing club talks.
Her interests are historical places and buildings, classics cars, hiking and biking and star- gazing. She particularly enjoys studying 17th though early 20th Century American history and visiting related sites with her husband who shares her interest in the the Civil War. For more information about Durkee, go to her website at rcdurkee.com.
Lynda Durrant
Lynda Durrant is a nationally known, award-winning author of historic fiction novels for young readers. Her novels have received starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus Reviews. They’ve been praised in The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, The Hornbook, and School Library Journal. Her novels have received awards from The Ohioana Library Association, The New York Library Association, and the American Library Association, among others. Ariel Bradley, Spy for General Washington, is her first picture book. Durrant lives with her husband and son in Bath, Ohio. She has a bachelors’ degree in honor’s English and a double masters in teaching and writing, all from the University of Washington in Seattle.
Joyce Dyer
Joyce Dyer is a nonfiction writer who was raised in Akron. Her books include In a Tangled Wood: An Alzheimer’s Journey, Gum Dipped: A Daughter Remembers Rubber Town, and Goosetown: Reconstructing an Akron Neighborhood. Her essays have appeared in publications such as the North American Review and the New York Times, as well as anthologies. She has taught English and writing at Western Reserve Academy and Hiram College—where she directed the Lindsay-Crane Center for Writing and Literature. She’s received prizes such as the Appalachian Book of the Year Award, the David B. Saunders Award in Creative Nonfiction, and Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards. Pursuing John Brown: On the Trail of a Radical Abolitionist (2022), her new book, is a mix of memoir, biography, history, and travel writing and begins in Hudson, where John Brown grew up—and where the author now lives. To understand her ambivalence toward this controversial American figure, she sets out on a ten-year journey to John Brown sites across the country. The process forces her to confront hard questions about America—and herself.
Marianne Dyson
Marianne Dyson was one of NASA’s first female flight controllers, the subject of her 2015 memoir, A Passion for Space. She coauthored the NSTA 2016 Outstanding Trade Book, Welcome to Mars, with Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin for National Geographic. She previously won the SCBWI’s Golden Kite Award for Space Station Science, and the American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award for Home on the Moon. She has worked as a technical editor, published numerous articles and short stories for adults, and has spoken to tens of thousands of people about space. She is a member of SCBWI, SFWA, the NASA Alumni League, and the National Space Society. Visit her online at http://www.mdyson.com.
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.
David Allen Edmonds
David Allen Edmonds spent most of his working life as a teacher. His mysteries Personal Pronouns and Indirect Objects are set in a suburban Cleveland high school. Now offering Unveiled Love, his second Benton Center Romance, he asks, “What’s more romantic than falling in love and solving today’s problems? Writing for me began as therapy. As a burned-out teacher I re-claimed my sense of purpose in the writing of my Joe Lehrer Mysteries and was able to return to the classroom energized and positive. COVID, or rather the forced necessity of watching Hallmark Movies, taught me the value of a romantic perspective. My Benton Center Romances strive for that Happy Ending feeling while also addressing problems that besiege contemporary American society. My current project is re-visiting and possibly publishing stories I wrote about my early career in education, the Faculty Lounge Stories.”
Scott Edwards
Scott Edwards is an advertising creative director and copywriter. He studied communications and film history at The University of Pennsylvania, and has attended many industry events, including The Cannes Film Festival, The Toronto International Film Festival and The Cleveland International Film Festival. He has an extensive collection of cinema collectibles and memorabilia, which began when he entered the movie business at age eleven changing marquees, selling popcorn and sweeping aisles at a small neighborhood theatre managed by his father in upstate New York.
Ray Eichenberger
Ray Eichenberger is a retired attorney. He is a graduate of Eastmoor High School, Columbus. Ray also attended and graduated from Miami University, with a Bachelor of Science in Education, and a Bachelor of Arts in History. Ray is a graduate of Capital University Law School, Columbus, and practiced law as a private practitioner for nearly forty years. He has authored twenty-seven books, both Christian non-fiction and fiction. Ray’s hobbies include traveling, breeding and racing standardbred horses, and singing in the choir at his church.