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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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.
Julie Drew
Julie Drew is an Ohio-based writer and English professor who has published seven books, multiple academic and national media articles, as well as new fiction reviews. In addition to teaching creative writing at the graduate and undergraduate levels, she has offered writing workshops in the Midwest and New England.
Julie earned a BA in Creative Writing, MA in English literature, and PhD in Rhetoric and Writing from the University of South Florida. She is currently a Professor of English at The University of Akron where she teaches creative writing, cultural studies, and women & film.
Her most recent work, The Tesla Effect trilogy, is a young adult series comprised of Glimpse (2014), Run (2014), and Breathe (June 2015). The first two books in the trilogy were included on Ohio.com’s list of Memorable Books of 2014.
Julie’s novels have been reviewed in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal (her novel Daughter of Providence received a coveted Red Star Review), Kirkus, Booklist, Historical Novels Review (where Daughter of Providence received an Editor’s Choice designation), Cleveland Plain Dealer, Providence Journal, and Akron Beacon Journal.
Having grown up in Florida and then lived in Ohio for more than a decade, Julie and her husband now happily spend part of every year near the ocean in Rhode Island. She loves dogs, loves to travel and hike, is an amateur foodie and unabashed TV enthusiast, and enjoys outdoorsy volunteer work in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Visit her at http://www.juliedrew.com.
Jody Dreyer
A 30-year Disney veteran, Jody Jean Dreyer was a member of Disney senior corporate staff. She led worldwide synergy, headed Disney’s global outreach initiatives, and held various marketing positions in both the theme park and motion picture units. Among many projects, she performed a major role in the grand opening of Disneyland Paris. In 1986, she traveled the world as the Walt Disney World Ambassador. She met her husband, John, former head of Disney’s Corporate Communications, at a Disney company Christmas party. They have been married 25 years and live in South Carolina. Follow Jody at JodyJean.com.
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.
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.
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.