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): Nonfiction
Elise Meyers Walker
Candice Millard
Candice Millard is the author of four New York Times bestselling books. Her first book, The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey, was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection and a Book Sense Pick, won the William Rockhill Nelson Award, was a finalist for the Quill Awards, and has been published in multiple foreign editions. Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine & the Murder of a President, won the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime, the PEN Center USA award for Research Nonfiction, the One Book-One Lincoln Award, the Ohioana Award, and the Kansas Notable Book Award.
Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape and the Making of Winston Churchill, was an Indie Next pick, a top ten critics pick by the New York Times and named Amazon’s number one history book of 2016. Millard’s most recent book, released in May of 2022, is River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile. She is the recipient of the 2017 BIO Award, and her work has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Washington Post Book World, the Guardian, National Geographic and Time magazine. She lives in Kansas City with her husband and three children. https://www.candicemillard.com/
Brandon Marie Miller
Brandon Marie Miller earned her degree in American History from Purdue University. She writes about famous people and common folk, about great events and everyday life. Her award-winning books for young people have been honored by the International Reading Association, the National Council for the Social Studies, the American Library Association, the Society of School Librarians International, Voice of Youth Advocates, Bank Street College, the Junior Library Guild, the New York Public Library and the Chicago Public Library, among others.
Brandon encourages readers to think of history as the greatest story of all. Fiction has nothing on history for tales of courage, sacrifice, redemption, cruelty and betrayal. As a writer of history Brandon aims to inspire readers with stories of people who have struggled, overcome great odds, and made a contribution to our human spirit. It’s no coincidence that “story” is right there in the word history!
Born and raised in Illinois, Brandon lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. When not researching and writing, she loves to read biographies and murder mysteries, travel, play games, attend the ballet, watch sports and old movies from the 1930s and 1940s, and enjoy great conversation. She includes her middle name on all her books so people know she is a girl named “Brandon”
Find out more:
http://www.brandonmariemiller.com
http://hands-on-books.blogspot.com
Dia Mixon
Dia Mixon has a passion for introducing children to new languages and cultures. As a Spanish teacher, with a Master of Education in Bilingual-Bicultural Education, she continues to seek new ways for readers to build cultural awareness and connect with the characters she creates. Dia published her debut children’s book, One Whole Me, in 2021, and promptly released her second book, When I Feel at Home, in 2022. Her upcoming project, The World That I See: Europe is inspired by her beautiful, neurodivergent child and is set to release in February 2025. She currently teaches high school Spanish in her hometown, Columbus, Ohio. Learn more at: https://www.el-mundo-mixon.com/
Judith Moffett
Judith Moffett was born in Louisville in 1942 and grew up in Cincinnati. She is an English professor, a poet, a Swedish translator, and the author of twelve books in six genres. These include three volumes of poetry, two of Swedish poetry in formal translation, four science-fiction novels plus a collection of stories, a volume of creative nonfiction, and a critical study of James Merrill’s poetry. She has also written an unpublished memoir of her long friendship with Merrill. Her work in poetry, translation, and science fiction has earned numerous awards and award nominations, including an NEA Creative Writing Fellowship in Poetry, an NEH Translation Grant, the Swedish Academy’s Tolkningspris, and in science fiction the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the Theodore Sturgeon Award for the year’s best short story. Two of her novels were New York Times Notable Books.
Moffett earned a doctorate in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania, with a thesis on Stephen Vincent Benét’s narrative poetry, directed by Daniel Hoffman. She taught American literature and creative writing at several colleges and universities, including the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the University of Kentucky, and for fifteen years the University of Pennsylvania. She has lived for extended periods in England (Cambridge and London) and Sweden (Lund and Stockholm), as well as around the US, living/teaching/writing in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Colorado, Wisconsin, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Utah. In 1983 she married Medievalist Edward B. Irving, Jr., her colleague at Penn. Widowed in 1998, Judy now divides her year between Oxford OH and her hundred-acre recovering farm near Lawrenceburg KY, sharing both homes with her standard poodles, Corbie and Lexi.
For a complete list of Judy’s published work, visit her Wikipedia entry: wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Moffett
Nicholas Money
Nicholas Money is a biologist and Western Program Director at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He is a popular teacher and an international expert on fungal biology. He has authored a number of popular science books, including “The Rise of Yeast: How the Sugar Fungus Shaped Civilization” and “The Selfish Ape: Human Nature and Our Path to Extinction.” His books are noted for blending first-rate science with stories of irresistible human interest.
Denise Monique
Denise Monique is a Self-Published Author, located in Cleveland, Ohio. She is a licensed social worker and loves to travel as much as possible. Each year, she travels to a place she has never been before. Other hobbies include reading, sometimes as much as a book a day. Growing up, Denise would win the summer reading club each year for having read the most books. Her nickname was One-Hundred due to her educational efforts. Her dad gave her his own nickname of Squirrel, as she was a tomboy growing up and could be found in a tree most days. Denise is very passionate about helping others find the light within themselves to start their path to better lives. She kept her story in for so many years, as she didn’t want to hurt the very people that hurt her. She has learned to view her mistakes as learning lessons and strives for greatness in life. Denise lives by the motto that anything that disturbs her peace has got to go!
Bayyinah Monk-Nduaka
If you know Bayyinah, you know that her greatest passions in life are family & friends, travel, writing, cooking, entrepreneurship and helping others. It is Bayyinah’s desire to connect people with their life’s passion and calling through living a happy and whole life through food and healthy relationships. Born in Philadelphia, PA, Bayyinah began writing at the age of twelve and in 1994, she won a scholarship to attend Young Writer’s at Kenyon College. There she honed her writing passions. Eventually she took advanced placement and college preparatory literature and writing courses. And in 2003, Bayyinah graduated from Otterbein University with B.S. in Business and Economics. Later, in 2006, she received her A.A. in Mortuary Science from Briarwood College. Inspired by her mother and family, Bayyinah is a self-taught cook. Her passion is creating recipes, cooking good food and feeding her family and friends. In 2015, Bayyinah became a two-time Amazon best selling and award winning author. When Bayyinah is not working, writing, cooking or world traveling – she is somewhere having a good ole’ time with her husband Obinna Nduaka and family. She currently reside in the Metropolitan Washington, DC area. Learn more at: https://www.gimmethatrecipe.com/
Michael H. Moore
Michael H. Moore is a U.S. Navy veteran, whose life journey has been deeply shaped by his years of service and his love for the sea. As a sailor and war veteran, he knows firsthand the resilience, courage, and faith required to navigate turbulent waters—both literal and figurative. These experiences form the heart of Sailor’s Compass, where Michael shares the hard-won wisdom, he gained on his journey through service and self-discovery. Michael’s voice is that of a seasoned navigator and a compassionate guide, blending insights from the seas with a deep understanding of life’s unpredictable currents. Whether sharing stories of faith, resilience, or the power of inner peace, he invites readers to join him in exploring the depths of their own journeys. Through Sailor’s Compass, he offers readers more than just guidance; he offers companionship, encouragement, and a steady hand to hold through life’s storms. Learn more at: https://www.michaelhmoore.life/