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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Dee Garretson
Dee writes middle grade, young adult and adult fiction under her own name and also writes for the Boxcar Children series under the original author’s name. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her family in a book-cluttered house surrounded by a semi-wild garden. Her two cats Piper and Poppy are her writing companions and the stars of Skype visits with book clubs. When Dee is not writing or reading, she is most likely watching old movies, cooking treats to go along with book reading or trying to learn to make jewelry.
David Lee Garrison
The poetry of David Lee Garrison has appeared widely in journals and anthologies, and two poems from his book Sweeping the Cemetery were read by Garrison Keillor on his national radio show, The Writer’s Almanac. The title poem from his Playing Bach in the DC Metro was featured by Poet Laureate Ted Kooser on his website, American Life in Poetry, and read on the BBC in London. He won the Paul Laurence Dunbar Poetry Prize in 2009 and was named Ohio Poet of the Year in 2014. His most recent book is Light in the River (Dos Madres Press).
Donna B. Gawell
Donna Gawell is a genealogist, historian, and author of several published books and journal articles. She is a presenter on genealogy, travel, and family history writing for community organizations and church groups. Donna holds volunteer leadership roles with Samaritan’s Purse as a Relay Center Coordinator for Operation Christmas Child and is a Church Coordinator for International Friendships, Inc., a Christian outreach to international students at Ohio State University.
Donna earned a master’s degree in Speech Pathology and worked in the field of education for over thirty years. She lives in Westerville, Ohio with her husband Mark when not traveling to research her ancestral homelands in Europe and New England. Her website “DonnaGawell.com” allows her to reach out to readers with similar passions and interests.
Ross Gay
Ross Gay is the New York Times bestselling author of the essay collections The Book of Delights and Inciting Joy and four books of poetry. His Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and in 2022 was named an NEA Big Read title; and Be Holding won the 2021 PEN America Jean Stein Book Award. Gay is a founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard, a non-profit, free-fruit-for-all food justice and joy project and has received fellowships from Cave Canem, the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He teaches at Indiana University. https://www.rossgay.net/
Dan Gearino
Dan Gearino is a lifelong comics reader with tastes that swing from the classic Legion of Super-Heroes to the work of Michel Rabagliati. As a business reporter for the Columbus Dispatch, he has won national recognition for his work. He lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife and two daughters. Find him at http://www.dangearino.com.
Claire Gebben
Claire Gebben was born and raised on the southeast side of Cleveland, Ohio. Her historical novel “The Last of the Blacksmiths” (Coffeetown Press, 2014), based on the true story of a German immigrant blacksmith to Ohio, has been named a Notable Book at Cleveland State University’s Michael Schwartz Library, and Book of the Month with the German American Heritage Foundation. Her memoir, “How We Survive Here: Families Across Time” (Coffeetown Press, 2018) recounts the author’s quest to trace and write the truth about her ancestors. The memoir received a Finalist Award in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. In the name of historical research, Ms. Gebben has harvested grapes in the German Rhinelands and wielded a blacksmith hammer on fiery hot steel. She lives and writes in the Pacific Northwest. More info at: http://clairegebben.com.
Becky Gehrisch
Becky Gehrisch grew up drawing dogs and farm scenes after visiting her grandparents’ homes in the country. It’s no wonder that she went on to create Escape To Play after earning an art degree from The Ohio State University. Becky moved to a rural town in Ohio where she is constantly inspired by the beautiful countryside and wildlife just outside her window. You can find her getting into her own kind of shenanigans with her husband and kids as they explore the USA in their RV.
Jennifer Geiger
Jennifer Geiger, the daughter of an oil company dispatcher, was born in Kansas, and because of her father’s job, transferred to Ohio during her elementary years. Growing up, Jennifer entertained her friends and family with stories she invented using characters they supplied. It wasn’t until after she married and had children of her own, that her desire to create stories resurfaced through those she created for her own. She is the mother of three grown daughters, who have given her seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren. She has been married over 30 years to her husband, Jim. Her passion for writing nearly died out until her younger brother encouraged her to finish the stories she had started. Encouraged at his words, Jennifer sat down at her computer and completed her first book, Witness; a story with an interesting twist revolving around the apostle John as he witnessed life with Jesus. Jennifer followed Witness with an eight-session video and workbook series created so the reader could step into the shoes of the apostle John thereby experiencing life with Jesus through the eyes of the disciple He loved. Continuing the story, Jennifer produced her latest novel, Patmos. Her new adventure picks up where Witness left off—filling the gaps of John’s life during his banishment where he receives a special revelation from God.
Scott Geisel
Scott Geisel is the author of the Jackson Flint mystery series, the Appalachian noir suspense novel Miller Knew, and short stories. He lives in Yellow Springs, Ohio, one of the coolest small towns in America. The Jackson Flint novels are set in Yellow Springs. Scott grew up in Ohio and was an avid reader from an early age. He fondly remembers his elementary school classes making weekly trips to the school library where he would exchange books he’d read for new adventures in the books he would find. Some early favorites were The Three Investigator series and Encyclopedia Brown solve-a-mystery books. Later influences include watching The Rockford Files and Magnum, P.I., noting that Magnum narrating the series was a key element of that show. Scott left home to study physics at a small engineering college. Interests such as a chopper he built from parts and the isolated nature of the school were among distractions that kept him from completing a degree. Scott later completed a degree in math, then went to the blue-color world where he worked in food service, factories, and on loading docks. In his late twenties, he married Pam and returned to college to complete undergraduate and graduate degrees in the humanities. He has been teaching college writing courses since the mid-1990s. Scott kept a hand in writing and among other things has published a variety of short stories, been included in Best New Writing, been a finalist for the Hoffer Award, had an audio story aired on NPR station WYSO, and had his work published alongside well-known historical writers in the Kent State University Press anthology Christmas Stories from Ohio. Scott and his wife often look for books set in places they travel to. One of their first destinations when away from home is bookstores, where they often ask where to find the local authors, especially if there are mysteries set in the locale. When he finally had some time for serious writing, Scott embarked on the Jackson Flint mystery novels set in his own hometown, completing Fair Game, Water to Bind, and Wheat Penny. Those have been well received and positively reviewed by sources such as Publishers Weekly. To that series he added the Appalachian noir suspense novel Miller Knew. Scott is currently writing an adventure novel set in and around Orcas Island.
Adam J. Gellings
Adam J. Gellings is a poet & instructor from the Northland neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. He received his MFA from Ashland University & his PhD from the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he was the recipient of a fellowship from the Marion Clayton Link Endowment. His poems have appeared in numerous journals & magazines including the Best New Poets Anthology 2017 & 2021, New South, Salamander, The Southampton Review, Willow Springs & elsewhere. His debut poetry collection Little Palace was released in fall 2022 by Stephen F. Austin State University Press. He currently teaches at Columbus College of Art & Design. Learn more: https://www.adamjgellings.com/