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): Book Festival Authors
Conrade C. Hinds
Conrade C. Hinds was born in Nashville and graduated from Ball State University, where he studied architecture and industrial technology. He has lived in Ohio for forty years. A registered architect and a retired projects manager with the City of Columbus Department of Public Utilities, he is also a retired adjunct faculty member in the Engineering Technology Department at Columbus State Community College. His latest books is History of Buckeye Inventions, and he has published three other books: The Great Columbus Experiment of 1908, Columbus and the Great Flood of 1913, and Lost Circuses of Ohio.
Janice Hisle
Janice Hisle established herself as a bulldog news reporter—with a heart—during more than two decades as a professional journalist. She would fight, scratch and claw for public records yet wrote tragic stories with a soft touch.
After more than two decades as a full-time writer for daily newspapers, Janice became a freelance writer. She spent eighteen months writing and researching her first book, Submerged: Ryan Widmer, his drowned bride and the justice system.
As a writer for The Cincinnati Enquirer, Janice covered every aspect of the Widmer bathtub-drowning case through three spellbinding trials. Unanswered questions compelled her to write Submerged in time for the tenth anniversary of the case in August 2018. The book’s editor was her former Enquirer colleague, Peter Bronson, who also wrote the introduction and helped Janice publish the work through his company, Chilidog Press.
During her 15 years at the Enquirer, Janice earned awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and from The Press Club of Cleveland. Her award-winning work included articles on teen-driving safety, political campaign contributions, personality profiles, breaking news, investigative database projects and the Widmer case. Janice also became the first Enquirer reporter to do “stand-up” video news reports for the Enquirer’s website, Cincinnati.com.
Janice participated in a panel discussion about the Widmer case at Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University, in 2010, and also gave a presentation about the case at the University of Cincinnati’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in 2011.
Janice has been a presenter for a half-dozen police-media relations workshops, including two in 2017-18. She has appeared in video news reports on Cincinnati.com and on the Investigation Discovery network.
Janice formerly worked for The Dayton Daily News, The Vindicator (Youngstown, Ohio), and The Record-Courier (Kent-Ravenna, Ohio), and is a current member of The Authors Guild.
Janice graduated summa cum laude from Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, with a bachelor’s degree in journalism/news-editorial.
Her work has focused mainly on public safety and criminal justice, including coverage of dozens of murder cases, with occasional articles on business, health and fitness. When she’s not writing, she is a sought-after nationally certified personal trainer and group fitness instructor.
Her husband, Michael, is a former TV sportscaster and producer. He went on to become a nationally recognized executive sales representative for a Fortune 100 company. He also is a competitive natural bodybuilder and recently attained professional status in that sport.
Kate Hoefler
Kate Hoefler was born and still lives and writes in the rolling hills of Ohio’s Appalachia. She is the author of numerous books and loves the delicate tightrope that picture books stand on between the light that is and the light that could be. Three of her recent books, Rabbit and the Motorbike, Courage Hats, and In The Dark were Ohioana Floyd’s Pick Honor books. Her newest book, The Couch In The Yard, might allow readers to travel above and beyond their couches (wink-wink). She loves small dogs, pottery, being an introvert, and cheese. Follow her on Instagram: @katehoefler
Danny M. Hoey , Jr.
Danny M. Hoey, Jr., is an Assistant Professor of English at Indian River State College. An Ohio native, he received his undergraduate degree from The Ohio State University. He received his Ph.D. in English and Creative Writing from the University of North Texas. His stories have appeared in WarpLand, Women in REDzine, Mandala Journal, Connotation Press, African Voices Magazine, SnReview, The Writer’s Bloc, and The Hampton University First-Year Writing Textbook.…
Read MoreDanny M. Hoey, Jr., is an Assistant Professor of English at Indian River State College. An Ohio native, he received his undergraduate degree from The Ohio State University. He received his Ph.D. in English and Creative Writing from the University of North Texas. His stories have appeared in WarpLand, Women in REDzine, Mandala Journal, Connotation Press, African Voices Magazine, SnReview, The Writer’s Bloc, and The Hampton University First-Year Writing Textbook. His pedagogical essay on teaching Amiri Baraka is forthcoming from the Modern Language Association (MLA) teaching series. The Butterfly Lady, his first novel, won the Foreword Firsts’ Winter 2013 debut fiction award and was recently named a finalist in the Foreword Reviews’ Book of the Year Awards.
Annie Hogsett
Annie Hogsett Bio
Annie Hogsett grew up in a remarkably small town in West Virginia and earned her MA in eighteenth-century English literature from West Virginia University. With degree in hand, Annie ditched Keats and Wordsworth, followed a guy to Cleveland, and fell into an advertising agency where she learned how to write compelling fiction on a deadline. And how to swear.
Not counting an early attempt lost to the exercise of better judgment, Annie has completed five novels. Too Lucky to Live, the story of an accidental, and exceedingly lethal, 500-million-dollar MondoMegaJackpot— published by Poisoned Pen Press in May of 2017—was the first to see the light of readers. The second of her Somebody’s Bound To Wind Up Dead Mysteries, Murder to the Metal, was released in June of ‘18, and the third is slated to be published in October.
The tagline for Annie’s series is “Murder. Mayhem. Romance. Cleveland.” And it’s all that. When people ask her, “Where do you get your ideas?” she often says, “I steal them from the City of Cleveland.” For an idea-thieving writers of mysteries, Cleveland—gritty, funky, cool old town, loaded up with history and hardship, magnificence and malfeasance—keeps whispering, “Look! No. Really. Look!” So she does. Ask Annie where she got the first line of Too Lucky to Live, “You know you live in a rough neighborhood when somebody honks at a blind man in the crosswalk.” She’ll be happy to tell you where she found it.
Annie lives within splashing distance of Lake Erie in the neighborhood of Collinwood with her husband, Bill—the aforementioned guy—and their unfortunately aptly-named cat, Cujo.
Sara Holbrook
Sara Holbrook, a resident of Mentor, OH, is the author of over a dozen poetry books for children, teens and books for adults. Her newest book is a middle grade novel, The Enemy, historical fiction. She is a frequent speaker at schools and teacher conferences all over the world. Along with co-author Michael Salinger, she is also the author of four teacher professional books on poetry, vocabulary instruction, and performance.
Kerrie Logan Hollihan
Author Kerrie Hollihan writes award-winning nonfiction for kids and teens. Her new book is BONES UNEARTHED!, third in the Creepy and True series for Abrams Books for Young Readers. Following GHOSTS UNVEILED! The first, MUMMIES EXPOSED!, garnered four four-star reviews.
Kerrie’s books have been honored as “notables” by the Children’s Book Council/National Council for the Social Studies and more. She’s especially thrilled that Mummies! is accessible for vision impaired readers through the Library of Congress. Her very first book, ISAAC NEWTON & PHYSICS FOR KIDS, has been printed in six languages.
Kerrie belongs to the highly regarded nonfiction author group iNK Think Tank and its interactive partner, Authors on Call – http://www.inkthinktank.org. Catch her three-minute talks about lots of things at iNK’s Nonfiction Minute, https://www.nonfictionminute.org.
Kerrie enjoys meeting young readers during school visits both in person and on the web. She offers kid-friendly activities with other nonfiction authors at Hands-on-Books, http://hands-on-books.blogspot.com/.
Kerrie also reaches out to inquisitive older adults–historical societies, book groups, and more–with programs speaking to their life experience. Get in touch on her contact page: https://kerriehollihan.com/contact/
Sandra K. Horn
Sandra K-Horn (Horn) has worked in education and journalism. She earned a Bachelor of Science in English and Communication from Bowling Green State University and a Master of Education from Otterbein University. She also studied at Ohio University, The Ohio State University, Ashland University, and Harvard University. Sandra taught English and Communications at the high school level. She has an Honorable Mention from the Eric Hoffer Award (2008), was featured in the Ohioana Library Festival (2021), and was on Amazon’s Bestseller list for True Crime Biographies (2024). She has attended The Midwest Writers and Central Ohio Fiction Writers Conferences. Sandra is a member of Pitch 2 Publish, an international writing organization, and the National League of American Pen Women. Sandra actively promotes her books at book signings, clubs, and presentations. Local bookstores in Columbus, Ohio, such as Barnes and Noble, Gramercy Books (Bexley), and Storyline Books (Upper Arlington), carry or will order her books, or you can purchase them on Amazon.
Edward P. Horvath
Colonel Edward P. Horvath, Jr. is a veteran of the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Corps, having served three deployments in Iraq. He has been a physician for 50 years, specializing in internal medicine, occupational medicine and pulmonary disease. During his last deployment in 2011, Col. Horvath was Task Force Deputy Commander and Chief of Clinical Services for a combat support hospital near Tikrit, Iraq and was responsible for the medical care of over 20,000 U.S. soldiers in the northern half of Iraq. Earlier at the same base, he staffed the emergency room and outpatient clinic, caring for U.S. soldiers, Iraqi civilians and enemy combatants.
Horvath first went to war in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005 at age 59, after a 26-year break in military service, having served as a U.S. Navy officer earlier in his career. He returned to the military, in part, inspired by his two sons, who both joined the Navy following 9/11. During his first deployment, he served as Deputy Commander at a hospital set within a sprawling detention complex later recognized as the birthplace of ISIS. Colonel Horvath was also stationed at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison hospital and in Baghdad on special assignment.
For his actions in Iraq, Colonel Horvath was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and later received one of the nation’s highest military honors, the Legion of Merit. He currently serves as a primary care physician at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Cleveland.
Previously, Horvath held positions at top medical centers including the Cleveland Clinic. He also served as Medical Director for major corporations such as BP America and General Electric. In addition, he has held academic appointments at several universities and is a recognized research scientist and educator. He has authored more than 30 publications on topics including toxicology, environmental lung disease and military medicine. He was also contributing author and co-editor of a major textbook, “Occupational Medicine.”
After graduating from Harvey High School in 1964, Colonel Horvath earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at Western Reserve University, He also holds a medical degree from The Ohio State University College of Medicine and a master’s degree in public health from the University of Minnesota. Colonel Horvath received the American Red Cross Hero Award in 2013 for “extraordinary courage in saving lives.” He has been married to his wife, Joy, for 47 years, and they have three children. Their daughter is a physician and their two sons are U.S. Navy officers. https://goodmedicinehardtimes.com/
Erin Hosier
Erin Hosier is the author of the memoir Don’t Let Me Down (Atria, 2019), and the coauthor of Hit So Hard by Patty Schemel (Da Capo, 2017). She has been a literary agent since 2001 (currently with Dunow Carlson & Lerner), and was an original co-host of the Literary Death Match. As an agent, she primarily works with authors of nonfiction and has a special interest in popular culture, music biography, humor, women’s history (and untold stories of all kinds). In general, novels with happy endings put her in a bad mood. She lives in Brooklyn.