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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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

M. C. Jeter

M. C. Jeter is the indie author of The Gems, a new adult fantasy novel. She is set to graduate from the Ohio State University in May 2024 with a BS in Neuroscience and a minor in American Sign Language. For fun, M. C. likes to read, write, dance, sing and play on her Nintendo Switch. As of right now, M. C. has many diverse stories bouncing around in her brain that she is so excited to share with the world. M. C. Jeter began writing her debut novel in fourth grade and as she grew, her main character did too. From starting at 10 years old to ending at 17, Ruby, the main character of The Gems, will take you on an adventure full of love, regret, and challenges.

Jeffrey A. John

Jeffrey Alan John, Ph.D., is an author and freelance writer who experienced journalism as a newspaper reporter, magazine editor and public relations writer before entering a life in academia, which he continues as a Professor Emeritus at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. He is the author of Lab Rats Can’t Say No: a story in the future, a science fiction mystery, and co-author with the late Frank L. Johnson of A Bird in Your Hand: A story of ambiguous justice, a true-crime tale. Dr. John enjoys tennis, fly fishing and restoration of a decrepit Triumph TR3 sports car in his spare time. He and his wife Karin Avila-John live in Dayton’s Oregon Historic District. Learn more about Dr. John at his website http://www.wordwritesshop.com and visit him on Twitter at @Jeffrey23671313

Angela Johnson

An Ohioana Award-winning writer of novels and poems for children, Angela Johnson is also a three-time winner of the American Library Association’s Coretta Scott King Award, presented annually for “outstanding inspirational and educational works that promote understanding and appreciation of the cultures of all peoples.” Johnson was born in Alabama and grew up in Windham, Ohio.…Read More

NF Johnson

NF Johnson attended college and worked for Kent State and The Ohio State. His preferred mode of transportation in the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s was using his thumb. He hitchhiked over 15,000 miles crisscrossing the Midwest. His work has been published in Flash Fiction Press. A Time to Wander is his first novel. He now resides in Dublin, Ohio with his wife and two dogs. NF’s has worked stints as a bartender in the 70’s, psychiatry in the 80’s, Sleep Medicine in the 00’s, and is now retired. He’s a regular tailgater at OSU games and a loyal Minnesota Vikings & Twins fan. He enjoys cooking for extended family and friends.

https://www.facebook.com/author.NF Johnson/ https://www.instagram.com/a_time_to_wander/?hl=en

A TIME TO WANDER

An email exchange between former college lovers take them back to their college years at Kent State, the 1970’s. The Vietnam War is raging. Anti-war rallies hit the breaking point. It was a time of bell bottoms, vinyl, incense, free love, and travel by thumb. Kris and Lena on May 1, 1970 were strangers on two quite different paths, a thrown beer bottle shatters the lives they have known, bringing them together by chance. Lena is attracted to Kris and his live-in-the-moment personality. When he invites her to join him on a winter break hitchhiking trip, she kicks aside her uptight attitude and accepts the adventure. The trip is harrowing at times, comical during others, and poignant as Lena and Kris learn about themselves and each other. The events that shape and seal the fate of their relationship in unpredictable ways is revealed in the authors’ female/male alternating perspectives. Inspired by true events, A TIME TO WANDER is a magical tale of freedom before the future takes hold.

Press Releases and Reviews

Top Finalist in the American Book Festival 2019

THE WRITER’S BLOCK INTERVIEW ON LA TALK RADIO https://drive.google.com/…/19Ek-y4eViqfn59N_J0Fl4pr1-…/view…

AKRON BEACON JOURNAL PRESS RELEASE

https://www.beaconjournal.com/news/20190627/book-talk-may-1970-events-figure-into-novel-by-kent-state-graduates?template=ampart

Medium.com Book Review https://medium.com/@patpendleton/heady-days-6b19b15badba

5 STAR REVIEW BY READER’S FAVORITE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR https://www.amazon.com/gp/customerreviews/R2ZZV3QL6W0PWH/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1625268750

–Teri Case, Author of TIGER DRIVE and IN THE DOGHOUSE

EXCERPT from A TIME TO WANDER

The cursor hovers over the SEND button. I swivel my chair away from the screen and gaze out the window. Slowly I get up from the desk and head toward the attic. Sitting in a cobwebbed corner is my grandmother’s old steamer trunk she gave me when I left for college. I open the lid and catch the faint scent of patchouli. I rummage through sealing wax, sandalwood incense sticks, and tarot cards. There, lying at the bottom… my college journal. I slide my hand over the time-worn cover and open it up, my heart pounding. Should I be doing this? A photo sticks out from between the pages. A long-haired Kris with wire-rimmed glasses, patched jeans and an army jacket stands holding a cardboard sign with the word “Chicago” scrawled in black magic marker. Next to him, a smiling girl flashes the peace sign. Silver hoop earrings peek out from under her long frizzy hair and even in the faded photo, there’s a shine in her eyes. I remember that girl. And that chance meeting in the middle of all the chaos.

Mabel C. Jones

Mabel C Jones is a Christian author who has been writing poetry and plays for her church and to encourage her friends and individuals for many years. I have appeared at various local churches reading my poetry as a narrator for both praise dance and choir concerts for many years. A couple years ago I decided to take many friends’ advice and put my poetry into a collection. I am presently working on putting together a volume two, also. I enjoy writing and encouraging others with my gift of poetry. And the delight in their eyes when they read it lets me know I have been a blessing to them…well, that is my thankful moment!

E.M. Jones

E. M. Jones grew up in the rustic Ohio countryside. When he's not working on his next book, he's with his family, or busy exploring every local bookstore and library. If there is a creepy basement full of books, he will find it and spend too much time there. His short fiction has appeared in Mock Turtle Zine.…Read More

E. M. Jones grew up in the rustic Ohio countryside. When he’s not working on his next book, he’s with his family, or busy exploring every local bookstore and library. If there is a creepy basement full of books, he will find it and spend too much time there. His short fiction has appeared in Mock Turtle Zine. The Darling Killer is his first novel.

Richard O Jones

After twenty-five years writing the first draft of history as a writer and editor for his hometown newspaper, the Hamilton Journal-News, Richard O Jones left the grind of daily journalism in the fall of 2013 for a life of true crime. He is the author of two books on the History Press imprint, Cincinnati’s Savage Seamstress: The Shocking Edythe Klumpp Murder Scandal (October, 2014) and Ohio Bluebeard: The Strange Confessions of Alfred Knapp (Spring, 2015), and maintains the True Crime Historian blog, where he remembers the scoundrels, scandals and scourges of America’s past and publishes the Two-Dollar Terror series of novella-length ebooks. Mr. Jones, a creative writing graduate of Miami University, Ohio, spent most of his career as an arts journalist and has won numerous awards for his reviews and profiles. In 2004, he was named a Fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts Theatre and Musical Theatre program at the Annenberg School of Journalism. The Ohio Associated Press named him Feature Writer of the Year in 2011. Since leaving the newspaper world, Mr. Jones has become an active member of his local history community as a board member of the Butler County Historical Society, a member of the History Speakers Bureau and a regular presenter at Miami University in a program titled “Yesterday’s News.” The Michael J. Colligan History Project of Miami University presented Mr. Jones with a Special Recognition for Contributions to Public History for his coverage of the Centennial Commemoration of the Great Flood of 1913. Visit him online at http://www.truecrimehistorian.com.

Mark Sebastian Jordan

Based in the central highlands of Ohio, Mark Sebastian Jordan is published internationally as a music critic, is a specialist in the history of murder and mayhem in rural Ohio, and is known far and wide as a poet, storyteller, and humorist. His books include The Ceely Rose Murders at Malabar Farm (2021), The Witch of Mansfield (2023), Slammer: Private Dick (2017), Murder Ballads: American Crime Poems (2014), and The Book of Jobs (2010). He has contributed to such notable anthologies as I Heard a Cardinal Sing: Ohio’s Appalachian Poets (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions), Eclipsing the Dark (Ohio Poetry Association), Gas Station Famous (OAC Books/Spartan Press), and Buzzkill Apocalypse (Night Ballet Press).

Timothy R. W. Jordan

Timothy R. W. Jordan worked as an interpreter and site manager for the Newark Earthworks and Flint Ridge Ancient Quarries and Nature Preserve from 2013 to 2022. During that time, he was also on the English faculties of Ohio University Zanesville and Zane State College. He is now a seminarian at Trinity Lutheran Seminary.Read More

Mariel Jungkunz

Mariel Jungkunz is a former journalist and a graduate of the Las Hermanas mentorship program for unpublished kidlit writers at Las Musas Books. Originally from Puerto Rico, she currently resides in Ohio, where she works as an editor for dictionary.com.Read More

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