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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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.
Emmie J. Holland
Emmie J. Holland is a twenty-something-year-old mom and former third-grade teacher who writes romantic comedy books filled with witty writing, banter, romance, and all the feels. When she is not writing, she enjoys hiking, spending time outdoors, and hanging out with her family.
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/
Shannon Holly
Shannon is a Gen X author who grew up reading David Eddings, C.S. Lewis, Anne McCaffrey and watching Star Trek, Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica. It’s no wonder she wrote a Star Trek meets Narnia fantasy adventure! That same sense of wonder and excitement she grew up with is what she’s devoted to giving her fans.
Angola Hone
Angola Hone is an independent author and all-twelve-grades done though homeschooling graduate. His debut series for middle grade and young adult fantasy readers, The Canid Chronology, released its first book in August 2024. He penned the original draft in notebooks almost a decade and a half ago, and never outgrew his love for children and YA fiction. To this day, he’s still nostalgic over favorite childhood books such as Redwall and Narnia, as well as stories from movies and video games such as Wall-E, Ratatouille, and Pokémon. As he begins his journey as an author, he hopes to capture the same themes of adventure, heroism, and loving self-sacrifice found in these tales for the next generation.
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.
Ron Horsley
Ron Horsley is an author and artist responsible for numerous short stories, essays, reviews, and book cover designs. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, his first published work was as editor of and contributor to The Midnighters Club: Tales from the Harker House Collection, 2001. The collection included authors such as Lucy A. Snyder and Paul Tremblay, and several stories received recognition in the 2001 Bram Stoker Awards for Best Short Fiction.
His short stories have appeared in magazines such as “On Spec” and his story “In the Empty Country” appears in the Masques V anthology, edited and published by Barry Hoffman and Gary A. Braunbeck (originally edited by Jerry Wiliamson).
He is an alumnus of the 2002 Clarion East Workshop for Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing and a recipient of the Douglas L. Ruble scholarship fund for science fiction writing and development.
His first published novel, Sin Gorge: An Everything Under Novel was released in October 2012. The book is the first in the ‘John Flicker’ series of urban fantasy/horror novels set in Columbus and featuring the protagonist John Flicker/Body & Soul, with subsequent novels Jennyripper, The Never-Time Girl, and A City Made of Saturdays.
He is currently a member of the MFA program for Graphic Design at the Columbus College of Art and Design. As part of his graduate thesis he is illustrating his first children’s novel, a fantasy epic titled Beyond the Grass Ocean. He currently works as a graphic designer in the Columbus, Ohio area, where his artwork is frequently featured in local publications such as (614) Magazine, Stock & Barrel, and UWeekly.
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.