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): 2022
Jeffrey Ebbeler
Jeffrey Ebbeler has worked as an art director, book designer, and illustrator. He is a graduate of the Art Academy of Cincinnati. After college he worked for a puppet theater sculpting marionettes and performing. He has since become a full-time freelance illustrator and has illustrated over 40 children’s books, including One Is a Feast for Mouse, Cinco de Mouse O!, Haunted House, Haunted Mouse, and Snow Day for Mouse, all by Judy Cox. He has also written and illustrated A Giant Mess and Kraken Me Up, which was named a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection.
Mary Ellis
Mary Ellis is a former schoolteacher turned USA Today bestselling author who’s written twenty-six novels including Amish fiction, historical romance, and suspense. Her first mystery, Midnight on the Mississippi, was a finalist for the RT Magazine’s Reviewer’s Choice Award and a finalist for the Daphne du Maurier Award. Her latest series is the Bourbon Tour Mysteries from Severn House. Book two, One Hundred Proof Murder released August 3, 2021. Her latest Amish novella is Missing available on Amazon Kindle. She enjoys gardening and bicycling and lives in Ohio with her husband and dog. http://www.maryellis.net or http://www.facebook.com/Mary.Ellis.Author
Michelle Fishpaw
Michelle Fishpaw began writing Claire’s Voice – her first book – more than a decade ago following the injury of her, daughter, Claire, who was shaken by a babysitter in her home town of Columbus, Ohio. After being in the teaching field for 20 years, she chose to pursue another career and is currently a licensed massage therapist. Michelle remains a passionate advocate in creating hope and helping others, and currently lives in Narragansett, Rhode Island. She enjoys walks on the beach, collecting sea glass and shells along the nearby coastline. For more information visit: michellefishpaw.com
Erin Flanagan
Erin Flanagan is the author of two short-story collections and three novels including Deer Season, winner of the 2022 Edgar for Best First Novel, and the most recent Come with Me. She is an English professor at Wright State University and a regular book reviewer for Publishers Weekly. For more information about her and her writing, please visit http://www.erinflanagan.net or say hello on Twitter and Instagram at @erinlflanagan.
Amanda Flower
Amanda Flower is a USA Today bestselling and two-time Agatha Award-winning author of over fifty mystery novels. Her novels have received starred reviews from Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Romantic Times, and she had been featured in USA Today, First for Women, and Woman’s World. Her first Emily Dickinson Mystery, Because I Could Not Stop for Death, was an Agatha Award winner and Mary Higgins Clark Nominee. She currently writes for Penguin-Random House (Berkley), Kensington, and Sourcebooks. A former librarian, Flower and her husband own a farm and recording studio, and they live in Northeast Ohio with their adorable cats. http://www.amandaflower.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.
Carole Genshaft
Carole M. Genshaft is Curator-at-Large at the Columbus Museum of Art, where she has organized many exhibitions about the life and work of Aminah Robinson. Dr. Genshaft has been with the Museum since 1984 and was Director of Education from 1996-2006. She has an undergraduate degree in art history from Syracuse University, a master’s degree in library science from Case Western Reserve University, and earned her doctorate in art education from The Ohio State University.
Jacob Grant
Jacob Grant is an author, illustrator, and dad who makes picture books. He is a winner of the prestigious 2024 Bologna Children’s Book Fair Illustration Exhibition, and he’s also an okay kids soccer coach. Jacob is originally from Cincinnati, and now lives with his wife and two little ones near Chicago. Here he can be found in his home studio, drawing and writing until something feels story-ish. Learn more at his website: http://jacobgrantbooks.com/
Marilyn Greenwald
Marilyn Greenwald is a professor emerita of Journalism at Ohio University, where she taught courses in news reporting, biography writing and the writing of reviews and criticism. She also worked for ten years as a news reporter and business writer at daily newspapers in Ohio. She is the author of four biographies, including A Woman of the Times: Journalism, Feminism and the Career of Charlotte Curtis, (1999).
Michael Griffith
Michael Griffith’s most recent novel, Trophy (Northwestern University Press/TriQuarterly), was named one of Kirkus Reviews’ Best 25 Books of Fiction for 2011. His previous books, both from Arcade, are the novel Spikes and the story collection Bibliophilia. Griffith is Professor of English at the University of Cincinnati.