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): Juvenile
Federico Erebia
Federico Erebia is a retired physician, woodworker, author, poet, and illustrator. He received a BA from the College of Wooster, and an MD from Brown University. He will receive the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for Exceptional New Writer. Other distinctions for his debut novel, Pedro & Daniel (Levine Querido 2023) include: 2024 Ohioana Book Award, finalist; 2024 Massachusetts Book Award, longlist; 2024 Américas Book Award, Commended Title; 2024 Bank Street BEST BOOK; 2023 Kirkus BEST BOOK; and starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Shelf Awareness. He and his husband live near Boston, Massachusetts. https://fjebooks.com/index.html
Donna Farland-Smith
Donna Farland-Smith is an Associate Professor of Science Education in The School of Teaching & Learning at The Ohio State University. Her research that focuses on students’ perceptions and attitudes toward science and scientists as well as the characteristics of scientists that most positively affect the girl’s perception of scientists. She has over a decade’s experience in the classroom and previously taught science all grades K-12. She is co-author of two books for teachers through NSTA Press, Eureka! Science Alive through Scientists’ Stories and Intermediate Science Activities and Eureka! Science Alive through Scientists’ Stories and Primary Science Activities.
Michael Fehskens
Michael Fehskens studied illustration at Columbus College of Art & Design. Dedicated to authoring & illustrating books for all ages, and of many kinds. Library assistant and bookmobile driver for Clark County Public Library.
Annamarie Fernyak
Annamarie Fernyak is the founder of the mindful education company, Mind Body Align. She is an award-winning community leader who lives and works to make life better in downtown Mansfield, Ohio. She is the author of The Right Side of Happiness, and is an educator, speaker, podcast guest, and writer on building resilience and living mindfully, in the present moment as the path to a life of true happiness and contentment. Mind Body Align teaches hundreds of students and educators each year how to pay focused attention, practice kindness, and share gratitude.
Annamarie is the co-author of a 16-book series for children and is the vision behind the main character, Tia, a butterfly, and Dwight, a grasshopper, two of the delightful inhabitants of a special garden labyrinth. These books teach children skills of self-regulation, how to navigate disagreement, to manage anxiety, and more. This series is set in a real-life labyrinth at Annamarie’s farm in Lucas, Ohio.
David S. FitzSimmons
David FitzSimmons is an award-winning free-lance photographer and writer. His nonfiction picture books have won twelve national book awards, including an IBPA Best Picture Book award in 2016. His Curious Critters children’s picture books have sold over 100,000 copies. A life-long educator, David has taught on all grade levels and now frequently visits schools to talk about connecting children and nature.
Savanna Flakes
Savanna Flakes is an award-winning speaker and international educational consultant whose mission is to ignite fires within others to create sustainable change on topics such as inclusion and equity, social emotional learning, and shaking up special education. Savanna is the founder and CEO of Inclusion For a Better Future and partners with school communities around the world to share effective instructional practices for students with exceptionalities. As a champion for inclusive education, Savanna has received numerous honors and awards for her work on behalf of students with disabilities, such as a TEDxTalk; her book for teachers, Shaking Up Special Education: Instructional Moves to Increase Achievement, and many education articles. Savanna is a changemaker, and she is working to positively impact the lives of teachers, children, and families. With her pen and paper, she hopes to continue to bring families and school communities together. As a united team, we can ensure every child shines, and that no dream is impossible!
Julie Flanders
Julie Flanders is an academic librarian by day and a writer the rest of the time. She is also an animal lover and has written features about pets and the importance of animal rescue for media outlets such as Best Friends Animal Society and Cat Fancy. Julie is a television addict, an avid walker, and an obsessive fan of the Ohio State Buckeyes. Although a lifelong Ohio resident, Julie nevertheless has an ongoing love affair with the island of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Julie’s novels include the paranormal thrillers Polar Night and Polar Day as well as the historical love story The Ghosts of Aquinnah. She is also the author of the horror novella The Turnagain Arm, and her horror short story “Cardinal Sin” is part of the Mayhem in the Air anthology. Julie is a history buff who loves incorporating history into her stories, which she calls “mysteries untethered by time.” For more about Julie and her books, go to julieflanders.net
Lynette Ford
Lynette (Lyn) Ford shares “Home-Fried Tales,” adaptations of folktales “from many places and many faces,” as well as her own original stories and personal narratives. Lyn’s rhythmic, interactive storytelling style encourages language and literacy skills, creative writing, and an appreciation for the oral tradition among all types of learners. Lyn’s storytelling is rooted in her family’s multicultural Affrilachian oral traditions, her research and interest in heritage and folklore, and her own love of stories.
Lyn’s work has been publicized on the PTO Today web site, and in Columbus Monthly and Columbus Parents magazines. Lyn has written for Storytelling Magazine, a national publication; her work is also included in story anthologies and resources for educators, including: the award winning The Storytelling Classroom: Applications Across the Curriculum, Literacy in the Storytelling Classroom (both from Libraries Unlimited), and Social Studies in the Storytelling Classroom (Parkhurst Brothers, Inc.); Sayin’ Somethin’: Stories from the National Association of Black Storytellers (National Association of Black Storytellers, Inc.); The August House Book of Scary Stories (August House), and its accompanying enrichment guide for teachers, and the 2011 publication Storytelling and QAR Strategies (Libraries Unlimited). Lyn’s CD, When the Gourd Broke, won a 2009 NAPPA Honors Award.
Lyn is also a Thurber House mentor to young writers. In 2012, Lyn was among the first 30 teaching artists from across the country to participate in professional-development sessions on the arts and Common Core State Standards at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; Lyn’s participation as an Ohio Teaching Artist in The Ohio State-Based Collaborative Initiative of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has provided additional opportunities for Lyn to share professional development workshops for educators and other mentors, in interactive sessions pertinent to benchmarks of academic content standards and diverse ways of learning. Lyn makes connections between the oral tradition and core reading and writing skills, in conjunction with the 21st Century Learning Skills:
- Collaboration and teamwork
- Creativity and imagination
- Critical thinking
- Problem solving
In the summer of 2007, Lyn received an Oracle Award for Leadership and Service from the National Storytelling Network. Lyn received a 2008 Friend of Education Award from Reynoldsburg public schools, for her ongoing contribution of creative learning and enrichment experiences as Herbert Mills Elementary School’s storyteller in residence. In 2012, Lyn was inducted into the National Association of Black Storytellers’ Circle of Elders. In 2013, Lyn received the National Storytelling Network’s Circle of Excellence award, for her continuing efforts and achievements in storytelling. In 2016, Lyn was recognized by the National Storytelling Network’s Youth, Educators and Storytellers Alliance (YES) for her past work as co-chairperson, advisor, and special projects chairperson.
For more than 25 years, Lyn has provided stories for public libraries’ summer reading programs, keynote and closing presentations, and workshops at universities, education and literacy conferences, and storytelling conferences and festivals. Lyn has appeared at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee, and presented workshops for the National Storytelling Conference. Lyn has also been a storyteller-in-residence at the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough. Lyn was named the winner of the Liars’ Contest (for tall tales, not lies!) at the 2005 National Association of Black Storytellers Conference and Festival; she has also shared stories and workshops at the TalkStory Festival in Hawaii, and at other national gatherings, including the St. Louis Storytelling Festival, the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival in Orem, Utah, the Eugene (Oregon) Multicultural Festival, the Northlands Storytelling Conference in Madison, Wisconsin, the Cape Clear Storytelling Festival in Ireland (with a return visit in Fall 2018), and the 2018 Sydney International Storytelling Conference in Australia. Since 2016, Lyn has been a keynote speaker or workshop facilitator for the Transformative Language Arts Network’s (Goddard College) Power of Words Conference; Lyn has also offered writing sessions through the Transformative Language Arts Network’s online classes, and spoken/written word sessions through the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina.
Lyn’s first publication as an individual author, 2012’s Affrilachian Tales: Folktales from the African-American Appalachian Tradition, has received a 2013 Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award, and a 2013 Storytelling World Resources Award. The book is a compilation of stories from Lyn’s childhood memories, enriched with information on Affrilachian culture, and published by Parkhurst Brothers, Inc. Lyn’s second collection of Affrilachian folktales and family folkways, Beyond the Briar Patch: Affrilachian Folktales, Food and Folklore, received the 2015 Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award. Both books, as well as Lyn’s collection of original, creepy twists on folk and fairytales, Hot Wind, Boiling Rain (which includes variants, resources, and creative writing exercises for older students and adults) are available from Parkhurst Brothers, Inc. through its website at http://www.parkhurstbrothers.com, Amazon.com, and other book merchants. 2017 saw the publication of a book co-authored with friend and fellow storyteller/teaching artist Sherry Norfolk: Boo-Tickle Tales: Not-So-Scary Stories for Ages 4-9, by Parkhurst Brothers. Lyn and Sherry are also proud of three recent or in-the-works publications: Storytelling Strategies for Reaching and Teaching Children with Special Needs (2017, ABC-CLIO); Supporting Diversity and Inclusion with Story: Authentic Folktales and Discussion Guides (2020, ABC-CLIO), and Speak Peace: Words of Wisdom, Work, and Wonder, from Parkhurst Brothers Publishing (Fall, 2019).
Lyn is currently a member/committee member of the following organizations: The Storytellers of Central Ohio and their community outreach committee, Columbus Story Adventures; The Ohio Storytelling Network; the Northlands Storytelling Network; The National Association of Black Storytellers; The National Storytelling Network, and the Transformative Language Arts Network (a partnership with Goddard College).
Lyn’s work has also branched out even further. Lyn is a Certified Laughter Yoga Teacher, sharing pre- and post-test relaxation techniques, workshops, keynotes, and icebreakers that incorporate both story and laughter exercises. Lyn is also a member of the Writers Council of the National Writing Project, which is comprised of writers who “want to bring greater attention to the importance of writing and the work of NWP…Writers Council members share NWP’s belief that writing is vital to thinking, creating, communicating, and participating in the world.” (quoted from the NWP website).
Abigail Fredelake
As the daughter of an Army Colonel, Abigail spent her childhood in a variety of cities and countries. But over the years spent abroad, her family kept strong ties to Ohio and frequently visited relatives in Columbus. Abigail attended Auburn University, and moved to Columbus after graduating in 2007. For the past 9 years Abigail has been the owner and editor of The Scout Guide Columbus. Abigail lives in New Albany with her husband Andrew, her son Hugo and their golden, Gus. She wrote this book as a tribute to Carl, her first and beloved English golden retriever: “This book was created to take Carl to places that he wasn’t able to explore himself and to show that families can look like and mean many different things.”
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.