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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Judith Moffett
Judith Moffett was born in Louisville in 1942 and grew up in Cincinnati. She is an English professor, a poet, a Swedish translator, and the author of twelve books in six genres. These include three volumes of poetry, two of Swedish poetry in formal translation, four science-fiction novels plus a collection of stories, a volume of creative nonfiction, and a critical study of James Merrill’s poetry. She has also written an unpublished memoir of her long friendship with Merrill. Her work in poetry, translation, and science fiction has earned numerous awards and award nominations, including an NEA Creative Writing Fellowship in Poetry, an NEH Translation Grant, the Swedish Academy’s Tolkningspris, and in science fiction the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the Theodore Sturgeon Award for the year’s best short story. Two of her novels were New York Times Notable Books.
Moffett earned a doctorate in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania, with a thesis on Stephen Vincent Benét’s narrative poetry, directed by Daniel Hoffman. She taught American literature and creative writing at several colleges and universities, including the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the University of Kentucky, and for fifteen years the University of Pennsylvania. She has lived for extended periods in England (Cambridge and London) and Sweden (Lund and Stockholm), as well as around the US, living/teaching/writing in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Colorado, Wisconsin, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Utah. In 1983 she married Medievalist Edward B. Irving, Jr., her colleague at Penn. Widowed in 1998, Judy now divides her year between Oxford OH and her hundred-acre recovering farm near Lawrenceburg KY, sharing both homes with her standard poodles, Corbie and Lexi.
For a complete list of Judy’s published work, visit her Wikipedia entry: wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Moffett
Wes Molebash
Wes Molebash is the creator of several popular webcomics, most notably You’ll Have That (Viper Comics) and Molebashed (self-published). He has also created cartoons for companies and organizations such as the Ohio State University, Target, and PBS Kids. Travis Daventhorpe for the Win! is his debut graphic novel. Learn more here: https://www.wesmolebash.com/.
Nicholas Money
Nicholas Money is a biologist and Western Program Director at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He is a popular teacher and an international expert on fungal biology. He has authored a number of popular science books, including “The Rise of Yeast: How the Sugar Fungus Shaped Civilization” and “The Selfish Ape: Human Nature and Our Path to Extinction.” His books are noted for blending first-rate science with stories of irresistible human interest.
Denise Monique
Denise Monique is a Self-Published Author, located in Cleveland, Ohio. She is a licensed social worker and loves to travel as much as possible. Each year, she travels to a place she has never been before. Other hobbies include reading, sometimes as much as a book a day. Growing up, Denise would win the summer reading club each year for having read the most books. Her nickname was One-Hundred due to her educational efforts. Her dad gave her his own nickname of Squirrel, as she was a tomboy growing up and could be found in a tree most days. Denise is very passionate about helping others find the light within themselves to start their path to better lives. She kept her story in for so many years, as she didn’t want to hurt the very people that hurt her. She has learned to view her mistakes as learning lessons and strives for greatness in life. Denise lives by the motto that anything that disturbs her peace has got to go!
Bayyinah Monk-Nduaka
If you know Bayyinah, you know that her greatest passions in life are family & friends, travel, writing, cooking, entrepreneurship and helping others. It is Bayyinah’s desire to connect people with their life’s passion and calling through living a happy and whole life through food and healthy relationships. Born in Philadelphia, PA, Bayyinah began writing at the age of twelve and in 1994, she won a scholarship to attend Young Writer’s at Kenyon College. There she honed her writing passions. Eventually she took advanced placement and college preparatory literature and writing courses. And in 2003, Bayyinah graduated from Otterbein University with B.S. in Business and Economics. Later, in 2006, she received her A.A. in Mortuary Science from Briarwood College. Inspired by her mother and family, Bayyinah is a self-taught cook. Her passion is creating recipes, cooking good food and feeding her family and friends. In 2015, Bayyinah became a two-time Amazon best selling and award winning author. When Bayyinah is not working, writing, cooking or world traveling – she is somewhere having a good ole’ time with her husband Obinna Nduaka and family. She currently reside in the Metropolitan Washington, DC area. Learn more at: https://www.gimmethatrecipe.com/
Jess Montgomery
Jess Montgomery is the author of the Kinship Historical Mysteries, set in 1920s Appalachian Ohio and inspired by Ohio’s true first female sheriff. Under her given name, she writes the “Level Up Your (Writing) Life” column for Writer’s Digest. She was formerly a newspaper columnist, focusing on the literary life, authors and events of her native Dayton, Ohio for the Dayton Daily News.…
Read MoreJess Montgomery is the author of the Kinship Historical Mysteries, set in 1920s Appalachian Ohio and inspired by Ohio’s true first female sheriff. Under her given name, she writes the “Level Up Your (Writing) Life” column for Writer’s Digest. She was formerly a newspaper columnist, focusing on the literary life, authors and events of her native Dayton, Ohio for the Dayton Daily News. She is a three-time recipient of the Individual Excellence Award in Literary Arts from Ohio Arts Council, a two-time recipient of the Montgomery County (Ohio) Arts & Cultural District (MCAD) Artist Opportunity Grant, and has been a John E. Nance Writer in Residence at Thurber House (Columbus, Ohio). Learn more at: https://jessmontgomeryauthor.com/
Martha Moody
Martha Moody, author of 2001’s bestseller Best Friends, graduated from medical school in 1982. She finished her internal medicine residency in 1985 and was in private practice as an internist until 2000. Since then she has been the volunteer medical director at a clinic for the working poor, and is a volunteer at Wright State School of Medicine teaching first year med students physical diagnosis. She lives in Ohio with her husband and four sons. Visit her online at http://marthamoody.net/.
Oge Mora
Oge Mora is a collage artist and storyteller. Her picture book, Thank You, Omu!, was a Caldecott Honor, Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award winner, and Ezra Jack Keats Book Award recipient. Her second book, Saturday won the 2020 Boston Globe—Horn Book Picture Book Award. Oge’s artwork has been applauded by The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Boston Globe.…
Read MoreOge Mora is a collage artist and storyteller. Her picture book, Thank You, Omu!, was a Caldecott Honor, Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award winner, and Ezra Jack Keats Book Award recipient. Her second book, Saturday won the 2020 Boston Globe—Horn Book Picture Book Award. Oge’s artwork has been applauded by The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Boston Globe. She is also a 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 Lister in Arts & Style.
Oge grew up in Columbus, Ohio but resides in Providence, RI. She is a fan of all things colorful, patterned, or collaged, and enjoys creating warm stories that celebrate people coming together. Visit her website at: http://www.ogemora.com/.
David Lee Morgan , Jr.
David Lee Morgan, Jr. has been a sports reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal since 1995. He has won several awards for his coverage of high school sports, including the James A. Sutherland Award, given to the top “rookie” reporter in Northeast Ohio and was named the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association Writer of the Year three times (2004, 2007, 2009). He is a former high school and collegiate athlete. He played baseball and basketball at Warren G. Harding High School in Warren, Ohio and baseball at Youngstown State University.
Ruth Hanford Morhard
Ruth Hanford Morhard was memorizing the batting and earned run averages of Major League baseball players and reading baseball books when most young girls were playing with dolls. A native of Connecticut, she grew up a rabid fan of the Boston Red Sox, changing her allegiance to the Cleveland Indians when she moved to Ohio, ever hopeful of a long-awaited World Series win!
Combining her love of baseball with another passion, writing, it seems natural that she would one day write a book about baseball. MRS. MORHARD AND THE BOYS is that book—about a single mom who created the first boys’ baseball leagues in the depths of the Great Depression to help her son overcome the trauma of his early childhood. The book will be published on February 26, 2019 by Citadel Press, just in time for spring training and the start of the baseball season!
Career-wise, she’s been a senior executive with major philanthropic and arts institutions and currently serves as a consultant to national, regional and local institutions. Her work in early childhood education led to her practical nonfiction book, “Wired to Move: Facts and Strategies for Nurturing Boys in Early Childhood Settings,” published in 2013. She has a Certificate in Creative Nonfiction from Stanford University and a BA degree from Skidmore College.
She lives in Chardon, Ohio with her husband Al, son of the Mrs. Morhard of the book title.