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): 2023
Anastasia Hastings
Anastasia Hastings is from Brecksville, Ohio. Her newest release is book #2 of the Dear Miss Hermione historical mystery series, Of Hoaxes and Homicide. Publishers Weekly called the book “captivating” and gave it a starred review. The first book of the series, Of Manners and Murder” has been praised by The Wall Street Journal as evoking “…the shocking revelations of Wilkie Collins, the social acuity of Janes Austen and the comic melodrama of Oscar Wilde.” Learn more at: https://www.mystery-book-series.com/.
Nancy Herriman
Nancy Herriman has fronted a cover band, acted on stage, and worked in the tech industry as an engineer. Writing is her current and most long-lasting passion. Her work has won the Daphne du Maurier award, and Publishers Weekly says her ‘A Mystery of Old San Francisco’ series “…brings 1867 San Francisco to vivid life.” Her latest release is NO REFUGE FROM THE GRAVE. She is also the author of the Bess Ellyott Mysteries. When not writing, she enjoys singing, gabbing about writing, and eating dark chocolate. Learn more at: https://www.nancyherriman.com/
Leanna Renee Hieber
Leanna Renee Hieber is an actress, playwright, ghost tour guide, and an award-winning, bestselling author of 16 novels and non-fiction books for Tor and Kensington Books such as the Strangely Beautiful, Eterna Files, and Spectral City series. She writes and narrates several speculative fiction series for Scribd.com. Her non-fiction book co-authored with Andrea Janes, A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America’s Ghosts, was a Bram Stoker Award finalist for “Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction”. Leanna’s Strangely Beautiful series became a 3-time Prism Award winner and Darker Still was a Daphne du Maurier award finalist. A licensed NYC tour guide working for Boroughs of the Dead, Leanna has been featured on TV shows like Mysteries at the Museum and Beyond the Unknown discussing Victorian Spiritualism. She gives lectures and theatrical presentations around the country at conventions and prestigious institutions such as New York University, Miami University, the Cambridge Public Library, Morbid Anatomy and more, focusing on paranormal themes and 19th century women’s history. http://www.leannareneehieber.com.
Will Hillenbrand
I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, where my family owned a barbershop. As a kid, I often walked to the shop in the summer and delivered my Dad’s hot lunch. Then, I would take a break and listen to the conversations. Many customers told “big fish” stories laced with humor and exaggeration. I enjoyed drawing those stories at the kitchen table when I returned home. Later, I went to art school, and after taking a class in picture book art, I decided to try illustrating children’s literature. After over 76 books, I still feel lucky to do what I love. I live with my wife, Jane, and son, Ian, in Terrace Park, Ohio. Information about my books, selected readings, art process videos, and activity ideas can be viewed at http://www.willhillenbrand.com.
Kate Hoefler
Kate Hoefler was born and still lives and writes in the rolling hills of Ohio’s Appalachia. She is the author of numerous picture books and loves the book-love her work has received at Ohioana: two of her books, RABBIT AND THE MOTORBIKE and COURAGE HATS, were both Ohioana Book Award finalists and Floyd’s Pick Honor books. Another kids’ book career highlight was when Henry Winkler read RABBIT AND THE MOTORBIKE for Jennifer Garner’s #savewithstories (although only Rabbit was wearing a leather jacket for it). Her newest book is IN THE DARK, and she hopes you’ll find the lightest of lights in it. She loves pottery, being an introvert, and cheese. Follow her on instagram: (@katehoefler).
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/
Manuel Iris
Manuel Iris (Mexico, 1983). Poet Laureate Emeritus of the City of Cincinnati, Ohio (2018-2020). He received the “Merida” National award of poetry (Mexico, 2009) for his book Notebook of dreams, and the Rodulfo Figueroa Regional award of poetry for his book The disguises of fire (Mexico, 2014). In 2016two different anthologies of his poetic work were published: The naked light, in Venezuela; and Before the mystery, in El Salvador. His first bilingual anthology of poems, Traducir el silencio/Translating silence was published in New York in 2018. This book won two different awards in the International Latino Book Awards in Los Angeles, California, in that same year. In 2021, he became a member of the prestigious System of Art Creators of Mexico (Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte). His latest book “the parting present/Lo que se ira” received the Reader’s choice award from the Ohioana Library Association, and was also recognized at the 2022 International Latino Book Awards. Learn more at: https://manueliris.com/
Teshauna L. Isaac
Author Teshauna L. Isaac was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, to the parents of Eugene and Maxine Isaac. She is the second oldest of three children. Teshauna gave her life to Christ and was baptized at an early age at St Mark’s Baptist Church, under the leadership of the late Pastor I.J. Johnson. Elder Isaac accepted her calling and on September 28, 2014, she was licensed to preach the gospel. On July 30, 2017, she was ordained as an elder by the authority and order of the State of Ohio Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship Int’l. Teshauna walks in her purpose and calling as an intercessory prayer leader and teacher.
Elder Isaac attended and graduated from Jesup W. Scott High School. She went on to attend The University of Toledo, earning a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. She recently graduated from Spring Arbor University with a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health and released her first published book BLACKOUT (May 2022). She currently works full-time at Goodwill Industries of NW Ohio as the Program Manager for the Stay the Course reentry program. More recently she has started a new career as a Multisystemic Therapist at the Zepf Center.
She is the proud mother of two sons, Darius and Greg, one daughter, Jazmin, and grandmother to London. Her interests include exercising, reading, traveling, shopping, listening to music, spending time with her family and friends, volunteering in the local community, and serving at her local church. Learn more: http://teshaunaisaac.com/
Judy Orr James
Judy James retired in 2016 from the Akron-Summit County Public Library where she was employed for more than 35 years. In 2001, she was hired as manager of the Special Collections Division to create a new department at Main Library devoted to local history and genealogy. She received her Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from Kent State University, and is also a graduate of the National Archives Modern Archives Institute. The Special Collections Division maintains one of the most comprehensive genealogy collections in the state of Ohio, along with a growing collection of local history materials, including the archival collections of the Summit County Historical Society. Special Collections also coordinates the Summit Memory Project (http://www.SummitMemory.org), a collaborative, digital “scrapbook” of Summit County history. During her time at the library, Judy collaborated with numerous community and professional organizations including the University of Akron, Summit County Historical Society, Summit County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society, Cascade Locks Park Association, and the City of Akron, among others. In 2010 she received the Akron Women’s History Project Woman of the Year Award for Innovation. Judy was born and raised in Akron and is married to Jeff James, a local attorney. They have two grown children.
