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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Patricia Sargeant
Patricia Sargeant is a national best-selling author. She writes romance as Patricia Sargeant and Regina Hart, and mysteries as Olivia Matthews. Her work has been reviewed in national publications such as Publishers Weekly, USA Today, Kirkus Reviews, Suspense Magazine, Mystery Scene Magazine, Library Journal and BookRiot. Patricia was drawn to write romance because she believes love is the greatest motivation. Her mysteries put ordinary people in extraordinary situations to have them find “the hero inside.” For more information about Patricia and her work, visit PatriciaSargeant.com
Robert Sberna
Robert Sberna is a journalist and author of Badge 387: The Story of Jim Simone, America’s Most Decorated Cop. A graduate of Ohio University’s School of Journalism, he began his career covering police beats for daily newspapers in the Midwest. In recent years, he has contributed to The Washington Examiner, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Neoconomist, Crain’s, and Ohio Magazine. His first book, House of Horrors: The Shocking True Story of Anthony Sowell, was named the 2012 True Crime “Book of the Year” by Foreword Reviews. He has appeared on numerous TV shows, including the History Channel’s America’s Book of Secrets. Visit him at http://www.robertsberna.com.
John Scalzi
John Scalzi has written nearly all of his science fiction from a home office in Bradford, Ohio, where he can look out the window and see Amish buggies clopping by. His first published novel, 2005’s “Old Man’s War,” was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novel and helped him win the John W. Campbell/Astounding Award for Best New Writer. Scalzi would go on to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2013 for his New York Times bestselling novel Redshirts. His most recent novel, The Kaiju Preservation Society, is a 2023 Alex Award recipient and currently optioned for television. Scalzi also writes for the Emmy Award-winning television series Love Death + Robots, where Ohio features prominently in his episode “When the Yogurt Took Over.” In 2016, Scalzi’s work earned him the Governor’s Award for Arts in Ohio. https://whatever.scalzi.com/
Randall L. Schieber
Randall Lee Schieber is a photographer based in Columbus, Ohio. He specializes in editorial, architectural, location, and travel photography and has published six books and numerous calendars. His work has appeared in a variety of local and national publications.
Eugene Schmiel
Eugene D. Schmiel is a retired U.S. Department of State Foreign Service officer. He was an assistant professor of history at St. Francis University (PA) and has taught at Marymount, Shenandoah, and Penn State universities. He holds the Ph.D. degree from The Ohio State University and coauthored, with his wife Kathryn, a book on life in the Foreign Service.
Read MoreEugene D. Schmiel is a retired U.S. Department of State Foreign Service officer. He was an assistant professor of history at St. Francis University (PA) and has taught at Marymount, Shenandoah, and Penn State universities. He holds the Ph.D. degree from The Ohio State University and coauthored, with his wife Kathryn, a book on life in the Foreign Service.
Ken Schneck
Ken Schneck is an author, professor, radio host, and rabble rouser. His travelogue, “Seriously, What Am I Doing Here?: The Adventures of a Wondering and Wandering Gay Jew” was published in 2017, “LGBTQ Cleveland” was released in 2018, and “LGBTQ Columbus” hits the shelves in June of 2019. He is a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post, Cleveland Magazine and FreshWater Cleveland, and currently serves as the Editor for Prizm Magazine, Ohio’s only LGBTQ publication. For 10 years, he was the producer/host of “This Show is So Gay,” the award-winning, long-running radio show/podcast. In his spare time, he is a Professor of Education at Baldwin Wallace University.
E.F Schraeder
Author of As Fast as She Can (Sirens Call Publications, 2022) and Liar: Memoir of a Haunting (Omnium Gatherum, 2021), which was an Imadjinn Award finalist (2022), E.F. Schraeder is also the author of a story collection and two poetry chapbooks. Recent work has appeared in Lost Contact, Moonflowers & Nightshade, Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, and other journals and anthologies. Schraeder’s nonfiction has appeared in Vastarien: A Literary Journal; Radical Teacher; the American Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom blog, and elsewhere. Awarded first place in Crystal Lake Publishing’s 2021 Poetry Contest, E.F. Schraeder’s work also placed as a semi-finalist in Headmistress Press’ Charlotte Mew Contest (2019). An Active Member in the Horror Writers Association, E. F. Schraeder believes in ghosts, magic, and dogs. Learn more at: https://efschraeder.com/
Michaela Schuett
Most days, Michaela Schuett can be found somewhere in Ohio counting sunny days, giggles and jelly beans — usually with a sketchbook in hand.
Other days, she is in front of her computer designing and drawing amazing things for amazing people.
With a degree in journalism from Iowa State University, Michaela worked for many years as a writer, designer, copy editor, and illustrator for various newspapers and magazines. Most recently, she worked as the interim Art Director for Dispatch Magazines (2013) and was responsible for the monthly design of Columbus Monthly and its various special publications.
After nearly 13 years working full-time (2001-2013), she is now a freelance designer and illustrator.
Whether she’s working in corporate communications, editorial design, picture books, or small business—everything she does comes from the heart—with a passion for making complex information easy to understand.
Kathy Schulz
Kathy Schulz is a retired college librarian. A native Ohioan, she has deep roots in the state and degrees from three of its universities. She lived at two major Underground Railroad junctions and wants Americans to know that the Underground Railroad was mostly in Ohio and mostly above ground—not in tunnels! Kathy and her husband currently live in Santa Fe NM, where she stays busy with friends, hobbies, and grandchildren. Learn more about Kathy at her website: https://undergroundrailroadohio.com/
Salvatore Scibona
Salvatore Scibona’s most recent novel, The Volunteer, was called “a masterpiece” by the New York Times. His first novel, The End, was a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Young Lions Fiction Award. His work has won a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, an O. Henry Award, and a Whiting Award; and The New Yorker named him one of its “20 under 40” fiction writers. He directs the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library.