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.
Marci Rich
Marci Rich has published poetry, essays, and journalism, and earned honors from organizations and publications as varied as the Academy of American Poets, the Abiko Quarterly for James Joyce Studies (Japan), BlogHer, Huffington Post, and the Press Club of
Cleveland, from which she has twice won Best Freelance Writer in Ohio awards in its All Ohio Excellence in Journalism competitions in 2018 and 2019. The latter awards recognize her local history feature series, “Look
Back, Elyria,” which she writes for the Chronicle-Telegram and which forms the basis of Looking Back at Elyria: A Midwest City at Midcentury, her first nonfiction book. A graduate of Oberlin College, where she earned a bachelor of arts degree in English with a creative writing specialization, Marci has also studied memoir writing at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown,
Massachusetts. She also earned an associate of arts degree from Lorain County Community College. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Theta Kappa, the Authors Guild, the National Society of Newspaper
Columnists, the Press Club of Cleveland, Literary Cleveland, James River Writers, and the Lorain County Historical Society. A chapbook of her poems, Lights and Shadows, was published by Bottom Dog Press in
1985 under her former name, Marci Janas.
Emilie Richards
Emilie Richards has written more than seventy novels, including series romances, romantic suspense, futuristic fantasy, paranormal, mysteries, and single title women’s fiction. Her novel series include the Ministry is Murder, the Shenandoah Album, and the Goddesses Anonymous novels. Richards is also a quilter and has published five Quilting Along With Emilie Richards books to complement the books in her Shenandoah Album series.…
Read MoreEmilie Richards has written more than seventy novels, including series romances, romantic suspense, futuristic fantasy, paranormal, mysteries, and single title women’s fiction. Her novel series include the Ministry is Murder, the Shenandoah Album, and the Goddesses Anonymous novels. Richards is also a quilter and has published five Quilting Along With Emilie Richards books to complement the books in her Shenandoah Album series. Her books have been published in more than sixteen languages in more than twenty countries, and eight have been made into movies for German TV. Richards is a past winner of the Romance Writers of America’s RITA Award, the highest prize given to romance authors. She grew up in Florida but lived in Cleveland for twelve years where she raised her children and continued her prolific writing career. Richards has worked as a therapist in a mental health center, a parent services coordinator for families enrolled in Head Start, and in several pastoral counseling centers. Married to her college sweetheart, Richards recently returned to live in Florida. Visit Emilie’s website, http://emilierichards.com/.
Natalie D. Richards
New York Times Bestselling Author Natalie D. Richards is the author of nine “page-turning thrillers” (School Library Journal), including Five Total Strangers (2020) and Seven Dirty Secrets (2021). Four Found Dead (2023) is her ninth bone-chilling novel. Her first middle-grade novel is called 15 Secrets to Survival and has been hailed as, “a teamwork oriented update to Hatchet.” A champion of literacy and aspiring authors, Richards is a frequent speaker at schools, libraries, and writing groups. She lives in Ohio with her three children and (very) large dog, Wookiee. Visit her at http://www.nataliedrichards.com.
Joyce Richardson
Joyce Richardson received her MA in creative writing from Ohio University. She taught high school and junior high English and drama in Athens County, Ohio for over twenty years. Her poetry collections include The Reader, Sailing without a Sail, and Delia’s Gone. Joyce’s Appalachian novel, On Sunday Creek, was written with the help of an Ohio Individual artist grant.
The first art mystery novel, Nude Descending a Staircase (Museitup Publishing) came out in the spring of 2011. Book 2 of the museum mystery series, Nude with Red Hat, was published as a paperback in November, 2016. Joyce is currently working on her third mystery, Reclining Nude.
Joyce enjoys traveling with her husband, Phil, also a writer, and painting Chagall-like images whenever she finds herself in San Miguel, Mexico. Her website is MuseumMystery.com
Lisa Karon Richardson
Influenced by books like The Secret Garden and The Little Princess, Lisa Karon Richardson’s early stories were heavy on boarding schools and creepy houses. Now, even though she’s (mostly) grown-up she still loves a healthy dash of adventure in any story she creates, even her real-life story. She’s been a missionary to the Seychelles and Gabon and now that she and her husband are back in America, they are tackling a new adventure–starting a church planting Central Ohio. Lisa is the author of several published novellas and novels. You can find her online at http://www.lisakaronrichardson.com and http://www.inkwellinspirations.com.
David Rickert
David Rickert is an educator as well as an author and illustrator of comics. After receiving his teaching degree from Ohio State University, David had an itch to create comics for education. Working with the Teachers Pay Teachers marketplace, teachers around the world have embraced his comics as an effective way to teach English to young readers.
Conlee Ricketts
Conlee Ricketts has been an educator for over 30 years with her BSEd in Secondary Mathematics Education from The Ohio State University, and her MEd in Administration/Teacher Leader from Wright State University. Conlee’s honesty and humor helps you examine fears and vulnerabilities in a safe lighthearted way. Her life has been about surviving awkward social situations and problem solving. She is an expert at finding options, organizing a plan, and quieting over-active mind chatter long enough to calm the chaos of an incredibly human and messy life. She lives in Bexley, Ohio with her daughter, father, and a myriad of pets and their associated dirt.
Debbie Rigaud
Debbie Rigaud is a New York Times bestselling co-author of the Hope series (with Alyssa Milano) and The Sister Switch (with Sarah Mlynowski). Her notable young adult novels A Girl’s Guide to Love & Magic and Simone Breaks All the Rules are colored with sights and sounds of metro NYC, where she was born and raised. Debbie now lives with her husband and children in Columbus, Ohio, where she records her impressions of Midwestern life onto new pages. You can visit her at DebbieRigaud.com or on Instagram @FroAndABow.
Mark Rigney
Mark Rigney’s novellas and novels, The Skates, Sleeping Bear, and Check-Out Time are available from Samhain Publishing, with Bonesy to follow in 2015. His short fiction appears in Witness, Ascent, Unlikely Story, and The Best of the Bellevue Literary Review, among fifty other venues. In non-fiction, Deaf Side Story: Deaf Sharks, Hearing Jets and a Classic American Musical (Gallaudet) remains happily in print and he is a regular contributor to Black Gate.
As a playwright, he has won multiple prizes and had work produced or developed in twenty-two U.S. states, off Broadway, Australia, and Canada. Published full-lengths include Ten Red Kings and Acts of God (both from Playscripts, Inc.) and Bears (IndieTheaterNow). His ten-minute plays appear in the Smith & Kraus series, The Best Ten-Minute Plays (2012, 2013, and 2014). When not writing, he has worked as a zookeeper, a sound recordist, a tech director, and as a retail trainer at Borders Books & Music. His website, which includes links to many of his (free!) online stories, is markrigney.net.
Tara Rigsbee
Tara Rigsbee is a mother of two beautiful girls and was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. Tara hold a bachelor degree in Human Services and is a Certified Life Coach. Tara has recently started her own business called “Butterfly Bloom Dream Builder” and her goal is to run her business full time and continue to inspire others and help them build their dreams. After going through a life changing event and getting through her recovery she decided to go to Virginia Beach, VA to complete her book, and resided there for thirteen months. Tara is now living back home in Columbus, Ohio.