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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Elana Pitts
Elana is a writer who has been published in 6 anthologies under Lake Erie Ink (LEI) and read at the 2017 Cleveland Drafts. Her first book, Little Wolfpine, was self-published in 2021. In 2022, she read at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA). She is currently working as a program assistant, going into schools to help students express themselves creatively as she continues her work on new installments while pursuing her creative writing degree. Learn more: https://elanapittsep.wixsite.com/website-3
Sandy Plunkett
Sandy Plunkett, a self-taught illustrator and comic book artist, came of age in New York City during the ‘60s and ‘70s. He began drawing for Marvel Comics at eighteen and throughout his ongoing career he has drawn for several other major publishers, including DC. His trademark look can be seen on countless posters, album covers, and political cartoons. He lives in Athens, Ohio.
Connie & Robert J. Pond
Connie and Robert J. Pond have lived in Ohio for a lifetime while being associated with the Buckeye Trail for over 30 years. Throughout these years, hiking, maintaining and visiting along the trail have provided them with a unique perspective of Ohio, its history, biology, geology and beauty. Robert spent two years researching areas near the Buckeye Trail, picking great hiking trails and then weaving together the historic and natural wonders of the area to make each hike an experience, not just a walk. Connie and Robert then circuit hiked the entire 1400 miles and spent many weekends hiking and experiencing Ohio’s sights along the way. Research for the 2nd edition took them back to areas of Ohio that are most enchanting. Connie and Robert are central Ohio residents and graduates of Ohio State University. Their careers were in engineering and human services. Their passion is the Buckeye Trail.
Pamela A. Popper
Pamela A. Popper, Ph.D., ND, is a naturopath; an internationally recognized expert on nutrition, medicine, and health; and the Executive Director of The Wellness Forum. Dr. Popper serves on the Physician’s Steering Committee and the President’s Board for the Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, D.C. Dr. Popper is one of the health care professionals involved in the famed Sacramento Food Bank Project, in which economically disadvantaged people were shown how to reverse their diseases and eliminate medications with diet.…
Read MorePamela A. Popper, Ph.D., ND, is a naturopath; an internationally recognized expert on nutrition, medicine, and health; and the Executive Director of The Wellness Forum. Dr. Popper serves on the Physician’s Steering Committee and the President’s Board for the Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, D.C. Dr. Popper is one of the health care professionals involved in the famed Sacramento Food Bank Project, in which economically disadvantaged people were shown how to reverse their diseases and eliminate medications with diet. Dr. Popper is part of Dr. T. Colin Campbell’s teaching team at eCornell, teaching part of a certification course on plant-based nutrition. She has been featured in many widely distributed documentaries, including Processed People and Making a Killing, and appeared in Forks Over Knives, which played in major theaters throughout North America in 2011. She is one of the coauthors of the companion book, which was on the New York Times bestseller list for several months.
Frank W. Porter
Dr. Frank W. Porter earned his Ph.D. in Historical Geography at the University of Maryland and came to his appreciation of native plants by a circuitous route. He spent most of his childhood overseas as his father was transferred from one Army post to another, and he has vivid memories of fields of poppies in France, alpine plants in the Alps, and dark forests in Germany.…
Read MoreDr. Frank W. Porter earned his Ph.D. in Historical Geography at the University of Maryland and came to his appreciation of native plants by a circuitous route. He spent most of his childhood overseas as his father was transferred from one Army post to another, and he has vivid memories of fields of poppies in France, alpine plants in the Alps, and dark forests in Germany. After a career as a Native American scholar, Dr. Porter returned to southern Ohio and began growing plants as a hobby, which quickly turned into a vocation. Porterbrook Native Plants nursery, on the banks of the Ohio River in southeastern Ohio, is devoted to the native plants of southern Ohio, West Virginia, and Virginia. Dr. Porter continues to collect seeds from interesting and endangered species in the area, and friends and associates send him seeds from plants in neighboring states. He provides native plants for gardeners and public gardens, which he also designs throughout Ohio and West Virginia.
Doug Powhida
Doug Powhida is an author, playwright, ghostwriter, and humorist from Westerville, Ohio. His efforts include the humorous parenting book Nobody Told Me: A Guide to Passable Parenting and I Love Me. Who Do You Love?, a self-published collection of humorous stories, lists, lies, and comics written secretly online under the pseudonym HolyJuan. In 2024, Powhida wrote the script and lyrics for Normies, a full-length musical about a world where everyone is Drag, except for the Normies, people who live basic lives and perform boring tasks on stage to entertain the Drags. Powhida has published online for over sixteen years both as the Fake Dispatch account on social media and HolyJuan.com. He has scripted over twenty short plays performed at MadLab Theatre, Cannon School in North Carolina, and at The Annual St. James Tavern Shorts Festivals. Powhida has been a mentor in The Young Writers Program for the past seven years, helping high school students to craft, workshop, revise, and submit short plays that are produced at MadLab Theatre. Powhida is married to Miss Sally and has two very passable children: Greg and Annie. Powhida’s next work, Everything Hurts and I Hate Everyone: A Guide to Growing Old Gracefully, will be published in 2025.
Michael Prelee
Michael Prelee is a crime and science-fiction author who grew up in rural Northeast Ohio and graduated from Youngstown State University. His first published work is the Milky Way Repo sci-fi crime series published by EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy. He is also the author of the small-town Tim Abernathy Mystery Series, published by North Star Press. The first entry in the series is Murder in the Heart of It All. Lost Little Sister is the sequel.
Bryan Prosek
Bryan resides in Columbus, Ohio where he is a practicing business attorney with the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson PLLC. He enjoys board games and outdoor activities- hiking, biking, and camping- with his family. His first two novels, The Brighter the Stars and A Measure of Serenity, have been published by CamCat Publishing. His third novel, The Darker the Skies, also being published by CamCat, will be out in the November, 2022. In addition, he has published numerous articles in legal trade journals and magazines. In addition to practicing law and writing, Bryan is actively involved in the fight against human trafficking. He assists several nonprofit organizations that combat human trafficking at various levels both within the United States and around the world. He provides pro bono legal services to these organizations as well as volunteer work. He also sits on the Board of Directors of three such organizations. You can find more about Bryan at his website, http://www.bryankprosek.com, taking you to new worlds.
Bonnie Proudfoot
Bonnie Proudfoot moved to Athens, OH, in 1996. She is the author of Goshen Road, a novel (Swallow Press, 2020), which was Long-listed for the 2021 PEN/ Hemingway Award, selected for Great Group Reads in 2020, and awarded Book of the Year for 2022 by WCONA. She was delighted to participate in Ohioana in 2020. Bonnie has published poetry, fiction, and short prose in many journals. Her first book of poems, Household Gods, was published by Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, in September, 2022. Learn more at: https://bonnieproudfootblog.wordpress.com/