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): 2022
Brendan Kiely
Brendan Kiely is The New York Times bestselling author of All American Boys (with Jason Reynolds), Tradition, The Last True Love Story, and The Gospel of Winter. His most recent book is The Other Talk: Reckoning with Our White Privilege. His work has been published in over a dozen languages, and has received the Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award, the Walter Dean Meyers Award, and ALA’s Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults. A former high school teacher, he is now on the faculty of the Solstice MFA Program. He watches too much basketball and reads too many books at the same time, but most importantly, he lives for and loves his wife and son.
Kip Knott
Wendy Koile
Wendy Koile has spent most of her life exploring the nooks and crannies of Ohio. When not traveling or writing, Wendy works full-time as the Director of Teaching and Learning at a community college in Ohio. She holds a masters degree in teaching and one in English. She currently has four books published with The History Press and is working on ideas for the next one.
Barbara Kussow
Barbara Kussow is the author of a novel, PORTRAIT OF ANNIE, and two novellas, THE SPENCERS OF OHIO; AN ABOLITIONIST FAMILY IN THE CIVIL WAR ERA and THE MERLIN SUBSIDIARY. She is a contributor to WRITING AFTER RETIREMENT (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014; ed. by Carol Smallwood and Christine Redman-Waldeyer). Poetry and short stories have been published in several print and online venues; book reviews and book columns have appeared in local papers. She edited and published Still Crazy, a literary magazine that published works written by and/or about people over age 50, from 2008-2017.Barbara’s education includes a B.S. and M.Ed. in English Education at the University of Missouri, Columbia, and an M.L.S. from Kent State University, Ohio.
Paula J. Lambert
Paula J. Lambert has published nine collections of poetry, including As If This Did Not Happen Every Day (Sheila-Na-Gig 2024) and Uncertainty (The Only Hope We Have) (Bottlecap 2023). Also a visual artist, small-press publisher, and literary translator, her work has been recognized by PEN America and supported by the Ohio Arts Council, Greater Columbus Arts Council, and Virginia Center for Creative Arts. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband Michael Perkins, a philosopher and technologist. More at http://www.paulajlambert.com
Tracy Lawson
Tracy Lawson’s passion for storytelling led her first into the world of dance and educational theater, and enjoyed a career as a dance teacher, studio owner, and choreographer that has spanned nearly three decades. A mid-life career change has yielded six books–a four-volume series of thrillers for young adults, and two nonfiction history books based on the lives of her pioneer ancestors. Tracy’s two newest novels are in the pipeline for release in 2020 and 2021. While her body of work may seem varied, the common thread that connects all her books is her characters’ pursuit of individual liberty. Tracy, who is married with one grown daughter and two spoiled cats, splits her time between Dallas, Texas and Columbus, Ohio.
@TracySLawson on Twitter
Tracy Lawson, Author on Facebook
Carolyn Bailey Lewis
Dr. Carolyn Bailey Lewis retired from public media in 2011 following a distinguished 38-year career, the most recent position as director and general manager of WOUB Public Media at Ohio University in Athens where she served for 13 years as the first woman and first African American to lead this entity and the first woman to be Emerita. She was also general manager at WNPB-TV in Morgantown, West Virginia, and was the first African American woman named to head a public television station in the continental United States (1994). She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the 2020 Medal of Merit for Professional Achievement from the Ohio University Alumni Association. Other honors include the Neil S. Bucklew Award for Social Justice at West Virginia University (WVU). Dr. Lewis has served as a consultant to public stations and was elected or appointed to numerous national and state public media committees and boards, including the Association of Public Television Stations’ Board of Trustees in D.C. and the Sesame Workshop in New York City. Dr. Lewis taught in the Scripps College of Communication, is an adjunct professor for Hocking College, serves on several local and state committees, is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, and is an ordained minister.She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Journalism from WVU in Morgantown, the first African American woman to graduate with an undergraduate degree in Journalism from WVU (1971) and she earned a Ph.D. in Communication Studies from the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University. She is an advocate for accessibility and inclusion and consults on those issues. She and her daughter, Caryn M. Bailey, MPA, are co-founders of the Dr. Carolyn Foster Bailey Lewis Family Foundation, a charitable organization which promotes health, wellness, and education for those with acute chronic illnesses and disabilities (www.drcarolynfosterbaileylewisff.org). They also created LifeDay Greeting Cards, Inc. (trademarked), a unique card line set to be launched in October 2021 that celebrates surviving a life-altering event. She has two adult children: Carey Bailey, a professional football coach with the Ottawa, Canada, Redblacks; Caryn, assistant director of development, Major Giving, at Ohio University and a doctoral student; and two granddaughters. Her motto is: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Leigh Lewis
Leigh Lewis is a children’s writer and poet who has been “playing pirates” since she could walk. She does her best work in loud cafes, on long journeys, or in bed, late at night while everyone else sleeps. Her adventures on the high seas have enabled her to call many places home, including Turkey, Greece, Japan, England and Russia, as well as states all over the U.S., and she eventually navigated her way back to her hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Leigh spends her time there dreaming up stories for kids of all ages, buoyed by an amazing crew—her Turkish delight of a husband and their three swashbuckling daughters.
Terri Libenson
Scott Longert
Scott Longert is a graduate of the Ohio State University and has his M.A. in American History from Cleveland State with an emphasis on the post-Civil Wars years to the Great Depression.
Scott is a retired Park Ranger from the James A. Garfield National Historic Site where he specialized in Civil War talks concerning General Garfield and major battles of the war.
Scott has been writing about Cleveland baseball history for over thirty years and has five books published to date, his latest Cy Young: An American Baseball Hero released in June 2020.
A sixth book, Victory on Two Fronts is due for an early winter 2022 release.
Scott has taught part-time at Cuyahoga Community College, offering courses in several aspects of Cleveland baseball history. He lectures regularly at local libraries and community groups. Scott was recently interviewed for the upcoming documentary, War on the Diamond, a study of the rivalry between the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees.