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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Suzanne Goldsmith
Suzanne Goldsmith graduated from Harvard University and has worked as the marketing director for a foundation, an associate producer for public television documentaries, a newspaper reporter and freelance magazine writer, and a team leader in a youth community service program. Her first book, A City Year, is the true story of a year in a youth community service program.
Suzanne’s first middle-grade novel, Washashore, was the winner of the 2014 Green Earth Book Award, YA category, and was shortlisted for the Ohioana Book Award, Children’s category. In the book fourteen-year-old Clementine has left her city life in Boston to spend the winter on Martha’s Vineyard. She’s what the locals call a “washashore”: someone who has come to live on the island but isn’t from there. An outsider. Clem doesn’t have any friends and doesn’t fit in. Her mom and dad aren’t getting along. Coco, her friend, is three hours away. But then Clem finds a fallen osprey on the beach and gets involved with the effort to save these endangered birds. When she meets a lonely boy named Daniel, everything changes . . .
Suzanne is currently working on a second novel, set in an abandoned ski lodge in southern Ohio. She visits schools, libraries and summer programs to teach writing workshops and to talk about the writing process. She is also available to do joint visits with a raptor specialist who brings live birds into the classroom. She lives with her family in the Columbus area, and can be found on the web at http://www.suzanne-goldsmith.com.
Chelsea Gottfried
Chelsea Gottfried works as a naturalist and nature-based preschool teacher for the Crawford Park District in north central Ohio. She is an avid gardener and a passionate entomologist. https://www.ohioswallow.com/book/Gardening+for+Moths
Maria Gregory
Maria Gregory is a thoughtful guide and quiet force behind The Lion You Don’t See, a deeply moving work born from her desire to reach young readers navigating today’s silent battles—anxiety, self-doubt, and feeling unseen. As a mentor and encourager at heart, Maria was stirred to write this book to help others, especially the next generation, recognize that the strength they long for is already within them. Through gentle storytelling and powerful imagery, she invites every reader to uncover the courage they may not even realize they carry.
Born with a heart for teaching and mentoring, Maria has spent decades uplifting others through service and innovation. She served as a volunteer Big Sister with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for over ten years, and to this day, continues to mentor her “little sisters,” who are now raising families of their own. Her commitment to empowering young minds also led her to
serve as a judge for the Invention Convention League in 2012, 2013, 2014, and again in 2018—and she’s honored to return for the 2025 season.
Maria is the creator of iRiseUp.AI, a platform designed to make AI more human-centered, accessible, and purposeful. Built for dreamers and underdogs, iRiseUp.AI is rooted in the belief that technology should lift people up—not leave them behind.
Whether in her writing, her mentorship, or her quiet innovation, Maria’s mission is simple but powerful: to help others rise, with grace, hope, and the kind of courage that often goes unseen.
She is a proud Presidential Member of the American Association of Christian Counselors, offering wisdom and counsel that is both practical and faith-filled.
While her résumé spans counseling, education, and tech innovation, Maria wears her titles lightly. To those who know her, she’s simply a devoted wife, stepmom, aunt, godmother, and faithful friend.
Whether she’s guiding a mentee, supporting her community, or sharing a quiet moment with family, Maria leads with empathy and intention.
The Lion You Don’t See is more than a book—it’s Maria’s invitation to readers of all ages to recognize the quiet power within. Whether in her writing, her mentorship, or her quiet innovation, Maria’s mission is simple but powerful: to help others rise, with grace, hope, and the kind of courage that often goes unseen.
Learn more at: https://www.thelionyoudontsee.com/
Michael Griffith
Michael Griffith’s most recent novel, Trophy (Northwestern University Press/TriQuarterly), was named one of Kirkus Reviews’ Best 25 Books of Fiction for 2011. His previous books, both from Arcade, are the novel Spikes and the story collection Bibliophilia. Griffith is Professor of English at the University of Cincinnati.
D. M. Guay
D. M. Guay is a big geek, huge horror fan, and loves stand-up comedy. She mish-mashes her love of all that’s scary/gory/geeky/funny into stories about creeps and critters, ghouls and ghosts, and all of the unseemly things that go bump in the night. D. M. lives in Ohio. She loves Godzilla, tiki bars, liquid eyeliner, 24-hour horror movie festivals, and most of all, people who make art, despite adversity, no matter what life throws at them. She is a stage 4 kidney cancer survivor and donates some of her book profits to the Kidney Cancer Research Alliance. She also runs “Monsters In Your Inbox” a monthly round-up of B-horror movies, horror comedy books, and weird news. Learn more about her at DMGuay.com.
Sandra Gurvis
Sandra Gurvis (http://www.sandragurvis.com) is the author of 18 commercially published books and hundreds of magazine and web articles. Her titles include DAY TRIPS FROM COLUMBUS, 3rd ed.; OHIO CURIOSITIES, 2nd ed.; CAREERS FOR NONCONFORMISTS, which was a selection of the Quality Paperback Book Club; and more. Along having her books featured on radio, television and in newspapers and magazines, PARIS HILTON: A BIOGRAPHY was translated into Chinese and her second novel, COUNTRY CLUB WIVES was optioned as a television series by Insight Productions out of Toronto, Canada.
Recent titles include 111 PLACES IN COLUMBUS THAT YOU MUST NOT MISS, MYTHS AND MYSTERIES OF OHIO and a re-issuing of her first novel, THE PIPE DREAMERS. Her most current project, THREE RINGLING CIRCUS: THE HISTORY OF SARASOTA, FLORIDA AND THE FAMOUS RINGLING BROTHERS is forthcoming from Pineapple/Rowman in early 2024. She is currently at work on DOING HARD TIME IN SENIORVILLE, the first of a series of satire/mysteries set in The Villages of Florida.
A freelance writer for over 30 years, Sandra has written corporate profiles and technical articles for clients such as Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Ohio Health, Merrill Lynch, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Association of American Medical Colleges and publications such as Selling Power, Creativity, ASRT Scanner, Optical Technology, B’nai B’rith magazine, Currents and AAA Today. Additionally, she has created Web content for Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, Palm Beach Media, worth.com and many others. Along with rewriting and editing books on medical and business topics, she prepares newsletters and assists in the writing and publication of magazines and web content covering a variety of healthcare and business issues.
A major aspect of her work has been on the Vietnam protests and their aftereffects. Her nonfiction title, WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWER CHILDREN GONE? delves into all facets of the Vietnam era, from tracking the student protest and conservative movements to comparing the controversy surrounding Vietnam and the Middle East. Her novel, THE PIPE DREAMERS is a fictional exploration of the late ’60s/early 70s, mostly set in the small college town of Hampton, Ohio.
She has also written on this topic for the Ohio State Alumni Magazine, People and many other publications. Other bylines and credits include People, YM, Entertainment Weekly, Fiction Writer, Woman’s World, Parenting, The World and I, Coast to Coast, USA Weekend, Chicago Tribune, as well as travel articles, promotional materials and advertorials. Along with being selected for residencies and fellowships at the Mary Anderson Center in Mt. St. Francis, Indiana; the Vermont Writers Studio in Johnston; and receiving grants from the National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) and the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas as well as certification from the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) Sandra is a longtime member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). She lectures frequently on writing and her books and lives in Bradenton, Florida.
Krysten Lindsay Hager
Who knew all those embarrassing, cringe-y moments in middle school and high school could turn into a career? And who would have thought that daydreaming in math class would pay off down the road? Krysten Lindsay Hager writes about friendship, self-esteem, fitting in, frenemies, crushes, fame, first loves, and values. Her work includes YA contemporary, middle grade fiction, and adult and young adult rom-coms. She is the author of True Colors, Best Friends…Forever?, Next Door to a Star, Landry in Like, and Competing with the Star (The Star Series: Book 2), Dating the It Guy, Can Dreams Come True, and In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety. Krysten’s work has been featured in USA Today, The Flint Journal, the Grand Haven Tribune, the Beavercreek Current, the Bellbrook Times, Springfield News-Sun, Grand Blanc View, Dayton Daily News and on Living Dayton. She received her BA in English and master’s degree in liberal studies from the University of Michigan-Flint.
Blaine Paxton Hall
Blaine Paxton Hall was born in Cambridge, Ohio and grew up in Chicago and Woodstock, IL. He is the author of Hestia’s House, a literary memoir with the overarching theme of home.
Including historical photos, his memoir documents his growing up in the Woodstock Children’s Home–which had a historical connection to Orson Welles.
But the challenges of being abandoned by his parents and having to provide for all his college education could not have prepared him for the existential struggles of his medical, surgical, legal and social gender transition in 1983 at age 31. He was the first to transition in NC, going his trajectory, where he’s lived since July 1981. See hestiashouse.com.
His childhood and early adulthood experiences gave rise to his developing keen intuition into the suffering of others; and he became a highly accomplished trailblazer, not only in his life, but also in his medical career. He is the Founder of the American Academy of Nephrology PAs (May 1997) and the Founder of the Duke Adult Gender Medicine Clinic (Jan 3, 2018). See: https://pahx.org/bios/hall-blaine-paxton/
Upon concluding his clinical and teaching activities at Duke University Health System, he founded The School of Athens, an adult academy which, in the classical liberal arts tradition, provides educational experiences to inspire lifelong learning in the pursuit of the most noble ideas, artistic and intellectual accomplishments of mankind. See: theschoolofathens.net
The theme of home has been pervasive throughout Hall’s life. In December 2020, Ohio became the second-to-the-last state in the Union to allow one to amend the gender marker on one’s birth certificate. Working through Probate Court in Guernsey County, Ohio, Mr. Hall was finally able to obtain his amended birth certificate in December 2021. He framed his coveted, new birth certificate in white, to signify innocence, rebirth and hope. And he displays it right next to his original, handwritten, Cambridge Ohio, 1952 birth certificate. He is equally proud of both.
Eileen Hammond
Eileen Curley Hammond is an author who left a successful marketing career in the insurance industry. When she retired early, she pursued her first love, writing. And when deciding what to write about, there was only one choice for her, murder mysteries, because she was and is a big fan of Carolyn Keene (Nancy Drew) and Agatha Christie (Miss. Marple/Hercule Poirot). Eileen lives in Ohio with her husband and two adorable cats. She also has a pond with assorted koi and minnows that is heavily protected from predatory herons in the area. Eileen and her husband love traveling, especially to national parks, and spending time with family and friends. Learn more at: https://www.eileencurleyhammond.com/
