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): Author/Illustrator
MaryBeth Tipton
MaryBeth Tipton, owner of Yoga Living LLC, is a yoga teacher, empowerment coach, and inspirational author, holding esteemed yoga certifications (E-RYT 500 and YACEP). With a profound dedication to personal growth and healing, MaryBeth integrates the transformative practices of yoga and self-inquiry into her teachings, writing, and public speaking. Her book, Journey to Joy: From Surviving to Thriving – An Inspirational Memoir of Overcoming Loss and a Survivor’s Guide to Healing and Happiness, is a deeply personal exploration of resilience and empowerment. MaryBeth’s life has been a journey through pain, abuse, and gut-wrenching loss, ranging from the devastating loss of her stepson and other family members, to the abandonment of her children’s father. These experiences, however, have been her greatest teachers, shaping her into a compassionate guide for those seeking healing and joy. MaryBeth’s narrative style is a blend of moving personal stories, insightful lessons, and practical strategies aimed at empowering readers to navigate life’s adversities with grace. Her work stands as a beacon of hope for those looking to overcome grief, rediscover joy, and embrace a fulfilling life. Her book not only offers a roadmap to personal healing but also inspires a journey of self-discovery and acceptance, teaching that our darkest moments can lead to our greatest growth. Residing between her homes in Ohio and Florida, MaryBeth enjoys creating quality experiences with family and friends, traveling, and has a passion for being on, in, and near the water. Her commitment to personal growth and resilience is evident in her multifaceted career and life, making her a powerful voice, an inspiration to many and magnet for joy and enthusiasm.
Ann Townsend
Ann Townsend is the author of Dime Store Erotics (Silverfish Review Press, 1998) and The Coronary Garden (Sarabande Books, 2005). She is an editor, with David Baker, of a collection of essays, Radiant Lyre: Essays on Lyric Poetry (Graywolf Press, 2007), and is currently at work on a collection of essays on poetry, translation, and the natural world. Her poetry and essays have appeared in such magazines as Poetry, Paris Review, The Nation, Kenyon Review, and many others. The recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ohio Arts Council, she has also received fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the MacDowell Colony, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Bernheim Arboretum, and the Lannan Foundation. She is the cofounder of VIDA: Women in Literary Arts. In 2016 she, along with cofounders Cate Marvin and Erin Belieu, accepted the Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, given in recognition of their work for the larger literary community. A professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, Ann Townsend hybridizes modern daylilies at Bittersweet Farm.
Lynn Tramonte
Lynn Tramonte move words like fingers move crochet thread. Loop, hook, pull. Tension and slack, creating something new, useful-and beautiful-from simple string. After twenty years working for national immigration advocacy organizations, Tramonte launched a communications consulting practice, Anacaona. Anacaona helps clients tell stories that compel people to see and feel our shared humanity, and act to make social change. Anacaona specializes in advocacy communications strategy and planning; editing and writing; coaching and training in writing, media relations, and narrative. Tramonte also directs the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, and serves on the boards of Justice Action Center and Babel Box Theatre-claiming her progressive values, midwestern roots, and the power of art as pleasure, connector, and teacher. Tramonte’s work has appeared in publications as diverse as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Associated Press, Univision, The Guardian, The Columbus Dispatch, and Ideastream Public Media. She is a 2018 Marshall Memorial Fellow with the German Marshall Fund.
Otis Trotter
Otis Trotter lives in North Canton, Ohio. He never really planned to be a writer, but by late 2011, he succumbed to a calling that he’d had since his forties, and started writing a book about his life experiences and his large, unique family in a small Ohio town. Otis is a graduate of Central State University, Wilberforce, Ohio with a bachelor’s of science in Psychology. In 2009, he retired after 30 years of service with the Stark County Board of Developmental Disabilities. Currently, he is an Independent Provider for the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities.
Paula Stone Tucker
Paula Stone Tucker was a witness to the May 4, 1970 shootings at Kent State University. A retired clinical psychologist, she worked with families, couples, and survivors of trauma and abuse. In her younger days she was a reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal and the Daily Kent Stater. She grew up in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio and graduated from Kent State University. She splits her time between northeast Ohio and The Villages, Florida where she writes, plays the flute and is learning to play golf. Her first book, Surviving: A Kent State Memoir, won the Silver Medal at the Florida Writers Association Royal Palm Literary Award Competition in 2019. She is available for interviews. You can contact her at paulastonetucker.com or on Facebook at Paula Stone Tucker, Author. She looks forward to hearing from you and reading your reviews.
Samantha Tucker
Samantha Tucker (she/her) is an antiracist teacher, writer, and editor in Columbus, Ohio. Sam writes personal essays, memoir, and cultural critique, having earned her MFA and MA in creative nonfiction. Her essay “Fountain Girls,” originally published in Ecotone, is a listed notable in Best American Essays 2017 and is anthologized in Contemporary Creative Nonfiction: An Anthology. Other essays have been published with Literary Hub, Columbus Alive, BUST, Brevity, and Guernica. Her latest book, Collective Chaos: A Roller Derby Team Memoir, was written with co-author Amy Spears. Learn more at: https://www.theamericandreamstartshere.com/
Frank Tupta
FRANK TUPTA (TUP like UP) grew up in a haunted house in Cleveland. His favorite holiday is Halloween. He still dresses up every year. He currently lives in Peninsula, Ohio surrounded by the Cuyahoga Valley National Park with his wife, children’s book author + illustrator Lindsay Ward, their three boys, and Sally, a rambunctious pit-bulllab mix who keeps things interesting by chasing coyotes in their backyard. Most days you can find Frank writing, walking Sally with his family, driving around on his tractor, or co-running http://www.critterlit.com with his wife, a website offering free critiques and advice for up-and-coming authors and illustrators.
Judith Turner-Yamamoto
Judith Turner-Yamamoto’s debut novel LOVING THE DEAD AND GONE, a Mariel Hemingway Book Club pick, won the 2023 Independent Publisher Book Awards Gold Medal in Southern Regional Fiction. The North Carolina Society of Historians recognized Loving the Dead and Gone with the 2023 Historical Novel Award. The book was shortlisted for the 2023 UC-Berkeley Eric Hoffer Book Awards Grand Prize, where it was also an honorable mention in General Fiction and finalist for the Eric Hoffer First Horizon Award for Debut Fiction. Her novel, The Drawing of Angels, is currently shortlisted for the Santa Fe Writers Project Book Award. Her publications include StorySOUTH, Mississippi Review, Deep South, and American Literary Review, and many anthologies. Judith’s other awards include an Ohio Arts Council fellowship, two Virginia Arts Commission fellowships, the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize, the Washington Prize for Fiction, VCCA residency, and the Virginia Screenwriting Award. An art historian, her many articles have appeared in Elle, Travel & Leisure, AARP, and the Los Angeles Times, and her interviews have aired on NPR affiliate WVXU. A Kentucky Humanities Speakers Bureau scholar, Judith is a frequent presenter at conferences and book festivals including the Chautauqua Writers’ Center, Chautauqua Institution and the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. She has taught at the Chautauqua Writers’ Center, Chautauqua Institution, the Writers’ Center, Bethesda, Maryland, and the Danville, VA Writers Conference. She lives on the Ohio/Kentucky border where her love of travel and place continues to inspire her writing.
Learn more at http://www.turneryamamoto.com. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.