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.
For more information about our collection and programming for authors, please click on the "Authors" main tab above.
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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/
Pauletta Hansel
Karen Harper
A lifelong Ohioan, Harper taught English before writing full time. She is a NYTimes bestselling author who has won the Mary Higgins Clark Award. She writes both historical novels and contemporary suspense. Karen and her husband make their home in Columbus but love to travel. Her author collection is housed in Rare Books and Manuscripts at The Ohio State University.
S.R.D. Harris
Author S.R.D. Harris has always been a reading fanatic! Ever since she was a young child and was featured in two children’s books, she has dreamed of becoming a published author. Through hard work and determination, she achieved that dream when she wrote and published her first book, Future Miss President. Harris co-writes with her youngest daughter, Camryn, and they currently have ten children’s books published and two more in production. Her mission is to write and publish high-quality, uplifting, empowering and diverse children’s books that will inspire a love of reading in all children! She has been featured on PBS/WOSU’s Broad & High TV Show (where you can listen here) and in many publications to date. Harris was honored as a Literacy Champion by Read for a Cause in April of 2021 and is a 2022/2023 and 2024 Ohioana Library Festival Featured Author. Harris and her husband have three daughters, and a rescued puppy named Gracie. Her fourth book Gracie’s Grace is in partnership with CHA Animal Shelter to benefit their mission to help homeless dogs and cats find loving homes. When they are not reading, writing, cooking, or traveling, they enjoy volunteering and giving back. They have donated hundreds of books to students all over Ohio and Harris enthusiastically visits schools to inspire and students! She believes all children can love reading if they connect with the right books for them. Her books are published internationally and can be found in local libraries and bookstores. You can follow her on her website srdharrisbooks.com and major social media channels @srdharrisbooks
David Hassler
David Hassler, MFA directs the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University. In 2009, he cofounded Traveling Stanzas, a community arts project which creates illustrations in response to poems generated from community workshops in schools, healthcare facilities, libraries, senior centers, and veterans’ organizations. Hassler is the author or editor of ten books of poetry and nonfiction, including Dear Vaccine: Global Voices Speak to the Pandemic; Growing Season: The Life of a Migrant Community; and Speak a Powerful Magic: Ten Years of the Traveling Stanzas Poetry Project. His play, May 4th Voices: Kent State, 1970, based on the Kent State Shootings Oral History Project, was published by The Kent State University Press along with a Teacher’s Resource Book and was produced in 2020 as a national radio play by the WKSU NPR station. Hassler’s awards include Ohio Poet of the Year, the Ohioana Book Award, and the Carter G. Woodson Honor Book Award. His TEDx talk, “The Conversation of Poetry,” conveys the power of poetry to strengthen communities. In addition to his creative writing publications, he has co-authored articles on poetry, technology, and healing in the Journal of Palliative Medicine, the Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, and the Online Journal of Issues in Nursing.