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): 2016
Rachele Alpine
One of Rachele Alpine’s first jobs was at a library, but it didn’t last long, because all she did was hide in the third-floor stacks and read. Now she’s a little more careful about when and where she indulges her reading habit. Rachele is a high school English teacher by day, a wife and mother by night, and a writer during any time she can find in between. She lives in Cleveland, Ohio, where she writes books for children, tweens, and young adults. Visit her at rachelealpine.com.
Dan Andriacco
Dan Andriacco is the author of ten mystery novels. His primary series, featuring Professor Sebastian McCabe and brother-in-law Jeff Cody, is set in a small college town in southern Ohio. The latest published in that series is Erin Go Bloody, about the hijinks surrounding a St. Patrick’s Day parade. The final novel in his Enoch Hale trilogy of historical mysteries, written with a co-author, is The Egyptian Curse. Dan has also been a mystery reviewer and taught non-credit classes in mystery fiction. He once won a bet with a colleague that he could write a novella in less time than it took her to read one of his novels. You can read more about Dan on his blog, Baker Street Beat, at danandriacco.com.
Chuck Ayers
Chuck Ayers is a graduate of Kent State University and is from Summit Co., Ohio. Following graduation, he became the editorial cartoonist for the Akron Beacon Journal. He’s been the artist on Crankshaft since its inception and is a huge fan of the Cleveland Indians and the Akron RubberDucks. Ayers has been a cartoonist most of his professional life and was a longtime political cartoonist for the Akron Beacon Journal. Ayers and his wife, Lisa, have two grown children.
Jennifer Bahney
Jennifer Bowers Bahney is an award-winning journalist and newspaper editor with a master’s degree from Northwestern University and a BA in history from Smith College. She has written and produced both local news and internationally for CNN. Her first book, “Stealing Sisi’s Star,” was a finalist for the 2016 Ohioana Book Award in Nonfiction. She lives in central Ohio with her daughter and German Shepherd Dog, Kaiserin Viktoria.
Tom Batiuk
In Tom’s own words: “Okay, here we go, gang, biography lite. I was born in Akron, Ohio, in 1947. After graduating from Kent State University in 1969 with a BFA and a certificate in education, I taught art in Elyria, Ohio at Eastern Heights Jr. High. In 1970, while I was teaching, I began drawing a panel for the teen page of the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram. Those strips led to the creation of Funky Winkerbean in 1972. Funky is syndicated by King Features Syndicate to more than 400 newspapers nationwide. I skipped over a lot of hard work in the middle there, but that’s basically the gist of it for those of you doing term papers. In 1979. I launched John Darling into syndication working with Tom Armstrong, Gerry Shamray, and Bob Vojtko, in that order. Great artists all. John Darling was a talk show host who first saw the light of day in Funky, and who was quite literally killed off when his strip ended. Another character from Funky, Ed Crankshaft, soloed in his own strip in 1987, on which I work with the inimitable and talented Dan Davis.”
Carrie Bebris
Carrie Bebris spent her childhood in Toledo before beginning her writing career as a journalist, college English teacher, and editor. After publishing two fantasy novels, she made her mystery debut with Pride and Prescience, which earned a place on the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association bestseller list and was named one of the five best mysteries of the year by Library Journal. Successive books in the series have received starred reviews in Publisher’s Weekly and won several awards, including the 2007 Daphne du Maurier Award for excellence in romantic suspense. Bebris holds a master’s degree in English literature and is a life member of the Jane Austen Society of North America. She speaks locally and nationally about Austen, writing, and publishing, and is on the faculty of the Antioch Writers Workshop in Yellow Springs. When not writing, Bebris likes to travel and indulge in her love of all things British. She now lives in the Dayton area.
Pam Bennett
Pam Bennett is the State Master Gardener volunteer coordinator for Ohio, and is the Horticulture Educator and Director for Ohio State University Extension in Clark County. She has a degree in landscape horticulture. Bennett lives in Madison, Ohio.
Emma Carlson Berne
Emma Carlson Berne has written over eighty titles for children and young adults on a variety of fiction and non-fiction topics. She often works with American Girl Publishing and has written five books of historical fiction and non-fiction for that press, focusing on the characters of Kaya, Josefina, Melody, and Samantha. Recently, Emma has written a new Star Wars series for Disney-Lucasfilm Press (Forces of Destiny: Daring Adventures 1-4, 2017).
In addition, Emma has published four YA novels with Simon Pulse (Flirt #4: Sunset Ranch, 2014< , Never Let You Go, 2012, Still Waters, 2011, Hard to Get, 2010), as well as ghostwriting YA thrillers and romances with Alloy Entertainment under the names Hailey Abbott and Elizabeth Woods. Emma often writes historical biography and has published biographies of Sacagawea, Christopher Columbus, and Helen Keller. Emma also writes sports fiction under the name Jake Maddox for Stone Arch Press, and many other non-fiction titles for Capstone Press, Lerner Publishing Group, Rosen Publishing, and others.
Matt Betts
Matt Betts is an author and former radio personality. His work includes such science fiction novels as the critically recognized adventure Odd Men Out and its sequel Red Gear Nine, the urban fantasy Indelible Ink, the giant monster vs. giant robot book The Shadow Beneath the Waves, and the cryptid horror tale White Anvil: Sasquatch Onslaught. He is also an accomplished speculative poet, and lives in Columbus with his wife and children.