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.
Regina Brett
Regina Brett is the New York Times bestselling author of God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life’s Little Detours, which has been published in more than 24 languages. She also wrote, Be the Miracle: 50 Lessons for Making the Impossible Possible and God Is Always Hiring: 50 Lessons for Finding Fulfilling Work. Her inspirational columns appear regularly in Ohio’s largest newspaper, The Plain Dealer, where she was a finalist in 2008 and 2009 for the Pulitzer Prize in Commentary. She also writes for the Cleveland Jewish News and is syndicated by Jewish News Service. She has a master’s degree in religious studies from John Carroll University and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Kent State University.
Debra Sue Brice
Debra Sue Brice was born and raised in Ohio. Her fictional characters closely follow the real life adventures of her and her best friends. When not living in her fictional world, Debra Sue is a first grade teacher, avid baker, fanatic Cleveland Monster hockey fan, and successful equestrian who loves spending time with her family.
Zoë Brigley
Douglas Brinkley
Douglas Brinkley is the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University, CNN Presidential Historian, and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. He works in many capacities in the world of public history, including on boards, museums, colleges and historical societies. The Chicago Tribune dubbed him “America’s New Past Master”. The New-York Historical Society has chosen Brinkley as their official U.S. Presidential Historian. His recent book Cronkite won the Sperber Prize while The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast received the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. He has received a Grammy Award for Presidential Suite and seven honorary doctorates in American Studies. His two-volume annotated The Nixon Tapes recently won the Arthur S. Link – Warren F. Kuehl Prize. He is a member of the Century Association, Council of Foreign Relations and the James Madison Council of the Library of Congress. He lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and three children.
Rosa Brinkman
Author Rosa Brinkman resides with her husband, Tom, in Cincinnati, Ohio. She has five mature children in addition to her full-time career as an Intervention Specialist in Cincinnati City Schools. A graduate of Xavier University, Rosa holds both a Bachelor of Science degree in Education/Special Education and a Master’s degree in Educational Administration. Rosa was first published in Games for Church Groups (Shining Star Publications, 1995). Her first Christian romance novel, In My Father’s Footsteps As Told by His Son (Tate Publishing) was released in June of 2009. Her second novel, Binded by Blood (Tate Publishing), was released in September of 2013.
Brian Broome
Brian Broome’s debut memoir, Punch Me Up to the Gods, is an NYT Editor’s Pick and the winner of the 2021 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction. He is a contributing columnist at The Washington Post. His work has also appeared in Hippocampus, Poets and Writers, Medium, and more. Brian was a K. Leroy Irvis Fellow and an instructor in the Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh.
He has been a finalist in The Moth storytelling competition and won the grand prize in Carnegie Mellon University’s Martin Luther King Writing
Awards. Brian also won a VANN Award from the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation for journalism in 2019. His film, Garbage, won the Audience Choice Award at the Cortada Short Film Festival and was a semi-finalist in the Portland Short Fest.
Brian is a 2022 Writer in Residence at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California. Visit his website at: https://www.brianbroome.com/
Tonya Ulynn Brown
Tonya was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, but now calls southeastern Ohio home. She spent her younger years right out of college, living in Europe and teaching English as a second language. She attributes her time in Eastern Europe as being one of great personal growth, where her love for history, the classics, and all things European was born. Tonya holds a Master’s degree in Teaching and is now an elementary school teacher where she uses her love of history and reading to try to inspire younger generations to learn, explore and grow. Along with all the historical characters that she entertains in her head, she lives with her husband, two sons and a very naughty Springer Spaniel. Her mother has also joined their home, making for a cozy and complete little family.
Echo Brown
Echo Brown is the award-winning author of Black Girl Unlimited: The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard, which was named a William C. Morris Award Finalist, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a New York Public Library Best Book of the Year, a CCBC Choice Title, and a Rise: A Feminist Book Project Selection, among other honors. A performer and playwright, Echo created the acclaimed one-woman show Black Virgins Are Not for Hipsters. She is a Dartmouth alumna and the first female college graduate in her family. Learn more at: https://www.echobrown.com/
Tiara J. Brown
Tiara J. Brown grew up in Northeast Ohio and studied media at Ohio University. Although The Tales of Alexandria Stecklar: The Locket is her first published novel, she has been held captive by the art of story-telling since she was twelve-years-old. When she is not writing or reading, you can be found swing dancing, hiking, or traveling.