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): Fiction
Doug Coates
Doug Coates is the author of two middle-grade books used in his engaging and interactive presentations about character and good sportsmanship. Pitching for Success: Character Lessons, the Joe Nuxhall Way, and Riley’s Winning Catch; Good Character Prevails depict situational examples of good character and sportsmanship. Please email the author at Doug@authordougcoates.com if you and your school are interested in an author visit. He will also send you a comp copy of each book to review if you’d like. In a change of genre, the author published his first picture book, Bobby Button Goes to School in the spring of 2022.
Liz Coley
Liz Coley has been writing short and long fiction for teens and adults for more than ten years. Her short fiction has appeared in Cosmos Magazine and several speculative fiction anthologies: The Last Man, More Scary Kisses, and Strange Worlds. In 2011, she self-published the YA novel Out of Xibalba, a story that begins when the world ends. The same week Out of Xibalba launched, Liz sold YA dark contemporary psychological thriller Pretty Girl-13 to HarperCollins for international publication. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband, her teenaged daughter, a snoring dog, and a limping old cat. The two older boys have flown the nest for college. Her passions beyond reading and writing include singing, photography, and baking. She plays competitive tennis to keep herself fit and humble. Taped on her computer are her “lucky charms”—the fifteen Chinese cookie fortunes collected over the years which spoke to her writing aspirations and encouraged her along the journey. She’s LizColeyBooks on social media and at http://www.LizColey.com.
Abby Collette
Wall Street Journal bestselling author Abby Collette loves a good mystery. She was born and raised in Cleveland, and it’s a mystery even to her why she hasn’t yet moved to a warmer place. As Abby Collette, she is the author of the Ice Cream Parlor mystery series, about a millennial MBA-holding granddaughter running a family-owned ice cream shop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and the upcoming Books & Biscuits mystery series, starring a set of fraternal twins who reunite and open a bookstore and soul food café. Writing as Abby L. Vandiver, she is the author of the Logan Dickerson Mysteries, featuring a second-generation archaeologist and a nonagenarian, as well as the Romaine Wilder Mysteries, pairing an East Texas medical examiner and her feisty, funeral-home-owning auntie as sleuths. Abby spends her time writing, facilitating writing workshops at local libraries and hanging out with her grandchildren, each of whom are her favorite. Find her website here: http://www.abbycollette.com
Cindy Collins
Cindy Collins’ first work, Born Under the Gaslight, is a memoir of her life living with Borderline Personality Disorder. Her memoir tells the struggle of being born into abuse, graduating to a life of a homeless, drug-dealing street racer to her recovery through dialectic behavioral therapy. As an author, she has been interviewed on the radio show “It Matters with Kelly Cordes” on WJON FM 95.3/AM 1240. She was a guest speaker on the Psychology of Victims of Crime & Violence for Dr. Jan Yager at Iona College-New Rochelle, NY. Born Under that Gaslight achieved #1 Best Seller in Personality Disorders on Amazon in the US, UK, and Germany. She is a current voice writing for Swaay.com. Her life has included various adventures ranging from training on a trapeze, starting a fire center for fire performers, and running obstacle courses with SWAT. From obtaining work as a massage therapist or a chef, her life has been in constant flux with new experiences. Cindy lives with her husband Darrin and their dog and cat. She hopes to inspire others battling mental illness.
Christina Consolino
A graduate of the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) with a BA in French and PhD in physiology, Christina Consolino taught college-level anatomy and physiology for close to twenty years before concentrating her passion on writing and editing. She’s the author of Rewrite the Stars and The Weight We Carry, and she’s co-author of Historic Photos of University of Michigan. She lives in Kettering, Ohio, with her husband, four children, and a rotating cast of pets. Learn more at https://christinaconsolino.com/
Shelley Costa
SHELLEY COSTA is a 2004 Edgar Award nominee for Best Short Story, and 2014 Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel (You Cannoli Die Once, Simon and Schuster). She is the author of Basil Instinct (Simon and Schuster, 2014), Practical Sins for Cold Climates (Henery Press, 2016) and A Killer’s Guide to Good Works (Henery Press, 2016). Shelley’s short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Blood on Their Hands, and The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories. She teaches fiction writing at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Visit her at http://www.shelleycosta.com.
Bill Cotter
Bill was cooked slowly and evenly in the warm embrace of midwest suburbia. After studying art in Baltimore, he then moved to New York City where he found work as a pre-K art and music teacher. In between fingerpainting and singing songs he wrote and illustrated is debut book “Don’t Push the Button!” which has gone on to be a USA Today bestseller. Bill has since moved back to his hometown of Cleveland and spends his days drawing, playing music, and daydreaming.
Cynthia Crane
Cynthia A. Crane, Ph.D. is the author of All About Winston Churchill (Cardinal Press) and the acclaimed historical nonfiction, Divided Lives: The Untold Stories of Jewish-Christian Women in Nazi Germany (St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan), and is Associate Professor of English at the University of Cincinnati, BAC. Her poetry, nonfiction, and book reviews have appeared in various publications, such as Mid-American Review, Popular Culture Review, History Magazine, and H-Net.…
Read MoreCynthia A. Crane, Ph.D. is the author of All About Winston Churchill (Cardinal Press) and the acclaimed historical nonfiction, Divided Lives: The Untold Stories of Jewish-Christian Women in Nazi Germany (St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan), and is Associate Professor of English at the University of Cincinnati, BAC. Her poetry, nonfiction, and book reviews have appeared in various publications, such as Mid-American Review, Popular Culture Review, History Magazine, and H-Net. Crane has appeared on national radio and television programs, including C-Span Book-TV, and is a sought after speaker, having given nearly one hundred public presentations. Among her awards, she has received a Fulbright Scholarship, a Holocaust Education Foundation Summer Institute Fellowship, and a P.E.O. National Scholar’s Award.
Pam Croft
Pam Croft is a retired manager of a military surplus store. After her 25 year career of being store manager she sorely missed it.
She decided to open up her own little store at a local flea market plaza and carry on her love for the military surplus.
When she is not working she loves to travel and enjoys spending time with her husband and cat, Thomas.
She resides in Sugar Grove and can be contacted at bookiesdogtags@gmail.com