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.
Robin Davis
Robin Davis is from Dublin, Ohio. She is a senior writer and editor at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Prior to joining the staff at Kenyon, she was the food editor at the Columbus Dispatch for 11 years and hosted Dispatch Kitchen cooking segments and specials on the local CBS affiliate, WBNS-TV. Before coming to Columbus, Robin was a restaurant critic and food writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Robin has a bachelor of arts in English and psychology from the University of Dayton and an associate’s degree in culinary arts from the California Culinary Academy. Visit her online at http://foodcookeat.com/.
Teri Ellen Cross Davis
Teri Ellen Cross Davis is the author of Haint, published by Gival Press. She is a Cave Canem fellow and has attended the Soul Mountain Writer’s Retreat, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. She is on the Advisory Committee for the biennial Split This Rock Festival and is a semi-finalist judge for the NEA’s Poetry Out Loud. She is part of the Black Ladies Brunch Collective. Her work can be read in many anthologies including Bum Rush The Page: A Def Poetry Jam, Gathering Ground: A Reader Celebrating Cave Canem’s First Decade, Full Moon on K Street: Poems About Washington, DC; The Golden Shovel Anthology: New Poems Honoring Gwendolyn Brooks and Not Without Our Laughter: poems of joy, humor, and sexuality and the following journals Poet Lore, The North American Review, Gargoyle, Natural Bridge, Torch, Fledgling Rag, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Delaware Poetry Review, Harvard Review, Tin House and Auburn Avenue. She coordinates the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series at the Folger Shakespeare Library and lives in Silver Spring, MD, with her husband poet Hayes Davis and their two children. Their website is http://www.poetsandparents.com.
Mark Dawidziak
Mark Dawidziak is the author or editor of 25 books, including three studies of landmark television series: “The Columbo Phile: A Casebook,” “The Night Stalker Companion” and “Everything I Need to Know I Learned in the The Twilight Zone,” his lighthearted 2017 tribute to Rod Serling’s classic anthology series. He also is an internationally recognized Mark Twain scholar, and five of his books are about the iconic American writer. He has been portraying Twain on stage for more than 45 years. No less an authority than Ken Burns has said, “Nobody gets Mark Twain the way Mark Dawidziak does.” His most recent book is the Edgar, Agatha and Anthony-nominated biography “A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe.” Born in New York, Dawidziak spent 43 years as a television, film and theater critic at such newspapers as the Akron Beacon Journal and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. In 2015, he was inducted into the Press Club of Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame. He also is the author of the 1994 horror novel “Grave Secrets,” as well as such non-fiction books as “The Barter Theatre Story: Love Made Visible,” “The Bedside, Bathtub and Armchair Companion to Dracula” and “The Shawshank Redemption Revealed: How One Story Keeps Hope Alive,” a 2019 deep-dive look at the beloved film based on a novella by Stephen King. He also is the editor of three volumes of works by celebrated “Twilight Zone” contributor Richard Matheson, who mentioned Dawidziak in the dedications to two of his books.
His work on the spooky side of the street also includes short stories, novellas, and comic book scripts. Dawidziak and Paul J. Bauer are the authors of the first full-length biography of “hobo author” Jim Tully, a forgotten writer hailed as “America’s Gorky” and as a literary superstar in the 1920s and ’30s. Titled “Jim Tully: American Writer, Irish Rover, Hollywood Brawler,” it was published in hardcover by Kent State University Press in 2011 with a foreword by Ken Burns (recently issued in paperback by Commonwealth Book Company). A former vagabond and boxer, Tully wrote about the American underclass and was credited with founding the hard-boiled school of writing. Bauer and Dawidziak also edited and wrote the introductions for Kent State University Press reprints of four of Tully’s books: “Beggars of Life,” “Circus Parade,” “Shanty Irish” and “The Bruiser.” Two more reprints, “Shadows of Men” and “Blood on the Moon,” were published by Commonwealth Book Company in 2023. In 2002, Dawidziak and his wife, actress Sara Showman, founded the Largely Literary Theater Company, dedicated to promoting literature, literacy and live theater. Their repertoire includes works by Mark Twain and Edgar Allan Poe. https://www.markdawidziak.com/
Keila V. Dawson
Keila V. Dawson is a two-time Ohioana finalist and former educator who writes fiction and nonfiction picture books. Her books have been featured on the numerous best books lists and nominated for various awards. She is a co-editor of No World Too Big: Young People Fighting Global Climate Change, a companion title to the International Reading Association Children’s Book Award-winning title, No Voice Too Small: Fourteen Young Americans Making History, and the forthcoming No Brain the Same: Young Neurodivergent Activists Shaping Our Future. She is the author of Opening the Road: Victor Hugo Green and His Green Book, The King Cake Baby, and Yumbo Gumbo. A New Orleans native, Dawson has also lived and worked in different states, and abroad in the Philippines, Japan, and Egypt. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. Learn more about her at http://www.keiladawson.com, on Twitter @keila_dawson, or Instagram @keilavdawson.
Drew Daywalt
JoAnn Deak
JoAnn Deak, Ph.D., is an author and an international speaker, educator, and preventive psychologist. She also works with parents, teachers, and other adults who work with children as a consultant to schools worldwide on issues of brain development and gender equality. She is also the author of the award-winning book, Your Fantastic Elastic Brain.
Mark M. Dean
Mark M. Dean and his family live in Southeast Ohio on a small horse farm nestled into the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. His endeavors as an author, lyricist, and poet are fueled by childhood memories of many family tales and exploits regarding colorful characters in his clan. Mark has had the pleasure of living in ten states stretching from Rhode Island to Arizona while also having lived and traveled abroad. His 20 years of Military service involved 12 family moves which gave him keen insight into the importance of bonding through stories, songs and poems. Mark struggled with childhood dyslexia and desires to payback all those that helped him develop his imagination through reading and storytelling. He has both an Undergraduate Degree from Miami University and a Maser’s Degree from Ohio University.
Jo delAmor
Jo delAmor is a mother, coach and Work That Reconnects facilitator who has dedicated over twenty years to the care of children and their families. She is the author of Raising Children in the Midst of Global Crisis: A Compassionate Guidebook for New Paradigm Parenting.
Since 2013, Jo has been facilitating the Work That Reconnects with a focus on dismantling oppression, transforming our cultural paradigm and supporting parents through these unprecedented and challenging times.…
Read MoreJo delAmor is a mother, coach and Work That Reconnects facilitator who has dedicated over twenty years to the care of children and their families. She is the author of Raising Children in the Midst of Global Crisis: A Compassionate Guidebook for New Paradigm Parenting.
Since 2013, Jo has been facilitating the Work That Reconnects with a focus on dismantling oppression, transforming our cultural paradigm and supporting parents through these unprecedented and challenging times. She has led dozens of parents from around the world through her signature group program: Parenting in Tumultuous Times – a practical, fun and supportive course for parents looking to do right by their kids in these times of converging global crises.
Learn more about Jo and her work at http://www.RadiantBalance.com