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.

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Patricia Averbach

Patricia Averbach, a Cleveland native, is the former director of the Chautauqua Writers' Center in Chautauqua, New York. Her first novel, Painting Bridges dealt with historic issues in deaf education. It was described by Michelle Ross, critic for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, as "an intelligent, introspective and moving novel." Averbach was the 2013 winner of the London based Lumen/Camden Prize for Poetry.…Read More

Patricia Averbach, a Cleveland native, is the former director of the Chautauqua Writers’ Center in Chautauqua, New York. Her first novel, Painting Bridges dealt with historic issues in deaf education. It was described by Michelle Ross, critic for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, as “an intelligent, introspective and moving novel.” Averbach was the 2013 winner of the London based Lumen/Camden Prize for Poetry. Her poetry chapbook, Missing Persons, was featured in the Times of London Literary Supplement as one of the top poetry pamphlets of the year. For more on Averbach go to her website at patriciaaverbach.com.

Patricia Averbach

Patricia Averbach, a Cleveland native, is the former director of the Chautauqua Writers’ Center in Chautauqua, New York. Her first work of fiction, Painting Bridges (Bottom Dog Press, 2013) was described by Michelle Ross, critic for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, as an intelligent, introspective and moving novel. Her second novel, Resurrecting Rain, will be released by Golden Antelope Press February, 2020. Her poetry chapbook, Missing Persons (Ward Wood Publishing, 2013) received the London based Lumen/Camden prize in 2013 and was listed by Times of London Literary Supplement (November 14, 2014) as one of the best short collections of the year.

Ellis Avery

Ellis Avery is the author of award-winning books. Her second novel, The Last Nude (Riverhead 2012), inspired by the Art Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka, won the 2013 ALA Stonewall Fiction Award. The Last Nude has received starred reviews from Booklist and Library Journal as well as praise from The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, SF Weekly, Vogue, O: The Oprah Magazine, and NPR. In addition to The Last Nude, Avery is the author of a first novel, The Teahouse Fire. Set in the tea ceremony world of 19th century Japan, The Teahouse Fire won Lambda, Ohioana, and American Library Association awards and was translated into five languages. Avery is also the author of The Smoke Week, an award-winning 9/11 memoir. Ellis grew up in Columbus, Ohio, attending Columbus School for Girls until the age of eleven. She received a BA from Bryn Mawr College and an M.F.A. from Goddard College and now teaches fiction writing at Columbia University and lives in New York City.

Jashar Awan

Growing up outside of Washington, DC, Jashar Awan loved drawing and reading. In fact, he still does. Jashar debuted as an author-illustrator in 2020 and has published picture books with Norton, Simon & Schuster, and Tundra Books. His works have been recognized with an ALA Notable and Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selections and have been included on Choose to Read Ohio’s Booklist and Bank Street College’s Best Books of the Year. They have also received numerous starred reviews from Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, and School Library Journal. A longtime New Yorker, Jashar moved to Ohio in 2017 with his wife and son, who love drawing and reading, too. Learn more at http://jasharawan.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.…Read More

Christopher Bachelder

Chris Bachelder's fourth novel, The Throwback Special, was a finalist for the 2016 National Book Award and the winner of The Paris Review's Terry Southern Prize for humor. His other novels include Abbott Awaits, U.S.!, and Bear v. Shark. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Cincinnati, where he teaches writing at the University of Cincinnati.Read More

Chris Bachelder’s fourth novel, The Throwback Special, was a finalist for the 2016 National Book Award and the winner of The Paris Review’s Terry Southern Prize for humor. His other novels include Abbott Awaits, U.S.!, and Bear v. Shark. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Cincinnati, where he teaches writing at the University of Cincinnati.

Bree Baker

Bree Baker is a Midwestern writer obsessed with small-town hijinks, sweet tea, and the sea. She’s been telling stories to her friends, family, and strangers for as long as she can remember, and more often than not, those stories feature a warm ocean breeze and a recipe she’s sure to ruin. Now she’s working on those fancy cooking skills and dreaming up adventures for the Seaside Café mysteries.…Read More

Cheryl Bardoe

Cheryl Bardoe combines her passion for writing and her curiosity about the world to create award-winning books for young readers. She has an MFA in writing for children and enjoys talking with young readers and their parents and educators at schools, libraries, literacy institutes and other events. She studied journalism at Northwestern University and has worked in public relations and in the exhibitions department at Chicago’s Field Museum. Over the years, Bardoe has written everything from five-word marketing slogans to policy reports, brochures, magazine articles, education pieces, direct mail letters, annual reports, press kits, newsletters, websites and text for a museum exhibition about dinosaurs from China. She’s even written signs telling people where to find the bathrooms! Bardoe grew up in Columbus, Ohio and is a graduate of Columbus Alternative High School. She currently lives in Chicago with her family.

Tom Barlow

Tom Barlow’s stories may be found in the science-fiction novel I’ll See You Yesterday and the literary short story collection Welcome to the Goat Rodeo, as well as in several anthologies, including Best American Mystery Stories 2013 and Best New Writing 2011. His work has also appeared in numerous magazines and journals, including Redivider, Temenos, The Apalachee Review, Hobart, Needle, The William and Mary Review, and Hiss Quarterly.Read More

Rebecca Barnhouse

Rebecca writes books about—and inspired by—the Middle Ages. She earned her doctorate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studied Anglo-Saxon manuscripts and medieval literature written in Old and Middle English, Old Norse, and other fascinating languages. A native of Vero Beach, Florida, she now lives in Ohio, where is a professor of English at Youngstown State University.…Read More

When she was growing up, reading was like breathing to Rebecca. It still is. She loved the Little House books, and fought with her brother over books in the Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators series. Later, she discovered science fiction and fantasy, from The Lord of the Rings to Arthur C. Clarke to Ursula K. LeGuin’s Earthsea series and many, many other books that she and her best friend shared. They still do.

Photo by Carl Leet

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