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.
Jessica Fries-Gaither
Jessica is an experienced science educator and an award-winning author of books for students and teachers. Her 20+ year teaching career spans elementary school through middle school science and math, three states, and Catholic, public, and independent schools. Additionally, she spent five years in the College of Education and Human Ecology, School of Teaching and Learning at The Ohio State University where she directed NSF-funded projects and provided professional development for elementary and middle school teachers. She is currently the Science Department Chair and Lower School Science Specialist at the Columbus School for Girls in Columbus, OH. Jessica is a reviewer for NSTA’s elementary journal, Science and Children, and has served on several NSTA advisory boards. She presents at local, regional, and national conferences and teaches preservice elementary science and social studies methods in Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education program.Jessica has published several books with the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) Press and is represented by Tricia Lawrence at Erin Murphy Literary Agency. Jessica and her husband live in Columbus, OH with their four dogs. She enjoys reading, cooking, and spending time outside. Learn more here: https://www.jessicafriesgaither.com/
Ellen Fritz
Ellen Fritz is a retired teacher and high school counselor. Over the years of teaching reading and English to students in grades seven through twelve before becoming a counselor, she had the great opportunity to discuss numerous favorite books with students and also took their recommendations for her own reading.
She finally found herself with the time to give life to the stories that have always been patiently waiting in her head for an audience. Ellen wrote Mira to appeal to those middle grade/teen readers that she found so inspiring through her career as an educator.
Kathleen Fuller
Just the facts…I was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, and now make my home in beautiful Geneva, Ohio. I’ve been married to James for 15 wonderful years (really, they have been wonderful!) We have three terrific children, three dogs, and an overwhelmed cat. We have also raised cattle, pigs, and chickens at various times over the years. We would have gone into the goat business, but I had to draw the line somewhere. I started writing in 2000, and published my first short story a year later. Since then I have authored several short stories, novellas, novels, and have done a lot of freelance non-fiction work. I have also worked as an editor. I have a Masters degree in Special Education, emphasis on teaching the blind and visually impaired, and a Bachelors in Early Childhood/Elementary Education. I have taught all age groups ranging from age 4 to age 18. A few of my favorite things: my relationship with Christ, chocolate (of course!), autumn, a satisfying book, good friends, a sense of humor, people who don’t take themselves seriously, haunting melodies, NFL football, and did I mention chocolate?
Kimberly Gabriel
Kimberly Gabriel started writing in fourth grade when she wrote, bound, and gave away books of terrible poetry to family and teachers as holiday gifts. Today she is an English teacher, who still squanders all free minutes to write and uses it as the best scapegoat for her laundry avoidance issues. When she is not teaching or writing, Kimberly is enjoying life with her husband, her three beautiful children, and a seriously beautiful boxer in the northern suburbs of Chicago. Every Stolen Breath is her debut novel and a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection.
Carmen Gabriel-Watson
INTRODUCTORY BIO: MY NAME IS CARMEN, AKA “LEGA”CEE”; to ‘Carry’ legs of Rare Breed out of Past Ancestry into…..” I AM WHO I AM & I AM WHO I BE !…. Into the Journey. I have raised two beautiful Intelligent girls, now women; out of that, four awesome grands I am proud of ! Currently, I reside in Saint George, SC with my second daughter. I was Born last of fourteen and bred in Toledo Ohio; Known for its automobile, Jeep and the Glass Capital of the world ; As a Writer and Author, I’ve recently published my first Inspirational book through my poetry, quotes, stories and testimonies, through the life we must live to bear Witness as “Truth Fluid” for the Soul, who believes every Closed window, has an open way out! There is a 2ND & 3RD book underway. As a Creative Writer, I enjoy utilizing my gift for Event planning, Funerals, weddings, graduations; as well as Art of any media and background in Stage Theater. A Multiple participant as 11th place Poetry finalist, public venues of Spoken word in DC, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida. Completed coursework in Digital Graphics and Web Page Design, Ambassador to Heart & Stroke Association; obtained the High Level Bronze and Volunteer Ambassador awards. As a Two time Stroke Survivor, I am a Story !
Timothy R. Gaffney
Timothy R. Gaffney is a writer and author who was born in Dayton in 1951 and has lived in the region most of his life. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University in Columbus in 1974, he worked for the Piqua Daily Call, the Kettering-Oakwood Times and the Dayton Daily News, where he was the aerospace and defense writer for 21 years until his retirement in 2006. He is the author of 15 books about aviation, space, exploration and science, mainly for children and young adults. He is director of communications for the nonprofit National Aviation Heritage Alliance and a volunteer trustee of the United States Air and Trade Show Inc. and Wright B. Flyer Inc. His interests include aviation, photography, bicycling and hiking. He lives in Miamisburg, Ohio with his wife Jean. They have four grown children and two grandchildren.
Chris Garber
Chad Dotson writes about the Reds for Cincinnati Magazine and about baseball in general for ESPN.com. He is also the founder and managing editor of Redleg Nation, a popular site devoted to baseball and the Cincinnati Reds. A longtime member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), Chad lives in Virginia with his wife, Sabrina, and two children, Reagan and Casey.
Chris Garber serves as contributing editor and featured writer for Redleg Nation, where he has written about the Reds for more than a decade. Chris lives in Columbus, Ohio with his wife Katie and their three children.
Dee Garretson
Dee writes middle grade, young adult and adult fiction under her own name and also writes for the Boxcar Children series under the original author’s name. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her family in a book-cluttered house surrounded by a semi-wild garden. Her two cats Piper and Poppy are her writing companions and the stars of Skype visits with book clubs. When Dee is not writing or reading, she is most likely watching old movies, cooking treats to go along with book reading or trying to learn to make jewelry.
David Lee Garrison
The poetry of David Lee Garrison has appeared widely in journals and anthologies, and two poems from his book Sweeping the Cemetery were read by Garrison Keillor on his national radio show, The Writer’s Almanac. The title poem from his Playing Bach in the DC Metro was featured by Poet Laureate Ted Kooser on his website, American Life in Poetry, and read on the BBC in London. He won the Paul Laurence Dunbar Poetry Prize in 2009 and was named Ohio Poet of the Year in 2014. His most recent book is Light in the River (Dos Madres Press).
Janice Gary
Janice Gary is the recipient of the Christine White Award for Memoir/Personal Essay and the Ames Award for Essay and is a fellow of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her work has appeared in Literal Latte, Kaleidoscope, The Baltimore Review, The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Potomac Review, and Women Speak Out, an anthology from The Crossing Press.…
Read MoreJanice Gary is the recipient of the Christine White Award for Memoir/Personal Essay and the Ames Award for Essay and is a fellow of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her work has appeared in Literal Latte, Kaleidoscope, The Baltimore Review, The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Potomac Review, and Women Speak Out, an anthology from The Crossing Press. She leads writing workshops throughout the U.S., including “Writing the Memoir You’ve Been Dreaming About” at the C.G. Jung Institute of New York City. Her book, Short Leash: A Memoir of Dog Walking and Deliverance, was released by Michigan State University Press in 2013. For information, visit her website at http://www.janicegary.com.