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.
Allegra Hyde
Allegra Hyde is the author of the story collection The Last Catastrophe, an Editors’ Choice selection at The New York Times. Her debut novel Eleutheria was named a “Best Book of 2022” by The New Yorker, shortlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Prize, and named a finalist for the Ohioana Book Award. Her first story collection, Of This New World, won the John Simmons Short Fiction Award. Hyde has received four Pushcart Prizes and an O. Henry Prize. Her work has also been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Travel Writing, The Best Small Fictions, and Best of the Net. Her fiction, nonfiction, and humor writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, and BOMB, among other venues. Hyde has received fellowships and grants from the MacDowell Artist Residency, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, The Elizabeth George Foundation, the Lucas Artist Residency Program, the Jentel Foundation, The Studios at Key West, VCCA, the U.S. Fulbright Commission, and elsewhere. She lives and writes with her partner, the novelist Ariel Delgado Dixon. https://www.allegrahyde.com/
Aiko Ikegami
Aiko was born in Tokyo, Japan. Since a young age she has loved drawing, painting, and creating stories. At age of 6 she has started learning oil painting. In 1993 Aiko came to the United States where she has studied psychology at Arizona State University. She continued her education at the University of Texas at Austin where she receiving a Ph.D in Neuropharmacology. She worked as a neuropharmacologist and did research on brain chemistry. After working as a neuropharmacologist for years, she followed her heart and decided making picture books. Aiko lives in Ohio with her dog and cat. Aiko also loves gardening and playing cello.
Dayna Ingram
Dayna Ingram grew up in Cincinnati and has since moved to Northern Kentucky where she lives with her wife, their son, and the maximum number of pets allowed by county law. She received her BA in Creative Writing from Antioch College and her MFA from San Francisco State University. Her first novella, EAT YOUR HEART OUT, won accolades from Publishers Weekly (starred review), Rue Morgue, Lambda Literary and others. ALL GOOD CHILDREN is her first full length novel, which has also received starred reviews from industry powerhouses Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews, who hailed the book as “a mashup of The Hunger Games, “The Lottery,” Girl, Interrupted, and Auschwitz, with malevolent buzzards thrown in.” It was also named one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2016 in the Science Fiction/Fantasy category. Dayna is currently seeking agency representation, and her book, All Good Children, is a finalist for the 2017 Lambda Literary Award in the SF/F/Horror category. Follow her @thedingram, dayna-ingram.tumblr.com, or email Dayna_Ingram@yahoo.com.
Ryan Ireland
Ryan Ireland was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1984. He lives in the village of Alpha, Ohio with his wife and three children. He is the Publicity and Marketing Officer at Greene County Public Library, and a strong advocate for public libraries across the country—his writing on this has appeared in Public Library Quarterly and VOYA. His fiction has been published in Fogdog Review, Seems, and Writing on the Edge. In 2009 he was recognized by Glimmer Train as one of the 25 Best New Writers. Beyond the Horizon is his first novel. More about Ryan and his advocacy of libraries can be found at http://www.ryangireland.com
Manuel Iris
Manuel Iris (Mexico, 1983). Poet Laureate Emeritus of the City of Cincinnati, Ohio (2018-2020). He received the “Merida” National award of poetry (Mexico, 2009) for his book Notebook of dreams, and the Rodulfo Figueroa Regional award of poetry for his book The disguises of fire (Mexico, 2014). In 2016two different anthologies of his poetic work were published: The naked light, in Venezuela; and Before the mystery, in El Salvador. His first bilingual anthology of poems, Traducir el silencio/Translating silence was published in New York in 2018. This book won two different awards in the International Latino Book Awards in Los Angeles, California, in that same year. In 2021, he became a member of the prestigious System of Art Creators of Mexico (Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte). His latest book “the parting present/Lo que se ira” received the Reader’s choice award from the Ohioana Library Association, and was also recognized at the 2022 International Latino Book Awards. Learn more at: https://manueliris.com/
Janet Irvin
J. E. (Janet) Irvin is a career educator and the award-winning author of A PRINCIPLE OF LIGHT, THE DARK END OF THE RAINBOW, THE RULES OF THE GAME, and THE STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE OF ROSE STONE . Her stories, poems, and essays have appeared in a variety of print and online journals, including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, The Oyez Review, FLIGHTS, and Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine. Irvin holds degrees from Ohio University, the University of Dayton, and the University of Cincinnati. An avid hiker and canoeist, Irvin resides with her husband in southwestern Ohio on the edge of a nature park.
Teshauna L. Isaac
Author Teshauna L. Isaac was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, to the parents of Eugene and Maxine Isaac. She is the second oldest of three children. Teshauna gave her life to Christ and was baptized at an early age at St Mark’s Baptist Church, under the leadership of the late Pastor I.J. Johnson. Elder Isaac accepted her calling and on September 28, 2014, she was licensed to preach the gospel. On July 30, 2017, she was ordained as an elder by the authority and order of the State of Ohio Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship Int’l. Teshauna walks in her purpose and calling as an intercessory prayer leader and teacher.
Elder Isaac attended and graduated from Jesup W. Scott High School. She went on to attend The University of Toledo, earning a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. She recently graduated from Spring Arbor University with a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health and released her first published book BLACKOUT (May 2022). She currently works full-time at Goodwill Industries of NW Ohio as the Program Manager for the Stay the Course reentry program. More recently she has started a new career as a Multisystemic Therapist at the Zepf Center.
She is the proud mother of two sons, Darius and Greg, one daughter, Jazmin, and grandmother to London. Her interests include exercising, reading, traveling, shopping, listening to music, spending time with her family and friends, volunteering in the local community, and serving at her local church. Learn more: http://teshaunaisaac.com/
Maria Isabella
Maria Isabella, author of the hugely popular new cookbook, In the Kitchen with Cleveland’s Favorite Chefs, is an award-winning freelance writer with more than 30 years’ creative experience in advertising, marketing, and publishing. She possesses a degree in Communication from Cleveland State University and is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, the James Beard Foundation, and Les Dames d’Escoffier. Maria is also a cooking instructor and contributes as both a focus group member and recipe tester for Bon Appétit, Zagat, America’s Test Kitchen, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, and General Mills. She is a frequent featured speaker and appears regularly on TV and radio talk shows. Maria is currently working on two new books, both about food, of course. In her spare time, she enjoys volunteering at a cooking school with her husband of 35 years, trying out new recipes, and baking with her grandchildren.
Marcus Jackson
Susanne Jaffe
Susanne Jaffe is a former New Yorker who was a long time-editor and executive in publishing. She was the editor-in-chief of Avon Books; senior vice-president of Simon & Schuster; editor-in-chief of a division of Random House. Along the way she edited everything from true crime to historical romance, celebrity fiction, mysteries and thrillers.
In July 2001, Susanne became the executive director and creative director of Thurber House, the nonprofit literary center in Columbus, where she moved to and still lives. She resigned in 2016 to concentrate full-time on her writing.
Susanne had two new novels published in January 2017: La Patrona and Her Mother’s Daughter. Both are available as ebooks, as are four additional novels that were originally traditionally published. For reviews of the two new books, please go to: http://www.amazon/author/susannejaffe.com.
In addition to her writing, Susanne teaches creative writing and is a ‘book doctor’ and editor on a freelance basis.
Susanne considers herself above all a storyteller, someone who wants to engage the reader on a journey with characters they can emotionally relate to.
For more information about Susanne and her books, and to follow her blog, go to: http://www.susannejaffe.com.