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.
Lorie Langdon
Lorie Langdon is one half of the author team that writes the best-selling DOON series, a young adult reimagining of the musical Brigadoon. A few years ago, she left her corporate career to satisfy the voices in her head. Now she spends her days tucked into her office, Havanese puppy by her side, working to translate her effusive imagination into the written word.
Lorie has been interviewed on Entertainment Weekly.com and several NPR radio programs, including Lisa Loeb’s national Kid Lit show. The DOON series has been featured on such high profile sites as USAToday.com, Hypable.com, and BroadwayWorld.com. Lorie’s solo debut, GILT HOLLOW, a YA romantic thriller, released September 27th 2016. GILT HOLLOW was recently named by Redbook Magazine as one of the “Books By Women You Must Read This Fall.”
Dave Lange
Dave Lange is a 1975 graduate of Kent State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism news. He also studied political science in graduate school at the University of Akron.
His 40-year newspaper career included positions as features editor and then Sunday Paper editor for the daily Lake County Telegraph, editor of the daily Geauga Times Leader and editor in chief of the weekly Greater Cleveland Real Estate News.
For most of his career, Lange was editor of the weekly Chagrin Valley Times and its sister publications, the Solon Times and the Geauga Times Courier. The Times was honored with the Ohio Newspaper Association’s General Excellence Award as the state’s best weekly newspaper 19 times during his 25 years of leadership. Individually, the ONA awarded him first place in editorial writing 15 times and first place in column writing eight times.
Lange was named the best columnist among all Ohio newspapers in 2011 by the Cleveland Press Club and has received numerous Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards for editorial and column writing. He also was awarded first place statewide for column writing in 2000 by the Society of Professional Journalists.
Lange served in a support capacity with the Brown Water Navy’s riverine forces in Vietnam from February 1969 to February 1970. As a member of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 11 from February 1970 until his discharge in December 1971, he made Mediterranean Sea and North Atlantic deployments. He was awarded the Vietnam Service Medal with four campaign stars, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, National Defense Service Medal plus Navy Unit Commendation and Meritorious Unit Commendation ribbons.
He is a member of Vietnam Veterans of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion.
Lynn Lauber
Lynn Lauber is an author, editor, ghostwriter, and memoir teacher. She has published three books with WW Norton: White Girls, 21 Sugar Street, and Listen to Me: Writing Life into Meaning, as well as a dozen collaborations with expert authors. Her first two books with Norton center on growing up in northwestern Ohio in the 1960s. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, including Modern Love and Bookend. She has worked as an audiobook editor and abridger for Random House Audiobooks and is a long-time teacher of memoir writing at UCLA online. She now lives in Nyack, New York.
K.B Laugheed
K.B. Laugheed received an MA in English from the University of Dayton, with a concentration in Native American literature. She taught writing at Ivy Tech for twelve years and worked as a writer/editor at a small-town newspaper for twenty-three years. Through both careers, she worked as a freelance writer, publishing numerous articles in national periodicals, and she also wrote and directed a series of plays for community theater. She published her debut novel, The Spirit Keeper, in 2013, and the sequel, The Gift of the Seer, in 2019. Laugheed is an organic gardener, a master naturalist, and an ardent spokesperson for the planet Earth. She belongs to far too many cats.
Rosemary Laurey
USA Today best-selling author Rosemary Laurey is an ex-pat Brit, retired special education teacher, and grandmother who now lives in Ohio and has a wonderful time writing and letting her imagination run riot. Her hobbies are vacuuming, dusting, and cleaning toilets but regrettably the demands of her writing career leave little time to engage in these pursuits.
Read MoreUSA Today best-selling author Rosemary Laurey is an ex-pat Brit, retired special education teacher, and grandmother who now lives in Ohio and has a wonderful time writing and letting her imagination run riot. Her hobbies are vacuuming, dusting, and cleaning toilets but regrettably the demands of her writing career leave little time to engage in these pursuits.
Frank Lavin
Frank Lavin is the CEO and founder of Export Now, a U.S. firm established in 2010 to operate e-commerce stores in China for international companies. Export Now is the largest off-shore operator of China e-commerce stores, helping brands from around the world in strategy and operations.
In Government, Lavin served as Under Secretary for International Trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce 2005-2007. In that capacity, Lavin served as lead trade negotiator for both China and India and was the senior policy official in the Department responsible for commercial policy, export promotion, and trade negotiations across the globe. Lavin was U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Singapore from 2001-05, where his duties included helping negotiate the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement.
In the private sector, Lavin served in senior finance and management positions in Hong Kong and Singapore with Edelman, Bank of America and Citibank.
Previously, Lavin served in the George H.W. Bush and Reagan Administrations, working in the Department of Commerce, Department of State, National Security Council, and White House. Lavin served as Director of the White House Office of Political Affairs 1987-89.
Lavin earned a B.S. from the School of Foreign Service (Georgetown); an M.S. in Chinese Language and History (Georgetown); an M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from the School of Advanced International Studies (Johns Hopkins); and an M.B.A. in Finance at the Wharton School (Pennsylvania).
He is a columnist for Forbes.com and has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and other periodicals.
Lavin is the co-author of “Export Now,” (Wiley) on market entry strategies. His World War II history book, “Home Front to Battlefront” was published in 2017 by Ohio University Press.
Lavin serves as Chairman of the International Council of the National University of Singapore School of Medicine, and serves on the Board of Directors of UOB, a Singapore-based regional bank. He also served as Steering Committee Chairman of the Shanghai 2010 World Expo USA Pavilion.
Tracy Lawson
Tracy Lawson’s passion for storytelling led her first into the world of dance and educational theater, and enjoyed a career as a dance teacher, studio owner, and choreographer that has spanned nearly three decades. A mid-life career change has yielded six books–a four-volume series of thrillers for young adults, and two nonfiction history books based on the lives of her pioneer ancestors. Tracy’s two newest novels are in the pipeline for release in 2020 and 2021. While her body of work may seem varied, the common thread that connects all her books is her characters’ pursuit of individual liberty. Tracy, who is married with one grown daughter and two spoiled cats, splits her time between Dallas, Texas and Columbus, Ohio.
@TracySLawson on Twitter
Tracy Lawson, Author on Facebook
Laurie Lazzaro Knowlton
Laurie Lazzaro Knowlton’s first published work was a note passed to a boy in third grade. You would have thought this most embarrassing moment would have ended her writing career. But instead, Laurie has gone on to write 45 books and is the author/illustrator of two. Laurie has been published in the trade, educational, craft, and Christian markets. WHY COWBOYS SLEEP WITH THEIR BOOTS ON is her bestselling picture book. It won the Premier Print Award given by Eastman Kodak and has sold over 45,000 copies since publication. Laurie wrote and illustrated GOD BE IN MY HEART in 1999, and RED, WHITE, AND BLUE in 2002. The Huebner Museum of Children’s Picture Book Art, housed in the Toledo Public Library, honored Laurie by purchasing and exhibiting a piece of art from RED, WHITE, AND BLUE. Martha Stewart’s Radio Station highlighted RED WHITE AND BLUE, and The Children’s Book Council invited Laurie to write about America’s freedoms as related to the book for their premier online magazine. The Children’s Book Committee of Bank Street College of Education selected A YOUNG MAN’S DANCE as among the best Children’s Books of the year in 2007. Laurie is an international speaker, addressing students, educators, and writers throughout the United States and Mexico. You can reach her at lauriepknowlton@aim.com.
Elisa Stone Leahy
Elisa Stone Leahy is a Peruvian American documentary filmmaker and children’s author. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her long-suffering partner, brilliant children, lazy cats, and scruffy labradoodle. When she’s not writing or working at the library, Elisa spends her energy on spontaneous bursts of artistic chaos and immigration activism. Her work with Edith Espinal’s sanctuary team inspired her debut novel, Tethered to Other Stars, which Kirkus Reviews called “beautifully executed.” Learn more at: https://www.elisastoneleahy.com.
Patrick Leber
Patrick Leber is a business professional who found a passion for running at an early age. His running memoir captures the many amusing, engaging, and embarrassing running stories encountered over 40 years. His stories will resonate with anyone who likes to laugh at themselves. A Northeast Ohio native, he is a lover of music, books, and conversation. You can visit him online at http://www.whyrunwhen.com.