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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Jenn Bishop
Jenn Bishop is the author of five novels for young readers, including the Parents’ Choice Gold Award winner Things You Can’t Say and 2023 & 2024 Choose to Read Ohio title Where We Used to Roam. Her books have been named Junior Library Guild selections and Bank Street College of Education best books and have been finalists for state book awards. She currently calls Cincinnati, Ohio, home. What team do you think she roots for?
Lisa Black
Lisa Black spent the happiest five years of her life in a morgue. Strange, perhaps, but true. After ten years as a secretary, she went back to school to get a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Cleveland State University. In her job as a forensic scientist at the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office, Black analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. She is now a latent fingerprint examiner in Florida. Black has lectured at writer’s conventions and appeared on panels. In her life as a writer she is a member of Sisters In Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers.
Mansel G. Blackford
Mansel G. Blackford is Professor Emeritus at The Ohio State University.
Jonathan Blunk
JONATHAN BLUNK is the author of James Wright: A Life in Poetry, the authorized biography of the poet published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in October 2017. Blunk assisted with editing Wright’s selected letters, A Wild Perfection (FSG, 2005). His essay on the poetry of Jean Valentine is included in This-World Company, the collection of critical writing devoted to her work published by the University of Michigan Press in 2012.…
Read MoreJONATHAN BLUNK is the author of James Wright: A Life in Poetry, the authorized biography of the poet published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in October 2017. Blunk assisted with editing Wright’s selected letters, A Wild Perfection (FSG, 2005). His essay on the poetry of Jean Valentine is included in This-World Company, the collection of critical writing devoted to her work published by the University of Michigan Press in 2012.
At the time of James Wright’s death in 1980, Blunk had already begun writing a thesis at Cornell University on the poet’s translations from the Spanish. In 1990, to honor the publication of Wright’s Complete Poems, Above the River (FSG and Wesleyan University Press), Blunk began recording interviews for an audio documentary on the poet’s life and work. His research for James Wright: A Life in Poetry draws on more than 300 hours of interviews and archival source recordings that capture both Wright and the memories and reflections of his friends, family members, students, and colleagues, including some of the most prominent writers in the country.
Peg Bobel
Peg Bobel is a freelance writer and former cultural resource specialist for Summit Metro Parks. Peg holds a Master of Science in Social Administration from Case Western Reserve University and for nearly twenty years was a social worker in public agencies. Later, while serving as executive director of the Cuyahoga Valley Association, she and her husband Rob edited the book Trail Guide: Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and the popular Towpath Companion. In 2009, Peg and her colleague Lynn Metzger edited and contributed to Canal Fever: The Ohio & Erie Canal from Waterway to Canalway.
Keturah Bobo
Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio with family roots in Detroit, MI, Keturah was home-schooled from an early age by her mother who encouraged her passion for art at the early age of two. She decided to become a full-time artist after graduating from Columbus College of Art and Design in 2006. Keturah has always been inspired by her community and especially the beauty of natural hair. Her work uplifts and shines light on those who are far too often underrepresented. Learn more at her website: https://www.keturahariel.com
Chelsea Bobulski
Chelsea Bobulski is a graduate of The Ohio State University with a degree in history, although she spent more of her class time writing stories than she should probably admit. She grew up in Columbus, Ohio, but now resides in northwest Ohio with her husband, two children, and one very emotive German Shepherd/Lab mix. Autumn is her favorite time of the year, thanks to college football, falling leaves, cozy fireplaces, and the countdown to the most magical holiday of them all: Christmas. She is the author of the All I Want for Christmas series, as well as The Wood (2017) and Remember Me (2019).
Rob Boley
Rob E. Boley grew up in Enon, Ohio, a little town with a big Indian mound. He later earned a B.A. and M.A. in English from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. He’s the author of THE SCARY TALES series of dark fantasy novels featuring mash-ups of classic fairy tale characters and horror monsters. His fiction has appeared in several markets, including A cappella Zoo, Pseudopod, Clackamas Literary Review, and Best New Werewolf Tales. His stories have won Best in Show in the Sinclair Community College Creative Writing Contest and the Dayton Daily News/Antioch Writers’ Workshop Short Story Contest. In 2016, he founded Howling Unicorn Press with his wife, Megan Hart. He lives with Megan and his daughter in Dayton, where he works for his alma mater. Each morning and most nights, he enjoys making blank pages darker. You can get to know him better by visiting his website at http://www.robboley.com.
Oris Regina Bond
Dr. Helen Bond
Dr. Helen Bond is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Howard University. She received a Bachelor’s of Science in Education from The Ohio State University, a Master’s in Communication from West Virginia University, and a Ph.D. in Human Development from Virginia Tech. Dr. Bond has published widely including articles in the Sociology of Education: An A-to-Z Guide, International Journal of Knowledge and Learning, Journal of Transformative Education, Handbook of Research on Culturally Aware Technology, and the Weekly Journal of Higher Education published by the Association of Indian Universities. She also published chapters in the following books: Pathways to the Holocaust and the award winning Evoking Genocide chosen as the “Outstanding Academic Title” for 2010 by Choice Magazine, the leading journal of librarians around the English-speaking world. She grew up on a farm in Ohio, but now lives outside the Washington DC metro area.