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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Cindy Collins
Cindy Collins’ first work, Born Under the Gaslight, is a memoir of her life living with Borderline Personality Disorder. Her memoir tells the struggle of being born into abuse, graduating to a life of a homeless, drug-dealing street racer to her recovery through dialectic behavioral therapy. As an author, she has been interviewed on the radio show “It Matters with Kelly Cordes” on WJON FM 95.3/AM 1240. She was a guest speaker on the Psychology of Victims of Crime & Violence for Dr. Jan Yager at Iona College-New Rochelle, NY. Born Under that Gaslight achieved #1 Best Seller in Personality Disorders on Amazon in the US, UK, and Germany. She is a current voice writing for Swaay.com. Her life has included various adventures ranging from training on a trapeze, starting a fire center for fire performers, and running obstacle courses with SWAT. From obtaining work as a massage therapist or a chef, her life has been in constant flux with new experiences. Cindy lives with her husband Darrin and their dog and cat. She hopes to inspire others battling mental illness.
Dawn Combs
Dawn Combs is an ethnobotanist with over 20 years experience in botanical based wellness. Dawn is a nationally respected educator and speaker, an online and in print contributor to several national magazines, co-owner of Mockingbird Meadows and Director of its educational programs. She lives on a farm in Central Ohio with her husband, Carson, and two children, Aidan and Jacy. Dawn is the author of Conceiving Healthy Babies: An Herbal Guide to Support Preconception, Pregnancy and Lactation, and Heal Local, 20 Essential Herbs for Do-it-Yourself Home Healthcare.
Jane Congdon
Jane Congdon grew up in the mountains of West Virginia. After graduating from Concord College (now Concord University) she made a career of words, working as an English teacher and a newspaper reporter before finding her niche as a textbook editor in Cincinnati, Ohio. She retired in 2009 after 30 years to write and take on selected editing projects.
At age 59, Jane followed Dracula’s footsteps through Transylvania with a guide, resulting in the memoir It Started with Dracula: The Count, My Mother, and Me. She then co-authored her brother’s memoir, Mr. Joe: Tales from a Haunted Life. Mr. Joe was a finalist for the 2014 Ohioana Book Award in Nonfiction.
At 69, Jane returned to the mountains as a backpacker on the Appalachian Trail. To date she has hiked 1,195 miles of the AT in 7 of its 14 states–Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Maine–alone, with friends, and with a glass good-luck charm named Ms. Rabbit. How the WILD EFFECT Turned Me into a Hiker at 69 is the story of Jane’s unlikely journey from the Ohio suburbs to the back country of the Appalachian Mountains.
All three books were published by Bettie Youngs Book Publishers and are available from Amazon and other outlets.
Joseph Congeni
Joseph Congeni, MD is a graduate of Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM). Dr. Congeni did his medical residency and sports medicine fellowship at Akron Children’s Hospital. He has been medical director of the Sports Medicine Center since 1988 and is an assistant professor of pediatrics at NEOUCOM.
Christina Consolino
A graduate of the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) with a BA in French and PhD in physiology, Christina Consolino taught college-level anatomy and physiology for close to twenty years before concentrating her passion on writing and editing. She’s the author of Rewrite the Stars and The Weight We Carry, and she’s co-author of Historic Photos of University of Michigan. She lives in Kettering, Ohio, with her husband, four children, and a rotating cast of pets. Learn more at https://christinaconsolino.com/
Renee Casteel Cook
A Buckeye not by birth but by choice, Renee Casteel Cook is a Columbus-based author of culinary history and travel titles, including The Columbus Food Truck Cookbook and Ohio Ice Cream: A Scoop of History. Her passion for writing and chocolate are equally matched, making this book a labor of nothing but love. Eternally impressed at the drive and dedication of food-focused entrepreneurs and the continuing commitment of generational family-run businesses, Renee strives to successfully share their stories, capturing a curated selection of legacies both established and developing. Her hope is to inspire future creators of all types to take the leap toward what they love.
Kevin Cordi
For over twenty years, Dr. Kevin Cordi has told stories in over forty states, England, Singapore, Scotland, and Japan. His story work has been commissioned by the National Youth Storytelling Hall of Fame, Newsweek, and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. As a story teacher he is considered one of the “nation’s primary advocates for youth storytelling!”
Kevin listens everywhere he goes.…
Read MoreFor over twenty years, Dr. Kevin Cordi has told stories in over forty states, England, Singapore, Scotland, and Japan. His story work has been commissioned by the National Youth Storytelling Hall of Fame, Newsweek, and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. As a story teacher he is considered one of the “nation’s primary advocates for youth storytelling!”
Kevin listens everywhere he goes. He keeps an ear to the ground so that he can hear the stories of America and beyond—he tells the stories he hears. He shares the stories of people such as Mooney Warther, considered the greatest wood carver in the country and the legendary Chocolate Bar Bomber and his air drops during the Berlin Air Lift. He listens and he tells the stories he hears. He uses his experience and critical listening skills as the landscape for teaching and developing stories. He believes good storytelling begins with effective listening. He has worked as an actor, teacher, door-to-door salesman (at age 14), disc jockey and gas station attendant. He believes this only enriches him as a storyteller and story teacher.
Carey Corp
CAREY CORP wrote her first book, a brilliant retelling of Star Wars, at the prodigious age of seven. Since then, her love affair of reinvention has continued to run amuck. She harbors a voracious passion (in no consistent order) for mohawks, Italy, musical theater, chocolate, and Jane Austen. Her debut novel for teens, THE HALO CHRONICLES: THE GUARDIAN, earned her national recognition. DOON, her latest young adult series from BLINK/HarperCollins, is inspired by the musical Brigadoon (used with permission from the Alan Jay Lerner Estate & the Frederick Loewe Foundation) and co-written with Lorie Langdon.
Shelley Costa
SHELLEY COSTA is a 2004 Edgar Award nominee for Best Short Story, and 2014 Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel (You Cannoli Die Once, Simon and Schuster). She is the author of Basil Instinct (Simon and Schuster, 2014), Practical Sins for Cold Climates (Henery Press, 2016) and A Killer’s Guide to Good Works (Henery Press, 2016). Shelley’s short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Blood on Their Hands, and The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories. She teaches fiction writing at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Visit her at http://www.shelleycosta.com.