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.

  • You are searching within category(ies): Fiction
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
Photo of Andrea Wang

Andrea Wang

Andrea Wang is an acclaimed author of children’s books. Her picture book Watercress was awarded the Caldecott Medal, a Newbery Honor, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, the Ohioana Book Award, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, among other accolades. Her other books, The Many Meanings of Meilan, Luli and the Language of Tea, Magic Ramen, and The Nian Monster, have also received awards and starred reviews.…Read More

Andrea Wang is an acclaimed author of children’s books. Her picture book Watercress was awarded the Caldecott Medal, a Newbery Honor, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, the Ohioana Book Award, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, among other accolades. Her other books, The Many Meanings of Meilan, Luli and the Language of Tea, Magic Ramen, and The Nian Monster, have also received awards and starred reviews. Her work explores culture, creative thinking, and identity. She lives in Colorado with her family. For more information about Andrea and her books, visit  https://andreaywang.com/.

 

Photo of Lindsay Ward

Lindsay Ward

Lindsay Ward is the author and illustrator of over thirty books for kids. Her work has been reviewed in Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, School and Library Journal, and the New York Times. Originally from San Jose, California, Lindsay now lives in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Peninsula, Ohio, with her husband and fellow author Frank Tupta, their three boys, their dog Sally, and a flock of ducks.…Read More

Lindsay Ward is the author and illustrator of over thirty books for kids. Her work has been reviewed in Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, School and Library Journal, and the New York Times. Originally from San Jose, California, Lindsay now lives in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Peninsula, Ohio, with her husband and fellow author Frank Tupta, their three boys, their dog Sally, and a flock of ducks. Most days you can find her writing and drawing at home or running Lucky Duck Books, the publishing company she co-owns with her husband. Follow her on Instagram @lindsaymward

Photo of Jasmine Warga

Jasmine Warga

Jasmine Warga is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Other Words for Home, a Newbery Honor Book and a Walter Honor Book for Younger Readers, and The Shape of Thunder. Her teen books, Here We Are Now and My Heart and Other Black Holes, have been translated into over twenty-five languages. She lives in the Chicago area with her family.…Read More

Jasmine Warga is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Other Words for Home, a Newbery Honor Book and a Walter Honor Book for Younger Readers, and The Shape of Thunder. Her teen books, Here We Are Now and My Heart and Other Black Holes, have been translated into over twenty-five languages. She lives in the Chicago area with her family. You can visit Jasmine online at http://www.jasminewarga.com.

Photo of Sara Bennett Wealer

Sara Bennett Wealer

Sara grew up in Manhattan, Kansas (the "Little Apple"), where she sang in all the choirs and wrote for the high school newspaper. She majored in voice performance at the University of Kansas before transferring to journalism school and becoming a reporter covering everything from house fires to Hollywood premieres. She now works in marketing. Sara lives in Cincinnati with her husband, two daughters, and a growing menagerie of pets.…Read More

Sara grew up in Manhattan, Kansas (the “Little Apple”), where she sang in all the choirs and wrote for the high school newspaper. She majored in voice performance at the University of Kansas before transferring to journalism school and becoming a reporter covering everything from house fires to Hollywood premieres. She now works in marketing. Sara lives in Cincinnati with her husband, two daughters, and a growing menagerie of pets. When she’s not writing, you can find her at the ballet, or obsessively watching ballet on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Learn more at: https://www.sarabennettwealer.com/

Photo of Andrew Welsh-Huggins

Andrew Welsh-Huggins

Andrew Welsh-Huggins, of Columbus, is the Shamus, Derringer, and ITW-award-nominated author of The Mailman, featuring Mercury Carter, a former federal agent turned freelance courier. Welsh-Huggins is also the author of the standalone thriller, The End of the Road, the Andy Hayes Private Eye series, and editor of Columbus Noir.…Read More

Andrew Welsh-Huggins, of Columbus, is the Shamus, Derringer, and ITW-award-nominated author of The Mailman, featuring Mercury Carter, a former federal agent turned freelance courier. Welsh-Huggins is also the author of the standalone thriller, The End of the Road, the Andy Hayes Private Eye series, and editor of Columbus Noir. Andrew’s short stories have appeared in multiple magazines and anthologies, including The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2021 and 2024. Learn more at: https://www.andrewwelshhuggins.com/

Photo of Ray Wenck

Ray Wenck

Ray Wenck taught elementary school for 35 years. He was also the chef/owner of DeSimone's Italian restaurant for more than 25 years. After retiring he became a lead cook for Hollywood Casinos and the kitchen manager for the Toledo Mud Hens AAA baseball team. Now he spends most of his time writing, doing book tours, and meeting old and new fans and friends around the country.…Read More

Ray Wenck taught elementary school for 35 years. He was also the chef/owner of DeSimone’s Italian restaurant for more than 25 years. After retiring he became a lead cook for Hollywood Casinos and the kitchen manager for the Toledo Mud Hens AAA baseball team. Now he spends most of his time writing, doing book tours, and meeting old and new fans and friends around the country. Ray is the author of more than eighty novels including the number one best seller, Toledo Fall from Raventhorne Books and the post-apocalyptic thriller, Random Survival series. He also writes the mystery/suspense Danny Roth series and the Bridgett Conroy series. A list of his other novels can be viewed at raywenck.com. His hobbies include reading, hiking, cooking, baseball and playing the harmonica with any band brave enough to allow him to sit in.

Photo of Katie & Carrie Weyler

Katie & Carrie Weyler

Sisters, Katie and Carrie Weyler, are lifelong residents of Ohio.  Growing up, they lived on a small farm in the country with a horse, a goat, several adopted dogs and cats, and a couple of pigs that they showed in 4-H.  This inspired their love for animals, nature, and exploring the great outdoors.  Through their Charlie Tractor picture books, they hope to encourage all children to explore nature and spend time outside with the people they love.…Read More

Sisters, Katie and Carrie Weyler, are lifelong residents of Ohio.  Growing up, they lived on a small farm in the country with a horse, a goat, several adopted dogs and cats, and a couple of pigs that they showed in 4-H.  This inspired their love for animals, nature, and exploring the great outdoors.  Through their Charlie Tractor picture books, they hope to encourage all children to explore nature and spend time outside with the people they love. Visit them online at: https://charlietractor.com/

Photo of Nick White

Nick White

Nick White is the author of two books of fiction: Sweet & Low, a collection of stories, and How to Survive a Summer, a novel. His fiction and essays have appeared in The Kenyon Review, Indiana Review, Catapult, The Literary Review, Guernica, and elsewhere. He is an Assistant Professor of English at The Ohio State University.Read More

Nick White is the author of two books of fiction: Sweet & Low, a collection of stories, and How to Survive a Summer, a novel. His fiction and essays have appeared in The Kenyon Review, Indiana Review, Catapult, The Literary Review, Guernica, and elsewhere. He is an Assistant Professor of English at The Ohio State University.

Mary Ann Whitley

Mary Ann Whitley is a longtime journalist, currently a copy editor at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, and lives in the eastside suburb of University Heights, Ohio. She is the co-author of Ohio Tales of the Titanic, self-published in 2012, and the author of two earlier young adult novels which she plans to republish through self-publishing.…Read More

Mary Ann Whitley is a longtime journalist, currently a copy editor at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, and lives in the eastside suburb of University Heights, Ohio. She is the co-author of Ohio Tales of the Titanic, self-published in 2012, and the author of two earlier young adult novels which she plans to republish through self-publishing. She became interested in the Ohio Titanic story in 1998 when she met her co-author, Janet White, and discovered Ohio’s extensive ties to the disaster. Since then, she has researched the Northeast Ohio-bound passengers and interviewed a number of descendants. She has written articles for Titanic International Society’s quarterly journal, Voyage, and served as a trustee of the society for nine years. Mary Ann also has a personal connection to the Titanic, as her grandfather helped to build the ship in Belfast. For more information, visit her online at ohiotitanic.wordpress.com.

Photo of Julie Whitney

Julie Whitney

Julie Whitney is a public relations professional with forty years of experience in public relations and marketing, having worked on both the agency and client side as well as in the television industry. Her company, Phillippi-Whitney Communications, LLC, founded in 2000, represents both large and small clients in a wide variety of industries. She has promoted dozens of authors throughout her career, often supplementing the efforts of the internal PR teams of their publishers.…Read More

Julie Whitney is a public relations professional with forty years of experience in public relations and marketing, having worked on both the agency and client side as well as in the television industry. Her company, Phillippi-Whitney Communications, LLC, founded in 2000, represents both large and small clients in a wide variety of industries. She has promoted dozens of authors throughout her career, often supplementing the efforts of the internal PR teams of their publishers. She also works as on-camera talent, appearing in both television commercials and video podcasts. She even appeared as an extra in the movie Grease, which was shot on location in the summer of 1977 in Los Angeles. Learn more at: https://astrathelonelyairplane.com/

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