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.
Bayyinah Monk-Nduaka
If you know Bayyinah, you know that her greatest passions in life are family & friends, travel, writing, cooking, entrepreneurship and helping others. It is Bayyinah’s desire to connect people with their life’s passion and calling through living a happy and whole life through food and healthy relationships. Born in Philadelphia, PA, Bayyinah began writing at the age of twelve and in 1994, she won a scholarship to attend Young Writer’s at Kenyon College. There she honed her writing passions. Eventually she took advanced placement and college preparatory literature and writing courses. And in 2003, Bayyinah graduated from Otterbein University with B.S. in Business and Economics. Later, in 2006, she received her A.A. in Mortuary Science from Briarwood College. Inspired by her mother and family, Bayyinah is a self-taught cook. Her passion is creating recipes, cooking good food and feeding her family and friends. In 2015, Bayyinah became a two-time Amazon best selling and award winning author. When Bayyinah is not working, writing, cooking or world traveling – she is somewhere having a good ole’ time with her husband Obinna Nduaka and family. She currently reside in the Metropolitan Washington, DC area. Learn more at: https://www.gimmethatrecipe.com/
Jess Montgomery
Jess Montgomery is the author of the Kinship Historical Mysteries, set in 1920s Appalachian Ohio and inspired by Ohio’s true first female sheriff. Under her given name, she writes the “Level Up Your (Writing) Life” column for Writer’s Digest. She was formerly a newspaper columnist, focusing on the literary life, authors and events of her native Dayton, Ohio for the Dayton Daily News.…
Read MoreJess Montgomery is the author of the Kinship Historical Mysteries, set in 1920s Appalachian Ohio and inspired by Ohio’s true first female sheriff. Under her given name, she writes the “Level Up Your (Writing) Life” column for Writer’s Digest. She was formerly a newspaper columnist, focusing on the literary life, authors and events of her native Dayton, Ohio for the Dayton Daily News. She is a three-time recipient of the Individual Excellence Award in Literary Arts from Ohio Arts Council, a two-time recipient of the Montgomery County (Ohio) Arts & Cultural District (MCAD) Artist Opportunity Grant, and has been a John E. Nance Writer in Residence at Thurber House (Columbus, Ohio). Learn more at: https://jessmontgomeryauthor.com/
Martha Moody
Martha Moody, author of 2001’s bestseller Best Friends, graduated from medical school in 1982. She finished her internal medicine residency in 1985 and was in private practice as an internist until 2000. Since then she has been the volunteer medical director at a clinic for the working poor, and is a volunteer at Wright State School of Medicine teaching first year med students physical diagnosis. She lives in Ohio with her husband and four sons. Visit her online at http://marthamoody.net/.
Julie L. Moore
Julie L. Moore is the author of Particular Scandals, which appears in The Poiema Poetry series by Cascade Books, an imprint of Wipf & Stock Publishers. Her other books include Slipping Out of Bloom and Election Day. A Best of the Net and two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Moore has won the Editor’s Choice Award from Writecorner Press, the Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize from Ruminate, and the Rosine Offen Memorial Award from the Free Lunch Arts Alliance. She’s also been a finalist in many competitions sponsored by acclaimed journals like Dogwood, River Styx, Many Mountains Moving, and Nimrod International Journal. Her poetry has appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, American Poetry Journal, Cimarron Review, The Missouri Review Online, Nimrod International Journal, Poetry Daily, The Southern Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, and Verse Daily.
E.S. Moore
E.S. Moore was born and raised in Ohio where he still lives with his wife and son. He attended Ohio University, majoring in Electronic Media and later Telecommunications. Writing has always been a big part of his life, with paranormal and horror being especially important to him. Moore is busy penning more Kat Redding adventures.
Oge Mora
Oge Mora is a collage artist and storyteller. Her picture book, Thank You, Omu!, was a Caldecott Honor, Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award winner, and Ezra Jack Keats Book Award recipient. Her second book, Saturday won the 2020 Boston Globe—Horn Book Picture Book Award. Oge’s artwork has been applauded by The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Boston Globe.…
Read MoreOge Mora is a collage artist and storyteller. Her picture book, Thank You, Omu!, was a Caldecott Honor, Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award winner, and Ezra Jack Keats Book Award recipient. Her second book, Saturday won the 2020 Boston Globe—Horn Book Picture Book Award. Oge’s artwork has been applauded by The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Boston Globe. She is also a 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 Lister in Arts & Style.
Oge grew up in Columbus, Ohio but resides in Providence, RI. She is a fan of all things colorful, patterned, or collaged, and enjoys creating warm stories that celebrate people coming together. Visit her website at: http://www.ogemora.com/.
David Lee Morgan , Jr.
David Lee Morgan, Jr. has been a sports reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal since 1995. He has won several awards for his coverage of high school sports, including the James A. Sutherland Award, given to the top “rookie” reporter in Northeast Ohio and was named the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association Writer of the Year three times (2004, 2007, 2009). He is a former high school and collegiate athlete. He played baseball and basketball at Warren G. Harding High School in Warren, Ohio and baseball at Youngstown State University.
Ruth Hanford Morhard
Ruth Hanford Morhard was memorizing the batting and earned run averages of Major League baseball players and reading baseball books when most young girls were playing with dolls. A native of Connecticut, she grew up a rabid fan of the Boston Red Sox, changing her allegiance to the Cleveland Indians when she moved to Ohio, ever hopeful of a long-awaited World Series win!
Combining her love of baseball with another passion, writing, it seems natural that she would one day write a book about baseball. MRS. MORHARD AND THE BOYS is that book—about a single mom who created the first boys’ baseball leagues in the depths of the Great Depression to help her son overcome the trauma of his early childhood. The book will be published on February 26, 2019 by Citadel Press, just in time for spring training and the start of the baseball season!
Career-wise, she’s been a senior executive with major philanthropic and arts institutions and currently serves as a consultant to national, regional and local institutions. Her work in early childhood education led to her practical nonfiction book, “Wired to Move: Facts and Strategies for Nurturing Boys in Early Childhood Settings,” published in 2013. She has a Certificate in Creative Nonfiction from Stanford University and a BA degree from Skidmore College.
She lives in Chardon, Ohio with her husband Al, son of the Mrs. Morhard of the book title.
Doug Motz
Doug Motz is the Past President of the Columbus Historical Society and continues to give tours of the core city for CHS. He is the co-author Kahiki Supper Club: A Polynesian Paradise in Columbus. He writes a “History Lesson” column for the website columbusunderground.com and gives a monthly local history quiz on the local ABC affiliate WSYX’ morning television program, Good Day Columbus. When not researching Columbus History, he spends his time singing with the Columbus Gay Men’s Chorus which he serves as Vice-President.
David Mould
David Mould, professor emeritus of media arts and studies at Ohio University, has traveled widely in Asia and southern Africa as a trainer, consultant, and researcher, and has written articles and essays for newspapers, magazines and online media. Born in the UK, he worked as a newspaper and TV journalist before moving to the US in 1978. Postcards from the Borderlands is his third book on travel, history and culture. Kirkus Reviews describes him as “A genial travel guide … an academic who does not write like an academic.”