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): 2023
Jen Knox
Jen Knox is the author of We Arrive Uninvited (Steel Toe Books, 2023), which won the Steel Toe Books Award in prose, and After the Gazebo (Rain Mountain Press, 2015). Her short fiction and creative nonfiction can be found in journals such as Saturday Evening Post and McSweeney’s Internet Quarterly. She founded and runs Unleash Creatives, a holistic arts organization based in Ohio. Learn more at: jenknox.com
Robert Kroeger
Dr. Robert Kroeger, a native of Youngstown, graduated from Ohio State University’s College of Dentistry, served four years of active duty in the US Navy, ending with the rank of lieutenant commander. He and his late wife Brenda moved to Cincinnati where they raised five children and Dr. Kroeger practiced general dentistry from 1977 to 2010, when he retired. He and his wife Laura also live in Cincinnati, where they enjoy spending time with nine grandchildren. [INSERT IMAGE A-63 CAPTION: Robert Kroeger. Photograph, David Bimschleger] Dr. Kroeger is a second-generation artist, though, unlike his father Francis, who held an art degree from Notre Dame, his professional art career blossomed later in life. Though he did not immediately follow in his father’s footsteps, Robert’s career as a dentist allowed him to study color values and facial esthetic principles in smile design. He is the author of Historic Barns of Ohio, a book that features a barn, its painting, and its essay in each of Ohio’s 88 counties. Dr. Kroeger has also written two books on dentistry and seven books on golf in Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland, including To The 14th Tee, The Links of Wales, The Golf Courses of Old Tom Morris, Golf on the Links of Ireland, Golf on the Links of England, Complete Guide to the Golf Courses of Scotland, and The Secrets of Islay. This is his second book on old barns but hopefully not his last. Learn more at: https://www.barnart.weebly.com/
John W. Kropf
John Kropf is the author of Unknown Sands: Journeys Around the World’s Most Isolated Country that Publisher’s Weekly praised as a fascinating narrative bound to hook adventurers. His writing has appeared in appeared The Baltimore Sun, Florida Sun-Sentinel, The Washington Post, and elsewhere. Kropf was born in Sandusky and raised in Erie County, Ohio. He is an attorney in the Washington, DC. area. http://compulsivelyaimless.blogspot.com/
Jason R. Lady
Jason is an army brat who grew up moving around a total of seven times on military bases from Germany to Fort Knox, Kentucky. From a family of avid readers, Jason was encouraged to read fantasy and science fiction, and write his own stories and comic strips from an early age. Jason wrote his first novel-length story in high school–a parody of Robin Hood that starred all his friends, and got passed around on the bus and read on the way to cross-country races. Jason is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. When he’s not writing, Jason can be found working in Human Resources, talking about and enjoying 1980’s music and popular culture, watching Marvel movies, working on visiting all the MLB baseball stadiums, and following the Cleveland Guardians. He lives in Cleveland, Ohio with his wife and many great friends. His first novel, Monster Problems, was accepted to the 2020 Ohioana Library Association Book Festival and the 2020 Kentucky Book Festival. The prequel, Super Problems, was accepted to the 2021 Ohioana Library Association Book Festival, is rated IndieReader Approved, and is a Maxy Awards finalist. Time Problems is his third novel. Learn more at: https://www.jasonrlady.com/
Florenza Lee
Florenza Lee is an author, publisher, mindset coach, transformational speaker, radio talk show host, Master Storyteller, wife, and mother. Her Children’s books focus on Social-Emotional Learning and Emotional Intelligence. The tagline for her publishing company is, “…feeding your mind one book at a time” and her books fulfills the mission. Her dynamic characters immediately capture the readers’ attention, and the lessons remain long after the book is closed. Florenza is a proud member of SCBWI, AALBC, IBPA, REACH, Inc., and an Alum of Ashford University; she attends Grand Canyon University. Several of her titles are translated for Spanish, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, Arabic, Hindi, and Mandarin. Coming soon are German, French, and Italian. She and her husband, CSM (Ret US Army) Trefus Lee, have been married for nearly 39 years and reside in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Their daughters, Jessica and Missy, call Las Vegas, Nevada, and Chagrin Falls, Ohio, home. Learn more at her website: https://florenza.org/
Terri Libenson
Camille Licate
Camille Licate, author of “Bree and Me : A True Story of a Rescue Rooster’s
Journey” is Bree, the Rescue Rooster’s Mom! She is the Founder of
Kids for Positive Change, a multimedia environmental education company
reaching, teaching and inspiring kids to take positive action for animals,
people and the planet, through live events and the Kids for Positive Change
television show, currently airing on WQLN PBS, and online, on PBS Learning
Media. Camille is the creator, writer and host of the Kids for Positive Change
television show, which features the KPC Team, young changemakers from
coast to coast, expert guests, and Bree the Rescue Rooster! When not on
set, Camille and Bree are on stage, as guest speakers, (or in Bree’s case
guest “beaker”) at live Kids for Positive Change school and community
outreach events.
Born in Ashtabula, Ohio, Camille always had a great affinity for animals,
writing, education and entertainment. She graduated from Mercyhurst
University, in Erie, PA, earning a degree in Dance and a minor in
Anthropology. Camille lived in NYC, where she studied and performed with
The Martha Graham Dance Company and worked as a pottery analyst for
The American Museum of Natural History. She was hired as a “dancer who
could act,” by The Shakespeare Theatre, in Washington D.C., and went on to
star in many stage productions before making the coastal leap to Los
Angeles, CA, where she worked as a professional actress and screenwriter,
making her screenwriting debut with her animated children’s film, “IZZIE’S
WAY HOME.” An animal advocate, Camille worked for Orangutan Foundation
International and traveled to Camp Leakey, in Borneo, Indonesia, to film and
study the endangered orangutan. In 2017, Camille founded Kids for Positive
Change, piloting her programs at Ashtabula Area City Schools, in Ashtabula,
Ohio and, over the years, expanding her live event programs to schools in
Ohio and New York. Season one of the Kids for Positive Change television
show, debuted on PBS stations in New York, North Carolina, Michigan,
Pennsylvania and Colorado, in 2021 and 2022, and season two is set to
debut on WQLN, PBS, in Erie, PA, in early 2023.
Camille serves on the board of Kent State University’s Rising Scholars
Program, in Ashtabula, Ohio, and is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni
award, from Mercyhurst University, in Erie, PA, for Outstanding Service to
the Community. In addition to “Bree and Me,” Camille has authored and
self-published the books, Small Shoes : Outgrowing Old Relationships and
Finding the Right Fit and Breelieve! A Coloring and Picture Book, featuring
Bree, the rescue rooster.
Camille’s three favorite things: Dogs in coats, airport reunions and vegan
donuts. Learn more: https://www.camillelicate.com/about/
Deseree Liddell
Deseree Mitchell Liddell was born on October 15, 1925, in Lexington, Mississippi, and grew up under some of the nation’s harshest Jim Crow laws.
In 1951, she and her husband moved to Ravenna, Ohio, becoming residents of Skeels Allotment, one of the local designated-Black areas. There she fought to get basic living conditions such as water and sewer, natural gas lines, and streetlights for her community. She was also instrumental in getting African American teachers and administrators in the Ravenna School System.
She taught school in both Mississippi and Ohio, and in the 1960s, she started a youth group and a senior citizens club in her home. Her goal was to promote community pride, self-awareness, and social, economic, and educational awareness within the African American communities.
Mrs. Liddell was instrumental in getting a community center for the Skeels neighborhood and was the center’s first director. At age 97, she is still active in events at the center.
In 1991, a group of community residents founded the Deseree Liddell Minority Scholarship Fund in her honor. The proceeds of her memoir go to this fund and are awarded to high school seniors to help further their education.
Learn more: https://theportager.com/ravenna-author-shares-her-life-story-from-the-jim-crow-south-to-northern-ohio/
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Collaborator Mary Louise Ruehr was born in Ravenna, Ohio. A graduate of Kent State University, she has spent her career in communications. For 12 years she was a writer and editor at the Record-Courier, the daily newspaper covering Portage County. There she wrote a popular column, “One for the Books,” featuring book reviews and reading-related topics. The column is now featured in ThePortager.com, an online news source.
Julie Anne Lindsey
Julie Anne Lindsey is an award-winning and bestselling author of mystery and romantic suspense. She’s published more than fifty novels since her debut in 2013 and currently writes series as herself, as well as under multiple pen names, for Harlequin, Kensington, Sourcebooks and Crooked Lane Books. When Julie’s not creating new worlds or fostering the epic love of fictional characters, she can be found in Kent, Ohio, plotting murder with her shamelessly enabling friends. Today she hopes to make someone smile. One day she plans to change the world. Learn more about Julie at julieannelindsey.com
Jacqueline Lipton
Jacqueline Lipton is an attorney, law professor and literary agent/consultant whose work focuses on privacy, business, and legal issues in the digital age. She teaches on the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and is a Senior Agent at the Tobias Literary Agency. Learn more at: https://jlipton.com/