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): 2024
Cindy Juyoung Ok
Cindy Juyoung Ok is the author of Ward Toward, which won the Yale Younger Poets Prize. She is a former high school science teacher and current Kenyon Review fellow teaching poetry at Kenyon College. A MacDowell fellow, Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Award finalist, and Phyllis Smart-Young Poetry Prize winner, she also edits and translates poetry.
John Kachuba
John Kachuba is the award-winning author of thirteen books. His most recent book is The Bottle Conjuror, an historical fantasy novel set in 18th-century England. Haycorn Smith and the Castle Ghost is a paranormal novel for middle-grade readers set in the haunted Chateau Laroche in Loveland, Ohio. Other novels include Dark Entry, a paranormal novel, and The Savage Apostle and Women of the Way, both historical fiction.…
Read MoreJohn Kachuba is the award-winning author of thirteen books. His most recent book is The Bottle Conjuror, an historical fantasy novel set in 18th-century England. Haycorn Smith and the Castle Ghost is a paranormal novel for middle-grade readers set in the haunted Chateau Laroche in Loveland, Ohio. Other novels include Dark Entry, a paranormal novel, and The Savage Apostle and Women of the Way, both historical fiction.
John’s nonfiction, Shapeshifters: A History, was published in June 2019 and was a finalist in the 2020 Horror Writers Association’s Bram Stoker Award. Several other works of nonfiction are about ghosts and the paranormal, humor writing, and occupational safety and health.
John holds MA degrees in Creative Writing from Antioch University Midwest and Ohio University and presently teaches Creative Writing at Ohio University and the Gotham Writers Workshop. He is a member of the Historical Novel Society, the Horror Writers Association, and the American Library Association’s Authors for Libraries.
John is a frequent speaker at conferences, universities and libraries, and on podcasts, radio and TV. John’s website is http://johnkachuba.com
Linda Kass
Linda Kass is the author of three historical novels, Tasa’s Song (2016); A Ritchie Boy (2020), an IPPY Gold Medal Winner in Historical Fiction in 2021; and Bessie, which was named A Hasty Book List Most-Anticipated Historical Fiction Title for 2023. Bessie was released in September 2023. Linda began her career as a magazine journalist and correspondent for regional and national publications. She is the founder and owner of Gramercy Books, an independent bookstore in Columbus, Ohio. Find her online at http://www.lindakass.com.
Aya Khalil
Aya Khalil is the award-winning author of picture books and board books. Aya holds a master’s degree in education. Aya and her books have been featured on Oprah Daily, The Washington Post, and USA Today. She immigrated from Egypt to the United States when she was young and currently lives with her partner and three children in Northwest Ohio. Aya invites you to visit her online at: ayakhalil.com.
Daniel Kirk
Daniel Kirk is the author and illustrator of fifty books for children, including his best-selling series of Library Mouse books, his non-fiction picture book Rhino in the House, The Big Slide, and his latest picture book series, Newton and Curie, Science Squirrels. Library Mouse is a Booklist Editor’s Choice book, an Education.com Essential gift, a Parenting Magazine Best Mom-Tested Book of the Year, a Kansas Reading Association Award Nominee, a Booksense pick, inner of the NAPPA Gold Award, the 2011 Young Hoosiers award. and a Choose to Read Ohio choice for 2013-2014. Booklist gave Library Mouse a starred review and said: “Put a mouse in a library and you have a sure seller; make the mouse a writer and you have a sure-fire hit…It’s a show stopper. Ready-made to introduce a class to writing activity…this book is fun, fun, fun.”
Newton and Curie, Science Squirrels tells the tale of a young squirrel and his sister, who learn to make simple machines and build a playground that’s just their size. They discover that science is for everyone—even squirrels! Kirkus says: “A positive and fun-filled challenge to recognize and apply the underlying principles of science in everyday life.” Booklist says: “Budding scientists will be delighted by the squirrel’s-eye view of the physical world.” Publisher’s Weekly says: “The story frames plainspoken, relatable explanations of core physics concepts and the scientific method.”
Katrina Kittle
Katrina Kittle’s newest novel, Morning in This Broken World, released September 1, 2023 and was an Amazon First Reads pick for August. Katrina is the author of four other novels for adults—Traveling Light, Two Truths & a Lie, The Kindness of Strangers, and The Blessings of the Animals—and one novel for tweens, Reasons to Be Happy. The Kindness of Strangers was a BookSense pick and was the Fiction winner for the 2006 Great Lakes Book Awards. She teaches creative writing in the Dayton area and online for Word’s Worth Writing Connections, is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Dayton, and is a frequent public speaker. She lives near Dayton with her fella, quirky cat, sweet beagle, and out-of-control garden. For more information on Katrina or her books, or to sign up for her fun, monthly newsletter, visit Katrinakittle.com.
Julia Kuo
Julia Kuo is the author and illustrator of Let’s Do Everything and Nothing and Luminous: Living Things that Light Up the Night. She is the illustrator of many picture and specialty books including the bestselling book RISE. Julia has created editorial illustrations for publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Economist. She has taught at Columbia College Chicago and at her alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis. Learn more at: https://www.juliakuo.com/.
Elisa Stone Leahy
Elisa Stone Leahy is a Peruvian American documentary filmmaker and children’s author. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her long-suffering partner, brilliant children, lazy cats, and scruffy labradoodle. When she’s not writing or working at the library, Elisa spends her energy on spontaneous bursts of artistic chaos and immigration activism. Her work with Edith Espinal’s sanctuary team inspired her debut novel, Tethered to Other Stars, which Kirkus Reviews called “beautifully executed.” Learn more at: https://www.elisastoneleahy.com.
Cathy Cultice Lentes
Cathy Cultice Lentes recently retired from teaching and working with students with disabilitie sas part of the Special Education/Psychology team in Meigs County, Ohio. In 2016, she published a poetry chapbook, Getting The Mail (Finishing Line Press). In addition to poetry, Lentes writes creative nonfiction and a variety of works for children. She earned her MFA in Writing for Young People from the Solstice Program in 2013. Wendy McVicker and Cathy Cultice Lentes admired each other’s work from afar before becoming good friends and have often published in the same literary journals and anthologies, most recently, I Thought I Heard a Cardinal Sing, Ohio’s Appalachian voices (Sheila-Na-GigEditions, 2022).
