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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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

Maggie Smith

Maggie Smith is the award-winning author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Good Bones, The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison, Lamp of the Body, and the national bestsellers Goldenrod and Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change. A 2011 recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Smith has also received several Individual Excellence Awards from the Ohio Arts Council, two Academy of American Poets Prizes, a Pushcart Prize, and fellowships from the Sustainable Arts Foundation and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She has been widely published, appearing in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Nation, The Best American Poetry, and more. Maggie Smith’s next book, Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life, is forthcoming from Atria/Simon & Schuster on April 1, 2025. You can follow her on social media @MaggieSmithPoet and learn more at https://maggiesmithpoet.com/

Allegra Solomon

Allegra Solomon is a fiction writer who was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. She got her MFA from the University of Kentucky and her B.A. in Creative Writing from Ohio University. Her debut short story collection won the Kimbilio National Fiction prize and was a finalist for the Iron Horse Literary Review/TTU First Book Prize. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and has appeared in The Georgia Review, TriQuarterly, American Literary Review, New Ohio Review, Lolwe, and more. Her debut short story collection There’s Nothing Left For You Here is forthcoming in 2025 with Four Way Books. She lives in Lexington, Kentucky.

Tricia Springstubb

Tricia Springstubb is the award-winning author of fiction for readers of all ages- picture books, chapter books, middle grade and early young adult novels. Her newest book, How To Tell A True Story, is a suspenseful story about the slippery nature of truth, especially in the light of social media. She lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and is a frequent speaker at schools, libraries and conferences.…Read More

Joe Sutphin

Joe Sutphin is an illustrator and cartoonist of books for young readers. His work includes the Eisner Award winning Watership Down: The Graphic Novel, based on the beloved book by Richard Adams, as well as the re-envisioned, illustrated classics Little Pilgrim’s Progress and Little Christmas Carol. Joe lives in Central Ohio with his wife Gina and five amazing cats.…

Jordan Riley Swan

Jordan Riley Swan is a wild word hunter living in the far and dangerous reaches of rural Ohio. He spends his nights tracking down big-game stories, capturing them in paper cages, and training them to be better tales. The Heart’s Bidding was the first novel he’d dared to use the keys of his typewriter to release back into the wild.Read More

Suzy Ultman

Suzy Ultman has been creating toys and books for family and friends since childhood. A born storyteller, Suzy is an illustrator, product designer, toy creator, and bookmaker of sophisticated and simple objects that inspire and delight. Suzy’s signature products center connection, community, and finding your place within our global family. When she isn’t in her studio folding paper, designing textiles, or creating toys, she can be found strolling through antique shops, finding treasures at flea markets, and communing with nature.…Read More

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. 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/

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.

Carol Williams

Carol Williams has a long history of writing: ad agency copywriter, healthcare content wordsmith, insurance marketing scribe—you name it, she’s written a ton of it. She’s also managed to raise two children, creating lots of her own stories for kids along the way. Carol lives in Ohio with her husband and maybe a dog if she can ever talk said husband into it.…Read More

Ashley Willow

Ashley Willow lives in a small town in Ohio where there isn't much action or drama... so she stays up late creating her own in a world of fiction. She has always loved to write and can either be found writing, reading, or somehow doing both. As an avid reader, she creates stories she would want to read.…Read More

Ashley Willow lives in a small town in Ohio where there isn’t much action or drama… so she stays up late creating her own in a world of fiction. She has always loved to write and can either be found writing, reading, or somehow doing both. As an avid reader, she creates stories she would want to read. When she isn’t writing, she can be found spending time with her husband, children, three cats, and her big hairy dogs. Currently, she has at least five books published with many more to come. She is very active on social media, so make sure you follow here there as well under @ashleywillowwrites

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