Category: Literature

Kate Wilhelm

Born: June 8, 1928Died: March 8, 2018 Ohio connection: Birth Toledo Kate Wilhelm was born Katie Gertrude Meredith, daughter of Jesse and Ann Meredith, in Toledo, Ohio, in 1928. After graduating from high school in Louisville, Kentucky, she worked as a model, telephone operator, sales clerk, switchboard operator, and underwriter for an insurance company. She …

Read More Kate Wilhelm

Jean Rosalind Gould

Born: May 25, 1909Died: February 8, 1993 Ohio connection: Birth Greenville Award-winning author Jean Gould was a prolific writer whose work included books for both children and adults. She is most well-known for her biographies of prominent figures in literature, theater, industry and politics. However, her early writing includes fairy tales, plays, and short stories …

Read More Jean Rosalind Gould

Nin Andrews

Born: 1958 Ohio connection: Resident Poland Nin Andrews grew up on a farm in Charlottesville, Virginia. She received her B.A. in 1980 from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, and her MFA in 1995 from Vermont College. In 1982, she married Jim Andrews. Nin Andrews’ work has appeared in many literary journals and anthologies. She is …

Read More Nin Andrews

Carol Ascher

Born: 1941 Ohio connection: Birth Cleveland Three weeks after her parents, Paul (a psychoanalyst) and Ellen Bergman, arrived in the United States after fleeing the Nazi regimes of Central Europe, Carol Ascher was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Ascher and her family lived in Topeka, Kansas, until she was twelve. The comforts of that Midwestern existence were …

Read More Carol Ascher

Sherwood Anderson

Born: September 13, 1876Died: March 8, 1941 Ohio connection: Birth Camden Sherwood Anderson was, essentially, a self-educated short-story writer and novelist. With his almost staccato style of writing and by his injecting his own personal experiences and people he knew into his own novels, Anderson helped set a new standard for Midwestern literature.  Born in Camden, …

Read More Sherwood Anderson

Sheila Schwartz

Born: May 4, 1952Died: November 8, 2008 Ohio connection: Resident Cleveland A Philadelphia native, Sheila Miriam Schwartz was born to Philip and Ruth (Motiloff) Schwartz.  She graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in English in 1974 and earned her M.A. in creative writing from the State University of New York, Binghamton in 1981.  Schwartz …

Read More Sheila Schwartz

Isaac Mayer Wise

Isaac Mayer Wise

Born: March 29, 1819Died: March 26, 1900 Ohio connection: Resident Cincinnati American Reform rabbi, author, and editor, Isaac Mayer Wise was born in Steingrub, Bohemia (now Lomnička, Czech Republic) in 1819, the son of Leo Weiss, a school teacher, and Regina Weiss. He was a prominent and influential rabbi in 19th-century America. A brilliant student, …

Read More Isaac Mayer Wise