OHIO CONNECTION: Birth and Resident Cleveland and Shaker Heights Since childhood, Cleveland native and freelance writer Patricia Averbach (“a born teller of stories”) was driven to introspection, to observing, and to sharing her thoughts with others. Before learning to write, she verbalized her narratives to her grandmother who lovingly wrote them down for Averbach to …
Read More Patricia AverbachOHIO CONNECTION: Resident Cleveland Born on April 26, 1834, humorist Charles Farrar Browne (aka “Artemus Ward”) grew up in Waterford Flat, Oxford County, Maine. His mother, Caroline Eliza Farrar Brown, was a freethinker descended from the first Puritan settlers of North America in Plymouth, Massachusetts. His father, Levi, was a liberal-minded Congregationalist whose grandfather, Jabez …
Read More Charles Farrar Browne (aka “Artemus Ward”)BORN: 1971 OHIO CONNECTION: Resident Oberlin Born in London on April 5, 1971, to Muslim immigrants of Indian, Iranian, and Egyptian descent (political refugees from India), Kazim Ali became fascinated with poetry from his father’s eloquent readings from the Qur’an. After a residency in Jenpeg, Manitoba, between 1975 and 1979, Ali’s family relocated to Buffalo, New …
Read More Kazim AliJournalist, war correspondent, and founder of the Cleveland Folk Arts Association, Theodore Andrica was the Cleveland Press Ethnic (Nationalities) Editor from 1927 to 1973. Born in the Romanian village of Radna on August 9, 1900, Andrica was nineteen years old when he emigrated to the United States in 1920. In the spring of 1927, Andrica …
Read More Theodore AndricaBorn: 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 AndrewsBorn: 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 AscherBorn: 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 SchwartzBorn: March 13, 1947Died: October 17, 2005 Ohio connection: Birth Cleveland David Citino was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from St. Ignatius High School and went on to received his B.A. from Ohio University in 1969, an M.A. from The Ohio State University (OSU) in 1972, and a Ph.D. from OSU in 1974. In …
Read More David CitinoBorn: 1947 Ohio connection: Birth Lorain Terry Anderson is a retired journalist and former foreign correspondent in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. He served as Chief Middle East Correspondent for the Associated Press and has worked as a newspaper editor, television and radio reporter, and documentary producer. Anderson is the author of the best-selling memoir, …
Read More Terry Anderson(Sorche Nic Leodhas) Born: May 20, 1898Died: November 14, 1969 Ohio connection: Birth Youngstown Born Leclaire Gowans on May 20, 1898, in Youngstown, Ohio, to Louis P. and Anna Gowans. Leclaire Alger wrote most of her books under the Gaelic pen-name Sorche Nic Leodhas (pronounced approximately like “sorsha nick leoh-as”), which means “Claire, daughter of Louis.” Writing under …
Read More Leclaire Alger