To view a recording of our conversation, click here to visit our Facebook page! On the eve of the 51st commemoration of the Kent State shootings, the Ohio Center for the Book had the honor of holding a conversation with Derf Backderf about his meticulously researched Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio. In a starred …
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We were very fortunate this year to be able to celebrate National Poetry Month with two major events: one with the emerging poets of the ID13 Prison Literacy Project and one with three established, award-winning poets in collaboration with the Ohioana Book Festival! We Are Human. We Write: Poetry Readings Featuring ID13 Prison Literacy Project …
Read More National Poetry Month Round-upBorn: April 26, 1941Died: June 16, 2020 Ohio connection: Birth Toledo Robert James Flanagan was born in Toledo in 1941. His father, Robert John Flanagan, was a disabled World War I veteran and his mother was Minnie Jane (nee Treloar) Flanagan. Growing up in Toledo, Flanagan thought he would become a policeman like his grandfather …
Read More Robert James FlanaganBorn: April 5, 1935Died: August 22, 2018 Ohio connection: Birth Stark County H. M. Hoover, the pen name of author Helen Mary Hoover, was born in 1935 in Stark County, Ohio. The daughter of Edward Lehr and Sadie (Schandel) Hoover graduated from Louisville High School in 1952 and attended Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio. …
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Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all! Although everyone’s a little Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, numerous authentic Irish-American authors have called Ohio home! Here are just a tiny sample of authors with Irish heritage for you to explore. Click the links to find out more about each of them. George Condon (former resident, Lakewood; …
Read More Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhaoibh!Born: March 7, 1873Died: April 25, 1936 Ohio connection: Birth Cadiz Prominent drama critic and journalist, Percy Hunter Hammond was born in Cadiz, Ohio. Although his father was Cadiz’s leading merchant, at thirteen, Percy Hammond felt irrepressibly drawn towards newspaper journalism, and worked as a “printer’s devil” for his uncle’s newspaper, the Cadiz Republican. In …
Read More Percy HammondBorn: 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: February 20, 1893Died: April 3, 1966 Ohio connection: Birth Findlay Russel M. Crouse was born in Findlay, Ohio, on February 20, 1893, the son of a newspaper publisher. Well-known for his sharp wit and outrageous puns, Crouse worked for nearly 20 years as a reporter for newspapers in Kansas City, Cincinnati, and New York. For five …
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Women’s History Month provides Ohioans with a chance to either revisit or to learn about all the exciting and important writers, poets, playwrights, essayists, and important female literary figures that were born in Ohio or have called Ohio home. In fact, a number of Ohio women were first in their fields! And before you say, …
Read More Celebrate Women’s History Month in OhioBorn: March 26, 1936 Died: November 23, 2000 Ohio connection: Resident Huntsburg Author, editor, poet, educator, and educational software designer, Eugene Hale Chatfield was born March 26, 1936, in Passaic, New Jersey. He graduated from Grover Cleveland High School in Caldwell, New Jersey, and received a B.A. degree in 1957 from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and an …
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