Women’s History Month provides Ohioans with a chance to 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, “What about….?!” We acknowledge this is ONLY a small selection! We encourage you to explore well beyond this list with some of the resources listed below… Consider this as encouragement!
When you have a Nobel Prizewinner in Literature who called Ohio home, you start the list with her! The legacy of Lorain-born Toni Morrison is being celebrated this year in the Buckeye State. Check out the Ohio Celebrates Toni Morrison website for information on numerous programs and events taking place through Toni Morrison Day 2027 (Feb. 18).
Likewise, when there is a United States Poet Laureate from your state, she gets a top spot as well! Rita Dove, born in Akron, was the US Poet Laureate from 1993 to 1995 and the first African American to be appointed to that post.
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825 – 1911), who lived in Cincinnati, was the one of the first African American women to be published in the United States. Harper was a poet, author, and activist for social justice.
A selection of other notable poets includes Alice and Phoebe Cary (b. Mount Healthy near Cincinnati), Mary Oliver (b. Maple Heights); Nikki Giovanni (lived in Cincinnati); and Kari Gunter-Seymour (b. Warren), the immediate past Poet Laureate of Ohio… to name just the very tip of the iceberg.
Clare Winger Harris (1891 – 1968) was the first woman to publish stories in the popular pulp science-fiction magazines like Amazing Stories under her own name. She lived in Lakewood, Ohio, during her active years. She even has a connection to Ohio’s own superhero: Her last story was published in a pamphlet edited by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, creators of Superman.
A selection of other notable science fiction and fantasy authors who were born in or called Ohio home include Nnedi Okorafor (b. Cincinnati), Carol Kendall (b. Bucyrus); Katharine Kerr (b. Cleveland); and Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Grand Masters (SFWA) Andre Norton (b. Cleveland) and Lois McMaster Bujold (b. Columbus) as well as SFWA founder Kate Wilhelm (b. Toledo).
The “first lady of television news,” Dorothy Fuldheim (1893 – 1989), born in New Jersey, would make her mark in broadcasting history working in Cleveland. While performing regional theater in 1918, Fuldheim was discovered by Jane Addams, the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, who hired Fuldheim to give anti-war lectures due to her vocal qualities. In the 1920s, Fuldheim began her work in Cleveland at the WTAM radio station where she was the first female commentator. She then moved to The Cleveland Press and then to WEWS-TV Channel 5 in 1947 where she was the first woman to anchor a news program. Her career at WEWS would span almost four decades. An Ohio Historical Marker stands in front of WEWS to mark her life and work.
Other authors – both current and historical – that some may not realize hail from Ohio include Harriet Beecher Stowe (lived in Cincinnati), Susan Orlean (b. Cleveland), Erma Bombeck (b. Bellbrook), Margaret Peterson Haddix (b. Washington Court House), and Elizabeth George (b. Warren).
This again is ONLY a small selection of the wonderful, historic, and talented women from Ohio. To continue your exploration beyond this list, may we suggest:
- Ohio – American Stories: A Reading Roadtrip (A PBS Books & Library of Congress collaboration)
- Page Count (our podcast) episodes featuring:
- Christine Brennan, sports journalist and author
- Sandra Nickel’s book on Clara Driscoll, an Ohio-born artist and designer who worked with Louis Comfort Tiffany’s studio in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
- The life and legacy of Virginia Hamilton with Julie Rubini
- Linda Eastman, powerhouse librarian and first woman to serve as Director of the Cleveland Public Library, with Melissa Carr
- Taking a hike with Grandma Gatewood with Michelle Houts and Erica Magnus
- And many more! Check out our back catalog online.
- Teaching Resources for Women’s History Month from the Library of Congress
- Check out the 13 volumes of scanned scrapbooks from the Woman Suffrage Party of Greater Cleveland