Born: September 19, 1957Died: December 26, 2015 Ohio connection: Resident Cincinnati Children’s book author and educator Andrea Cheng was born in El Paso, Texas. The daughter of Hungarian immigrants who grew up and lived most of her life in Cincinnati, Ohio, she and her two siblings grew up in an extended family, which Cheng once described as …
Read More Andrea ChengBorn: June 20, 1858Died: November 15, 1932 Ohio connection: Birth Cleveland Author, essayist, social justice activist, and lawyer Charles Waddell Chesnutt was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1858, the son of Ann Maria (nee Sampson) and Andrew Jackson Chesnutt, both free African Americans. Two years prior to Chesnutt’s birth, his parents moved north to Ohio from Fayetteville, North Carolina. In …
Read More Charles Waddell Chesnutt(C. R. Corwin) Born: June 5, 1949 Died: September 8, 2008 Ohio connection: Birth Medina Robert C. Levandoski was born June 5, 1949, in the Bennett’s Corners area where Hinckley Township, Brunswick, Strongsville and North Royalton converge. His father, Clyde was a storekeeper and Edna (Wildenheim) was his mother. Rob Levandoski, author of Fresh Eggs, tapped into …
Read More Rob LevandoskiBorn: September 12, 1922 Died: June 8, 2010 Ohio connection: Resident Columbus Charles Cole has conducted research on early books published in Ohio and on the first books published in Columbus. Born in Altoona, PA, Dr. Cole earned his A.B., M.A., and Ph.D. from Columbia University. His professional experiences include serving as the president of Wilson College; …
Read More Cole, Jr., Charles C.Born: 1964 Ohio connection: Resident Cleveland Heights Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Dan Chaon is the acclaimed author of the novels Ill Will (2017), Await Your Reply (2009) You Remind Me of Me (2004) and the short story collections Fitting Ends (1996), Among the Missing (2001) and Stay Awake (2012). Among the Missing was a finalist for the 2001 National Book Award and was also listed …
Read More Chaon, DanBorn: October 9, 1899Died: August 28, 1978 Ohio connection: Resident Oberlin It was no accident that the most prominent figures in Bruce Catton’s Civil War histories were fellow Midwesterners and personal heroes Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant. Born in Petosky, Michigan, Catton attended Oberlin College and became a reporter after serving briefly in the …
Read More Bruce CattonBorn: 1962 Ohio connection: Resident Springfield International cartoonist and children’s book illustrator, David J. Catrow was born in Richmond, Virginia. As a boy, his favorite subject in school was drawing… in math class! Even though he intended to pursue a “sensible” profession, drawing silly pictures turned out to be Catrow’s destiny. He attended Kent State University, …
Read More Catrow, David J.Born: December 16, 1847Died: December 26, 1902 Ohio connection: Birth Hebron Mary Hartwell Catherwood was born in Luray, Ohio, in 1847. Her parents, Marcus and Phoebe Thompson Hartwell, both died when she was 11, leaving her and two siblings to be raised by grandparents in Hebron, Ohio. She was highly motivated, beginning a career as a schoolteacher at …
Read More Mary Hartwell CatherwoodBorn: September 4, 1824Died: July 31, 1871 Ohio connection: Birth Mount Healthy Phoebe Cary was born in 1824 in Mount Healthy, Ohio, one of eleven children of Robert and Elizabeth Jessup Cary. She grew up on a farm and had little formal education. Under the tutelage of her older sister Alice, she developed a great love for literature …
Read More Phoebe CaryBorn: April 26, 1820Died: February 12, 1871 Ohio connection: Birth Mount Healthy Alice Cary was born in 1820 in Mount Healthy, Ohio, on a homestead near Cincinnati. The daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Jessup Cary, she was the fourth of eleven children and a sister of author/poet Phoebe Cary. Alice, who was educated at home, developed a …
Read More Alice Cary