Author: Ohio Center for the Book

Joe Shuster

Born: July 10, 1914Died: July 30, 1992 Ohio connection: Resident Cleveland Joseph Shuster was born July 10, 1914, in Toronto, Canada, and moved to Cleveland with his family at the age of ten. From an early age Joe Shuster demonstrated a penchant for drawing, scrounging paper from various sources as his family was not wealthy. Shuster, …

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Schwarz, Ted

Born: 1945 Ohio connection: Birth Cleveland Ted Schwarz was born Theodore R. Schwarz in Cleveland, Ohio.  He is the son of Theodore R. and Ruth Dorothy.  Ted Schwarz attended Case Western Reserve University, 1964-66, 1971; New York Institute of Photography, 1965; and The University of the South School of Theology, 1992-1995. Ted Schwarz is a …

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Scalzi, John

Bradford Born: 1969 Ohio connection: Resident John Michael Scalzi II was born in Fairfield, California. He graduated high school (Webb School of California) in 1987 and earned an A.B. from the University of Chicago in 1991. During his 1989–1990 school year, Scalzi was the editor-in-chief of The Chicago Maroon. After college, Scalzi took a job as the film critic for …

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Salinger, Michael

Born: 1962 Ohio connection: Birth Mentor Michael G. Salinger was born in 1962, near Cleveland. A poet, performer, and educator, he is one of the earliest participants in the National Poetry Slam, former board member of Poetry Slam Inc., and current director of the organization’s summer writing and performance conference. Salinger is an eight time captain …

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Julie Salamon

Born: 1953 Ohio connection: Birth Seaman Julie Salamon was born in Seaman, Ohio, daughter of Alexander (a physician) and Lilly (a businesswoman; maiden name, Rapaport). Her father had survived Dachau death camp though his first wife and baby girl were lost to the gas chambers.  After the war, he returned to Prague where he met Lilly, …

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Cynthia Rylant

Born: 1954 Ohio connection: Resident Rootstown It took Cynthia Rylant only one hour to write her first book, When I Was Young in the Mountains (1982), a collection of vignettes describing the years she spent with her grandparents in Appalachia. Born in Hopewell, Virginia, in 1954, Rylant spent her first four years in Illinois. When she was four, …

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