Author: Ohio Center for the Book

Rick Porrello

Born: 1962 Ohio connection: Resident Cleveland Rick Porrello is a veteran Cleveland-area police officer who grew up in a family with Mafia roots. His grandfather and three of his uncles were mob leaders who were killed during Prohibition-era violence. His popular book, The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia (1995), grew out of research on his family. …

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Dav Pilkey

Born: 1966 Ohio connection: Birth Cleveland Dav Pilkey, son of David M. and Barbara (Pembridge) Pilkey, was born in 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was considered to be a “class clown” during his years at parochial schools in Elyria, Ohio. He also struggled with attention deficit disorder, and had numerous difficulties with teachers. It wasn`t until …

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Shelley Pearsall

Born: 1966 Ohio connection: Birth Silver Lake A native Ohioan, Shelley Pearsall has enjoyed writing and history since childhood. Before publishing, she was a public school teacher and a museum historian. In her spare time, she wrote historical scripts and short stories for Cleveland-area museums. Shelley Pearsall’s work and writing often has been influenced by her love …

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Susan Orlean

Born: 1955 Ohio connection: Birth Cleveland Susan Orlean is the daughter of Arthur and Edith Gross Orlean. In 1976, she obtained her B.A. from the University of Michigan. From 1983-1986, she was a staff writer for the Boston Phoenix. After a year spent with The Boston Globe as a columnist, she has been, since 1987, an editor for Rolling Stone …

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Robert Olmstead

Born: 1954 Ohio connection: Resident Delaware Accomplished writer and professor, Robert M. Olmstead is the son of James Paul (a factory worker) and Adeline Olmstead.  He was raised on a six generation dairy farm near Keene, New Hampshire not far from the banks of the Connecticut River. He has authored the novels America by Land, A Trail of Heart’s …

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Mary Oliver

Born: September 10, 1935Died: January 17, 2019 Ohio connection: Birth Maple Heights Mary Oliver, daughter of Edward William and Helen M. (Vlasak) Oliver, was born in 1935 in the Maple Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. At the age of thirteen, Oliver had a great desire to be a writer. In 1950, when she was fifteen, she visited …

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