Born: July 10, 1905Died: May 28, 2008 Ohio connection: Resident Toledo Journalist and author Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson was born July 10, 1905, in Ladora, Iowa, where, even as a child, she knew she would be a writer. Benson authored more than 130 books and, although she published under several pseudonyms, she is best known as Carolyn Keene, the …
Read More Mildred Wirt BensonBorn: 1967 Ohio connection: Birth Cleveland Brian Michael Bendis is an award-winning artist and writer of comics/graphic novels. A prolific writer, Bendis was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in a Jewish-American family. Bendis always aspired to make comic books, reportedly declaring at age five that he would be the artist for Spider-Man. Later, he attended classes …
Read More Brian Michael BendisBorn: February 18, 1931Died: August 5, 2019 Ohio connection: Birth Lorain Toni Morrison, hailed as a “literary artist of the first rank” by the Swedish Academy when she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993, was born Chloe Anthony Wofford in the small, industrial town of Lorain, Ohio, on February 18, 1931. Raised by …
Read More Toni MorrisonBorn: June 23, 1900Died: October 25, 1993 Ohio connection: Birth Granville Minnie Hite Moody’s work encompasses that of author, editor, newspaper columnist, and radio broadcaster. Moody published five novels and wrote numerous poems, short stories, and articles that appeared in major periodicals. She loved sharing her view of Licking County heritage in her writing. Her …
Read More Minnie Hite MoodyBorn: 1955 Ohio connection: Birth Cleveland Richard Montanari was born in Cleveland, Ohio, into an Italian-American family. He attended Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Institute of Art. He lived for a time in England selling encyclopedias and clothing. He eventually returned to the States, where begun his writing career. Richard has written many mystery novels, the first …
Read More Richard MontanariBorn: December 29, 1941Died: August 5, 2014 Ohio connection: Birth Cincinnati Born on December 29, 1941, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Joe David Bellamy was the son of Orin Ross and Beulah Pearl (Zutavern) Bellamy. He attended Duke University (1959-1961), received a BA in Literature from Antioch College in 1964, and received an MFA in English and Creative Writing from the University …
Read More Joe David BellamyBorn: June 21, 1850Died: June 11, 1941 Ohio connection: Birth Cincinnati Daniel Carter Beard, author, illustrator, and a founder of the Boy Scouts of America, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1850. Beard, the son of celebrated portrait artist James Henry Beard and Mary Caroline (Carter) Beard, developed an intense love of nature in his youth. He …
Read More Daniel Carter BeardBorn: 1947 Ohio connection: Birth Akron As the creator of both “Funky Winkerbean” and “Crankshaft,” Tom Batiuk (rhymes with “attic”) has been able to critique, in comic form, the vagaries of both young adulthood and the golden years. Born in Akron in 1947, Batiuk’s natural talent for illustration first bore fruit in the cartoons that he …
Read More Thomas Martin BatiukBorn: 1948 Ohio connection: Resident Athens A novelist and playwright, Zakes Mda has won every major South African literary prize. He is the author of six novels, among them Ways of Dying (winner of the M-Net Award for best novel and the Olive Schreiner Prize), The Heart of Redness (winner of the Hurston/Wright LEGACY Award for Fiction; a New York Times …
Read More Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni “Zakes” MdaBorn: 1965 Ohio connection: Resident Cleveland Paula McLain was born in Fresno, California in 1965. After being abandoned by both parents, she and her two sisters became wards of the California Court System, moving in and out of various foster homes for the next fourteen years. After aging out of the system, she supported herself by working …
Read More Paula McLain