Born: 1945 Ohio connection: Birth Mt. Gilead Son of the late conservationist and author Merrill C. Gilfillan, Merrill Daniel Gilfillan was born in 1945 in rural Ohio, along the borders of the Appalachian Mountains. Growing up in that region greatly affected his writing which often included descriptions of the landscape. Following his graduation from the …
Read More Merrill D. GilfillanBorn: 1949 Ohio connection: Birth Warren Many readers assume George is British, so accurate is her depiction of British life, but Susan Elizabeth George was born in Warren, Ohio, in 1949. When she was 18 months old, her father moved the family to the San Francisco Bay area, in part because he hated the Midwestern …
Read More (Susan) Elizabeth GeorgeBorn:1950 Ohio Connection: Resident Shaker Heights Mia Coulton has combined her passion for teaching reading with her love of pets in creating the “Danny” books, which chronicle the escapades and misadventures of Danny, Coulton’s five-year-old Labrador retriever. Danny, who harbors a penchant for Velveeta cheese chunks, is often thwarted in his attempts to sample more substantial …
Read More Coulton, MiaBorn: 1964 Ohio connection: Birth Washington Court House Margaret Peterson grew up on a farm near Washington Court House, Ohio. Her father, John Albert Peterson was a farmer and her mother, Marilee Grace Peterson, worked as a nurse. Margaret received her B.A. in creative writing and journalism from Miami University of Ohio in 1986. She …
Read More Margaret Peterson HaddixBorn: April 24, 1940 Died: December 28, 2017 Ohio connection: Former Resident Cincinnati Sue Taylor Grafton was born in Louisville, Kentucky April 24, 1940, to Author C. W. Grafton and Vivian Harnsberger (both of whom were raised in China as children of Presbyterian Missionaries). Ms. Grafton graduated University of Louisville, BA 1961 with a major in English Literature, …
Read More Sue GraftonBorn: July 29, 1909Died: November 12, 1984 Ohio connection: Former Resident Cleveland Chester Bomar Himes was a writer who is best remembered for his hardboiled detective novels set in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. In his lifetime, Himes published seventeen novels, 60 short stories and two autobiographies that explore labor relations, violence, and racism. Born in …
Read More Chester HimesBorn: 1949 Ohio connection: Birth Mentor Sara E. (Traynor) Holbrook has lived in Ohio for more than 20 years having earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Mount Union College (Alliance, OH). She began writing poetry for her two daughters (now adults with children of their own) when they were children. Holbrook has …
Read More Sara HolbrookBorn: February 1, 1901Died: May 22, 1967 Ohio connection: Birth Cleveland James Langston Hughes was born in 1901 in Joplin, Missouri, the son of James Nathaniel and Carrie Mercer (Langston) Hughes. While he was an infant, his parents separated and he moved to Lawrence, Kansas, where his grandmother raised him. When his grandmother died, he moved …
Read More Langston HughesBorn: 1932 Ohio connection: Former Resident Columbus John William Jakes, son of John Adrian and Bertha Retz Jakes, was born in 1932 in Chicago, Illinois. He was the only child of parents who were in their forties when he was born. While growing up, he shared many of their pastimes, including reading, movies, and theater. Though …
Read More John William JakesBorn: 1961 Ohio connection: Resident Kent Born in Tuskegee, Alabama and raised in Windham, Ohio, Angela Johnson, the award-winning author of more than 40 books for children and young adults, attended Kent State University before dropping out to pursue a career as a children’s author. Working as a nanny, she was employed by Newbery-Medal-winning author Cynthia …
Read More Angela Johnson