Born: 1949 Ohio connection: Resident Granville Katharine Kenah is the author of more than 30 books for children. She writes picture-book texts and science-related book series for beginning readers. Reared on an oceanographic observatory in New York state, among scientists and cats, Kehan developed a strong interest in the physical sciences, in particular, Earth’s plant …
Read More Katharine KenahBorn: September 13, 1917Died: July 28, 2012 Ohio connection: Birth Bucyrus Born in Bucyrus, Ohio, on September 13, 1917, Carol Kendall was the daughter of John Adam and Laura (Price) Seeger. While attending Ohio University, she met Paul Murray Kendall, a Ph.D. who specialized in Renaissance literature and Shakespeare. The couple married on July 15, 1939. …
Read More Carol KendallBorn: 1942 Ohio connection: Resident Gambier Novelist, journalist and educator, Paul Fredrick Kluge was born in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. He earned his B.A. from Kenyon College (1964) and an M.A. (1965) and Ph.D. (1967) from the University of Chicago. Before becoming the author of acclaimed books such as Eddie and the Cruisers (1997) and Gone Tomorrow (2008), …
Read More P. F. KlugeBorn: December 9, 1904 Died: April 30, 1980 Ohio connection: Birth Cincinnati Literary critic, editor, educator, novelist, and playwright Louis Kronenberger, son of Louis, Sr. and Mabel (Newwitter) Kronenberger, was born in 1904 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He attended the University of Cincinnati, 1921-24. He married Emmy Plaut in 1940, and they had one child, Elizabeth. Kronenberger …
Read More Kronenberger, LouisBorn: 1955 Ohio connection: Resident Berea Born in Detroit, Michigan, Geoffrey Alan Landis spent his childhood in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. He graduated from New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois. In the late 1970’s Landis received a B.S. in physics and a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology …
Read More Geoffrey A. LandisBorn: 1942 Ohio connection: Resident Westerville J. Patrick Lewis was born in Gary, Indiana. The former Children’s Poet Laureate (2011-2013) received a B.A. degree from Saint Joseph’s College in 1964, an M.A. from Indiana University in 1965, and a PhD in economics from the Ohio State University in 1974. Lewis taught in the department of Business, Accounting …
Read More J. Patrick LewisBorn: October 14, 1893Died: September 11, 1974 Ohio connection: Birth Springfield Lois Lenski was one of the most prominent and highly respected authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults. Born in Springfield, Ohio, in 1893, Lenski was the daughter of Marietta (Young) Lenski, a former teacher, and Richard Charles Henry, a Lutheran minister. Her family moved …
Read More Lois LenskiBorn: 1960 Ohio connection: Birth Cincinnati Will Hillenbrand was born in Cincinnati to Earl (a barber) and Alice (Zins) Hillenbrand and has lived almost all his life in Cincinnati where he grew up surrounded by stories. The youngest of four boys with diverse personalities and talents, Hillenbrand found himself interested in drawing. His older brother sketched …
Read More Hillenbrand, WillBorn: 1930 Ohio connection: Birth Dayton Barbara Hazen was born Barbara Shook, daughter of Charles Harman and Elizabeth (Foster) Shook, in 1930, in Dayton, Ohio. She received a B.A. from Smith College in 1951 and an M.A. from Columbia University in 1952. She married Freeman Brackett Hazen in 1956, and they had one child, Freeman Brackett, Jr., …
Read More Hazen, Barbara ShookBorn: September 11, 1862Died: June 5, 1910 Ohio connection: Resident Columbus O. Henry was born William Sidney Porter, son of Algernon Sidney and Mary Jane Virginia (Swaim) Porter, in 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina. He changed the spelling of his middle name to Sydney in 1898. When Porter was three years old, his mother died and he …
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