Category: Literature

Karen Harper

Born: April 6, 1945Died: April 13, 2020 Ohio connection: Birth Toledo Karen S. Harper was born in Toledo, the daughter of Robert A. (an engineer and draftsman) and Margaret (a teacher) Kurtz. Harper was raised in Toledo and graduated from DeVilbiss High School in 1963. After graduating from Ohio University in 1967, Harper was awarded …

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Percy Hammond

Born: March 7, 1873Died: April 25, 1936 Ohio connection: Birth Cadiz Prominent drama critic and journalist, Percy Hunter Hammond was born in Cadiz, Ohio. Although his father was Cadiz’s leading merchant, at thirteen, Percy Hammond felt irrepressibly drawn towards newspaper journalism, and worked as a “printer’s devil” for his uncle’s newspaper, the Cadiz Republican. In …

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Russel Crouse

Born: February 20, 1893Died: April 3, 1966 Ohio connection: Birth Findlay Russel M. Crouse was born in Findlay, Ohio, on February 20, 1893, the son of a newspaper publisher. Well-known for his sharp wit and outrageous puns, Crouse worked for nearly 20 years as a reporter for newspapers in Kansas City, Cincinnati, and New York. For five …

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Hale Chatfield

Born: March 26, 1936 Died: November 23, 2000 Ohio connection: Resident Huntsburg Author, editor, poet, educator, and educational software designer, Eugene Hale Chatfield was born March 26, 1936, in Passaic, New Jersey. He graduated from Grover Cleveland High School in Caldwell, New Jersey, and received a B.A. degree in 1957 from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and an …

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Kay Boyle

Born: February 19, 1902Died: December 27, 1992 Ohio connection: Resident Cincinnati Kay Boyle was a writer, educator, and political activist. She was twice awarded Guggenheim fellowships and won the O. Henry Award for best short story of the year (“The White Horses of Vienna”) in 1935 and again (“Defeat”) in 1941.  Boyle held a number …

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Allan W. Eckert

Born: January 30, 1931Died: July 7, 2011 Ohio connection: Resident Bellefontaine Allan W. Eckert was born in Buffalo, New York, and was raised in and around Chicago, Illinois. Eckert was a child with an intense love of nature. “I remember crawling about in the gangways between buildings or in vacant lots, overturning boards and pieces of tin …

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