Born: 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 Holbrook, SaraBorn: 1929 Ohio connection: Birth Cleveland Born in 1929, Richard Joseph Howard holds a distinguished place in contemporary American literature for his work as a poet, critic, and translator. He was an only child, and could read before the age of three. He developed an early love of poetry, and decided by age four that …
Read More Richard HowardBorn: February 1, 1902 Died: May 22, 1967 Ohio connection: Birth Cleveland James Langston Hughes was born in 1902 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: 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 Johnson, AngelaBorn: 1931 Ohio connection: Resident Cleveland Adrienne Kennedy was born Adrienne Lita Hawkins, daughter of Cornell Wallace and Etta (Haugabrook) Hawkins, in 1931 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. She received a B.A. from Ohio State University in 1953, and did graduate work in creative writing at Columbia University, 1954-56. She married …
Read More Adrienne KennedyBorn: 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: October 29, 1942Died: November 24, 1968 Ohio connection: Birth Cleveland Darryl Alfred Levy was born on October 29, 1942, on the west side of Cleveland, Ohio. His father was a shoe salesman who had emigrated from England, and his mother was a homemaker. The family would move around the greater Cleveland area throughout the years, settling in …
Read More d.a. levyBorn: 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: 1942 Ohio connection: Resident Columbus Anthony Libby was born in Jacksonville, Florida, the son of James Miller and Gertrude (Wright) Libby. He received a bachelor’s degree from College of the Holy Cross (1963) and was awarded a yearlong Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. Two years later, he was awarded another, which ended in 1967 and overlapped with …
Read More Anthony LibbyBorn: September 24, 1825Died: February 22, 1911 Ohio connection: Resident Cincinnati Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was born September 24, 1825, in Baltimore, Maryland to free parents but was orphaned by age three. She was raised by an aunt and uncle and studied Bible, literature, and public speaking at Academy for Negro Youth, a school founded …
Read More Frances Ellen Watkins Harper