Born: April 26, 1820Died: February 12, 1871 Ohio connection: Birth Mount Healthy Alice Cary was born in 1820 in Mount Healthy, Ohio, on a homestead near Cincinnati. The daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Jessup Cary, she was the fourth of eleven children and a sister of author/poet Phoebe Cary. Alice, who was educated at home, developed a …
Read More Alice CaryBorn: November 21, 1925Died: December 4, 2010 Ohio connection: Former Resident Columbus Robert Wilburn Canzoneri was born in San Marcos, Texas, the son of Joe and Mabel (Barnett) Canzoneri. He received a B.A. degree from Mississippi College in 1948, an M.A. from the University of Mississippi in 1951, and a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1965. He married Candyce Barnes. …
Read More Robert Wilburn CanzoneriBorn: 1954 Ohio connection: Birth Cleveland The eldest daughter of four siblings, Mary Elise Weems was born in Cleveland where her mother, Elaine B. Lacy, a lifelong resident of the city, raised her. Weems started writing poetry at the age of thirteen and found her vocation. Her creative spirit-eye has turned more and more outward to …
Read More Mary E. WeemsBorn: June 5, 1926Died: December 18, 2021 Ohio connection: Birth Massillon David Russell Wagoner was born in Massillon, Ohio, in 1926, the son of Walter Siffert and Ruth Banyard Wagoner. In 1933, the family relocated to Whiting, a city outside Gary, Indiana. A voracious reader, Wagoner began writing poetry while in grade school. After graduating from …
Read More David WagonerBorn: November 27, 1874 Died: December 25, 1950 Ohio connection: Birth Xenia Frederic Ridgely Torrence, son of Findley David and Mary (Ridgely) Torrence, was born in 1874 in Xenia, Ohio. He attended Miami University of Ohio, 1893-95, and Princeton University, 1895-96. He worked as a librarian at the Astor Library and the Lenox Library, both …
Read More Frederic Ridgely TorrenceBorn: April 21, 1935 Died: May 6, 2004 Ohio connection: Resident Cleveland Daniel Thompson was a poet and activist who, in 1992, became the first Poet Laureate of Cuyahoga County, Ohio. A lifelong champion of civic and literary engagement, Thompson was born April 21, 1935, in Washington, D.C., but the Thompson family moved to Cleveland …
Read More Daniel ThompsonBorn: June 15, 1931Died: August 15, 1996 Ohio connection: Birth Columbus George Edwin Starbuck, son of George W. and Anna Margaret Polaski (born Starbuck) Beiswanger, was born June 15, 1931, in Columbus, Ohio. George Edwin’s surname was legally changed from Beiswanger to Starbuck after his parents’ divorce. Starbuck grew up in Illinois and California. At age 16, …
Read More George Edwin StarbuckLancaster Born: 1952 Ohio connection: Birth Elizabeth Spires, daughter of Richard C. and Sue (Wagner) Spires, was born in 1952 in Lancaster, Ohio. She received a B.A. in English from Vassar College in 1974, and an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University in 1979. She married novelist Madison Smartt Bell in 1985, and they have a daughter, …
Read More Spires, ElizabethBorn: May 2, 1950Died: April 12, 2009 Ohio Connection: Birth Dayton Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick was born May 2, 1950, in Dayton, Ohio, to Leon Kosofsky (an engineer) and Rita Goldstein Kosofsky (a high school teacher). She had two siblings, a brother and a sister. During her childhood the family moved to Bethesda, Maryland, when her father accepted …
Read More Eve Kosofsky SedgwickBorn: 1962 Ohio connection: Birth Mentor Michael G. Salinger was born in 1962, near Cleveland. A poet, performer, and educator, he is one of the earliest participants in the National Poetry Slam, former board member of Poetry Slam Inc., and current director of the organization’s summer writing and performance conference. Salinger is an eight time captain …
Read More Salinger, Michael