Born: June 27, 1872Died: February 9, 1906 Ohio connection: Birth Dayton Writer, poet, and lyricist, Paul Laurence Dunbar was born in Dayton, Ohio, on June 27, 1872. Dunbar, the son of Matilda Murphy Dunbar and Joshua Dunbar (who served in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment), two formerly enslaved people, wrote his first poem at the age of six. …
Read More Paul Laurence DunbarBorn: October 4, 1924 Died: July 8, 2009 Ohio connection: Birth Cleveland Author of The Coming of Fabrizze and A Lost King, Cleveland native Raymond DeCapite was born on October 4, 1924. After serving in the United States Coast Guard between 1942-1945, DeCapite received his A.B. from Western Reserve University in 1951, and his M.A. the following year. Prior to becoming …
Read More DeCapite, RaymondBorn: May 20, 1914Died: May 14, 1978 Ohio connection: Birth Cincinnati Mary Margaret Deasy was born in 1914 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of William Paul and Clara (Woelfel) Deasy. She received a Mus.B. from the University of Cincinnati in 1935. She was a concert pianist who gave up music as a vocation for a career in writing. …
Read More Deasy, Mary MargaretBorn: May 27, 1934Died: June 27, 2018 Ohio connection: Birth Cleveland Harlan Jay Ellison, speculative fiction writer, novelist, editor, and critic, was born to a Jewish family in Cleveland, Ohio. The son of Louis Laverne and Serita (Rosenthal) Ellison, Ellison was raised in Painesville, Ohio; however, after his father died in 1949, Ellison and his mother returned to …
Read More Harlan EllisonEven die-hard Superman fans and aficionados learn something new when visiting “From Cleveland to Krypton,” the Superman exhibit currently showing at the Cleveland Public Library in downtown Cleveland. If you want to learn even more about The Man of Steel, then don’t miss two super online events. On Friday, November 10 and Saturday, November 11, …
Read More An Online TV & Radio Superman Celebration: November 10 & 11, 2017November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and to honor this annual challenge to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days, Appletree Books, an independent bookstore in Cleveland Heights, is inviting local writers to write in the window . . . as in its store front window. Local writers have signed up, following the footsteps …
Read More Writing in a Bookstore Window: One NaNoWriMo’s Experience(Sharon Rigg) Born: 1945 Ohio connection: Birth South Euclid Sharon Creech, a writer of more than 20 picture books for children and novels for young adults (YA), was born and raised in South Euclid, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. She grew up there as part of, as she says, “a noisy and rowdy family.” Relatives told …
Read More Creech, SharonBorn: July 21, 1899Died: April 27, 1932 Ohio connection: Birth Garrettsville Harold Hart Crane, regarded as one of the greatest American poets of the 20th century, was born in Garrettsville, Ohio, on July 21, 1899. His father, a successful candy and syrup manufacturer, later moved the family to Warren before sending his son to live with his maternal …
Read More Hart CraneBrews + Prose is a monthly Author reading series that happens on a Tuesday every month at 7:00 p.m in the Ohio City Room at Market Garden Brewery located at 1947 W 25th St, Cleveland, OH 44113. On Tuesday, November 14th at 7:00 p.m the featured authors will be John Freeman and Adam Giannelli John Freeman is an …
Read More Brews + Prose: John Freeman and Adam GiannelliIn February 2015, several Cleveland Public Library staff members attended the YWCA of Greater Cleveland’s inaugural It’s Time to Talk, a forum where diverse people engage in conversations about race, discrimination, unconscious bias, and cultural competency in our community. In the same year, to answer the question presented to forum attendees: “What could you do to help …
Read More It’s Time to Talk: OCFB Book Sets Focus on Issues of Diversity and Social Justice