Ohio is known as the heart of it all, and this proves true as female authors have found inspiration for their work while residing in the Buckeye state.
With everything from children’s books to long-running detective fiction, women writing in Ohio runs the gamut.
Let’s take a look at the cream of the crop of women from Ohio who are creating compelling fictional worlds.
Featured Authors
Jacqueline Woodson
Author of about 40 acclaimed books for children, teens and adults. Her best known works are “Brown Girl Dreaming,” “After Tupac and D. Foster,” “Show Way,” for children and “Another Brooklyn” and “Red at the Bone” for adults.
Woodson, 60, was born in Columbus, Ohio, and set her most famous work, the autobiographical work “Brown Girl Dreaming” in Nelsonville where she spent part of her childhood.
A former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Woodson earned a MacArthur Fellowship grant in 2020. She lives with her wife and two children in New York City.
Known for her seven novels featuring high-strung heroines often thrown out of their comfort zones. Her most widely read works are “Prep,” “American Wife” and “Eligible.” She released “Romantic Comedy” in 2023.
Born Elizabeth Sittenfeld, the dynamic pop culture author grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, before attending private school in Massachusetts, then Stanford University and the Iowa Writers Workshop at University of Iowa.
Sittenfield, 48, and her family now reside in Minneapolis.
Established on the literary scene for her stories about maternal love, especially her second novel “Little Fires Everywhere.” Ng’s first book “Everything I Never Told You” and her third “Our Missing Hearts” also center on a mother’s connection to her children.
Ng, 43, was born in Pittsburgh but grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, where “Little Fires Everywhere” is set. She attended Harvard University and the University of Michigan.
“Little Fires Everywhere” aired on Hulu in 2020 a miniseries starring Reece Witherspoon and Kerry Washington.
Ng and her family live in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
New self-taught author of three novels, including the award-nominated “Betty.” McDaniel’s first novel is “The Summer Everything Melted” and her third is “On the Savage Side.”
McDaniel, 38, is part Cherokee and grew up and still lives in Circleville, Ohio. She takes inspiration for her work from her family’s history, notably her maternal grandmother Betty. Additionally, McDaniel writes about the value of women of color and low-income women in “On the Savage Side.”
Her first children’s book, “The Wand Carriers, Book 1,” will be released in 2024.
Conclusion
As these authors demonstrate, Ohio is home to women who take inspiration for their time in the state with 88 counties and millions of stories to tell.
Be sure to add some of these titles to your To-Be-Read list and see for yourself!