Welcome to DelMio’s page sponsored by the Ohio Center for the Book.
Here are the current Explorations of Ohio Center for the Book authors. All of these authors have some connection to Ohio. Many grew up and live in Ohio. We encourage you to explore further and see how Ohio informed their writing.
Check back from time to time for new authors and new books.
Michael Cunningham — Specimen Days
Although critics have questioned the literary devices used in Specimen Days and even whether the book can be called a novel, no one has questioned the brilliance of its author, Michael Cunningham.
The Cincinnati native sealed his reputation as one of the most talented fiction writers of our time with his sixth book, the successor to the Pulitzer-Prize winning The Hours. Specimen Days has been called “exciting, fresh and important” (Salon), “captivating, strange and extravagant” (Publisher’s Weekly) and “masterful and delicate … with deep themes and elegant writing” (National Public Radio).
Cunningham was born Nov. 6, 1952, in Cincinnati. Early on, his family moved to La Canada, Calif., where Cunningham grew up. He remained in California to earn a degree in English literature from Stanford University, then enrolled in the vaunted Iowa’s Writer’s Workshop at the University of Iowa to pursue a master’s degree in creative writing.
To learn more about Michael Cunningham and Specimen Days, CLICK HERE.
Jacqueline Woodson – Feathers
Jacqueline Woodson tells her own story best:
“I told a lot of stories as a child. Not ‘Once upon a time’ stories but basically, outright lies. I loved lying and getting away with it! There was something about telling the lie-story and seeing your friends’ eyes grow wide with wonder. Of course I got in trouble for lying but I didn’t stop until fifth grade.
“That year, I wrote a story and my teacher said ‘This is really good.’ Before that I had written a poem about Martin Luther King that was, I guess, so good no one believed I wrote it. After lots of brouhaha, it was believed finally that I had indeed penned the poem which went on to win me a Scrabble game and local acclaim. So by the time the story rolled around and the words “This is really good” came out of the otherwise down-turned lips of my fifth grade teacher, I was well on my way to understanding that a lie on the page was a whole different animal — one that won you prizes and got surly teachers to smile. A lie on the page meant lots of independent time to create your stories and the freedom to sit hunched over the pages of your notebook without people thinking you were strange.
“That’s me in third grade.”
To read more about Jacqueline Woodson and Feathers, CLICK HERE.
Sue Grafton (T is for Trespass)
T is for Trespass is the title of Sue Taylor Grafton’s latest marvel of a mystery, but there are plenty of T words to describe the wildly popular novelist herself: tenacious, thorough and timeless are among them. Her literary role models include masters of the classic detective novel Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald. And although her story lines prove topical and terrifying, Grafton herself is an amiable, albeit hardworking, wife, grandmother, fitness buff and cat lover. She maintains a home in her native Louisville, Ky., just about two hours from her sister, Ann, a retired librarian in Cincinnati.
Grafton and her husband of 20-plus years, Steven Humphrey, live part of the year in Southern California, where they met, but the author has made it clear she’s not a Hollywood kind of girl. She had enough of that in the 1970s and ’80s when she made her living writing screenplays for film and television. (Her television movie, Walking through Fire (1979), earned her a Christopher Award.)
To see more, CLICK HERE.
David Catrow – Alan Katz
The latest collaboration of Alan Katz (pictured left) and David Catrow is likely to have toddlers singing in delight and their parents and grandparents, well, not so much. The lyrics to classic children’s songs have been altered to fit the theme of, ahem, potty training, and the potty humor is plentiful. A School Library Journal reviewer clearly did not like this book. But that’s OK, school librarians are not the target audience. Small children are. Go ahead, check out our SideTrip to On Top of the Potty. But remember: You’ve been warned. If potty humor isn’t your thing, there are plenty of other books by this dynamic duo. To see other projects by Katz and Catrow or view some, uh, interesting videos, click here.
Writer Chuck Bowen is the producer of this mini exploration, sponsored by the Ohio Center for the Book, which has sponsored several other books and authors with Ohio connections. In the future, look for a blog from Chuck, who was well-qualified for this assignment, as he and his wife are in the process of potty training. We’ll ask about their daughter’s favorite song.
Cynthia Rylant
Cynthia Rylant’s life is a bit of a Cinderella story, appropriately enough.
She was born in Hopewell, Va., in 1954. Her parents divorced when she was 4, and she lived with her grandparents in Cool Ridge, W. Va., while her mother went to nursing school. Her father, whom she had little contact with, died when she was 13. Growing up in 1960s Appalachia meant a hardscrabble existence. Her grandparents lived a rustic life – no electricity, running water or car. But no cruel stepmother, either. She remembers a humble but loving experience with her grandparents.
“They say to be a writer you must first have an unhappy childhood,” Rylant wrote in But I’ll Be Back Again. “I don’t know if unhappiness is necessary, but I think maybe some children who have suffered a loss too great for words grow up into writers who are always trying to find those words, trying to find a meaning for the way they have lived.”
To learn more about the author and Walt Disney’s Cinderella, click here
Nikki Giovanni:
Nikki Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tenn., and grew up in Lincoln Heights, an all-black suburb of Cincinnati. She graduated with honors from Fisk University, her grandfather’s alma mater, in 1968; after graduating from Fisk, she attended the University 
of Pennsylvania and Columbia University. She published her first book of poetry, “Black Feeling Black Talk,” in 1968, and within the next year published a second book, thus launching her career as a writer.
Among her many honors and awards, she was tapped for the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame and named an Outstanding Woman of Tennessee.
The author of some 30 books for both adults and children, Nikki Giovanni is a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.
Check out DelMio’s presentation of her book, On My Journey Now. To learn more about Nikki Giovanni, CLICK HERE or go to the author’s Website.
Denise Fleming:
Denise Fleming, it seems, was destined to be an artist. Her father built furniture, her mother was a skilled decorator, and her grandparents had artistic skills as well. “Of course, as a child I took all their talents for granted,” she said in an interview posted by Harcourt books. “It was just what they did.”
She was born in Toledo and lives in the Toledo area today. Her most recent book, Beetle Bop, is explored here. A new book, a sequel, Buster Goes to Cowboy Camp, is due out this spring.
Fleming’s books feature a spare but lyrical style of writing, and vividly colorful illustrations fashioned out of paper that she makes at her studio. This paper-making technique gives her art a three-dimensional look that makes her books so unique. You can learn more about the artist’s work in this SideTrip (Click to Beetle Bop main).
Crtitics and judges have noticed her work. “In the Small, Small Pond,” published in 1994, was a Caldecott Honor Book. ClICK HERE to meet the author. Check out DelMio’s presentation of Beetle Bop.
R. L. Stine:
Says R.L. Stine, “My job is to make kids laugh and give them the creeps!” And he does it prolifically.
R.L. Stine was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1943. He wasn’t known as R.L. as a kid. They called him the much-less-author-sounding Bob. He’s been writing since he was a kid, 
ensconced in his room instead of going out to play as his mother begged him to do. Blame it on the old typewriter he found in the family attic. When he graduated from Ohio State University, he struck out for fame and fortune in New York City. Soon enough, he found it.
In 1986, R.L. wrote his first teen horror novel, Blind Date, which became a best-seller. That led to more scary stuff, and in 1989 he created the Fear Street series. He has written more than 100 — yes, 100 — Fear Street and related series books.
Then came the Goosebumps books and the Rotten School series. Nearly all of his books are aimed at young readers, except three adult thrillers: Superstitious, The Sitter and Eye Candy. ClICK HERE to meet the author. Check out DelMio’s presentation of Rotten School #12: Battle of the Dum Diddys.
Angela Johnson
Author Angela Johnson’s poetic language and illustrator Loren Long’s painterly images evoke the peace of flying as well as the “magic” of soaring among the clouds and “into the wind,” as “Uncle” would say.
“It’s what heaven must be,” Uncle says to me.
“With clouds, like soft blankets, saying, ‘Come on in and get warm.
Stay a while and be a
wind flyer too.’”
Johnson, author of many children’s books, is known for featuring African-American characters and addressing real life concerns such as teenage parenthood. She also remembers what it’s like to be a child, creating poignant moments such as when Uncle, as a boy, goes up in a plane with a flying barnstormer:
He cried when they landed
because then he knew
what it was like to go
into the wind,
against the wind,
beyond the wind.
To learn more about Angela Johnson, CLICK HERE.
To explore Wind Flyers, CLICK HERE.
Sponsored by The Ohio Center for the Book
