Two accomplished Ohio writers both have first-time children’s books coming out this month: Connie Schultz and Maggie Smith. We'll celebrate with them on Valentine's Day (a departure from our usual Tuesday time).

Lola and the Troll hit bookstores Feb. 6. It's by Schultz, a Pulitzer-winning columnist and the author of two memoirs and a novel. And Smith, who has written seven books of poetry and prose, gives us the bedtime book, My Thoughts Have Wings. It’s available on Tuesday, Feb. 13.

Lola and the Troll is illustrated by Sandy Rodriguez, who also did the art for a picture book by author Isabel Allende. My Thoughts Have Wings was drawn by Leanne Hatch, who has written three of her own picture books.

Smith, who lives in the Columbus area, is the bestselling author of seven books, including You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Good Bones, Goldenrod, Lamp of the Body, The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison, and Keep Moving. Smith’s poems and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Guardian, TIME, The Nation, The Atlantic, and The Best American Poetry.

Schultz, who lives in the Cleveland area, is the author of two memoirs, Life Happens and …And His Lovely Wife. Her debut novel is Daughters of Erietown, published in 2020. Schultz is professor of practice at the journalism school at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. She and her husband, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, have four children, seven grandchildren, and rescue dogs Franklin and Walter.

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