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CLEVELAND, Ohio – A lifelong passion of reading and writing led Clothilde Ewing to be an author. Ewing, who is originally from Greater Cleveland but who has lived in Chicago since 2004, has written a series of books about a little girl named Stella. The fourth, “Stella and Roger Are on the Move,” comes out next week. Her path to creating the series was rooted in Northeast Ohio and wound through a creative circuit that included working for “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Born in Mt. Sinai Hospital in Cleveland and raised in Cleveland Heights, Ewing attended Horizon Montessori School, then Shaker Heights schools - Ludlow and Woodbury before graduating from Shaker Heights High. “I had really, honestly, a quintessential upbringing,” she said. “I have talked to people who I met as adults who would never go back to high school. I truly do feel bad for them. I was lucky enough to grow up in a place like Shaker, that supported me, that stretched me, that challenged me, when I was exposed to so many different types of people, along with my family.” Ewing attended Syracuse University, moved to London and then Washington, D.C., where she did a bit of soul searching: “I thought about why I wanted to be a journalist and wanted to work in television. As cheesy as it might sound, it was because of Oprah Winfrey. I loved “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and started on a quest to join the team, and so I moved to Chicago.” “I was working at CBS News beforehand, and one of my former professors said, ‘What are you doing leaving journalism to go work in entertainment?’” Her first day of work fell on Winfrey’s famous car giveaway. The talk-show host surprised everyone in the audience with free cars. Ewing, not on set, said she heard the screams even through a soundproof studio as 276 vehicles were given away. She immersed herself in Chicago, working in the press department for President Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012 and in the office of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Strategic Planning. But the innate desire to write was always in her. “It feels surreal in many ways,” she said about being published. “I have been an avid reader since I started listening to my parents tell stories. I always loved stories. … I never thought that I would write. I thought it was something other people did.” Ewing said she is “super-excited” to expose her two kids to books. Before they were born, for her showers, she asked people to bring their favorite book. But Ewing also was struck by the specific topics she saw covered in kids’ books. One day she read a story in the opinion section of the New York Times. “The piece totally spoke to me,” she said. It focused on a lack of diversity in children’s-book writing but more specifically noted that when it was addressed, it often simply sounded one or two notes: Overcoming struggle or recognizing excellence. “Those are really important topics, and I have a lot of those books in my house, but the point was that there weren’t enough books out there that feature Black characters, kids being kids, kids who just happened to be Black experiencing childhood.” She added: “So I set on the journey to start writing.” Her latest book is about a 7-year-old girl struggling with the idea that her family is moving. The Stella series drops in subtle, educational moments, like when Stella says she lives near a train known as an L for “elevated.” Ewing tells the story through Stella’s eyes and never dumbs down her writing. The topic meshes wonderfully with the accompanying artwork. She was paired with an illustrator who is from, coincidentally, Cleveland. “Lynn Gaines is just amazing,” she said. “I was very new to writing in so far as I really knew what I wanted to do and I was adamant that this series feature a Black character. But I am not an illustrator; I do not have that talent. … I felt so lucky. I found it was meant to be when I found out she was from Cleveland.” Ewing said going into the project she didn’t have a clear vision of what Stella looked like. Then Gaines “nailed it.” Her writing will continue, but the focus will shift. Ewing has two kids – Stella is 11, and Jackson is 9. “In my house, what’s next has got to be Jackson. He’s supportive but also kind of jokingly losing patience. I am working to bring to life the next book, which will be a Jackson book,” she said. “This has been a really fulfilling experience in ways I didn’t fully appreciate going in. I hope it never gets old to see a book that I have written at a bookstore or a library and I still pinch myself when that happens, to get messages from families I don’t know whose children have found Stella. Recently I got a picture from a mom whose daughter dressed up as Stella for Character Day at school.” She said she also is fortunate that she has dealt with great booksellers who feel a connection to their customers and their craft, like the folks at Loganberry Books in Cleveland and Fireside Book Shop in Chagrin Falls And she has never forgotten her Northeast Ohio roots. When she returns she goes for a run around Horseshoe Lake, taking time to catch her breath to take a picture. While she has been in Chicago for two decades, Cleveland might figure into her writing in the future. “It’s interesting because anybody who know me well, they know I’m a Clevelander who lives in Chicago,” she said. “I love Chicago; don’t get me wrong. But I live and die Cleveland. I still root for Cleveland sports teams. I don’t know if it’s because Cleveland is misunderstood by a lot of people. I feel like I, along with my friends growing up, are all ride or die with Cleveland.” More info Author: Clothilde (pronounced clo-TILL) Ewing. Latest book: “Stella and Roger are on the Move” Publication: Tuesday, Nov. 11. Target audience: Ages 4 to 8. Details: Denene Millner Books/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 40 pages, $19.99. Previous Stella books: • “Stella and Roger Can’t Wait to Grow Up,” 2024. • “Stella and the Mystery of the Missing Tooth,” 2023. • “Stella Keeps the Sun Up,” 2022.
