Diana Tittle

Diana Tittle is an award-winning journalist based in Cleveland, Ohio, who has worked as a magazine writer and editor and started a small press. In 1997 she won the Cleveland Arts Prize for Literature for her nonfiction reportage on urban affairs.

The daughter of an Air Force test pilot, Ms. Tittle conceived an interest in journalism while working on her high school newspaper. She received her bachelor’s degree in English literature from Miami University (Ohio) in 1972. She was managing editor of Miami’s student newspaper and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After earning a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in 1973, she landed a job as a general assignment reporter for the Chronicle-Telegram newspaper in Elyria, Ohio.

In 1974 Tittle joined the editorial staff of Cleveland Magazine, a city magazine, where she wrote monthly articles on topics ranging from fashion to governmental inefficiency. By the mid-1970s, a half-dozen of her stories had appeared on the covers of Cleveland’s Top 10 best-selling issues, and in 1978 the Cleveland Press Club recognized the excellence of her in-depth profile of the director of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

After leaving Cleveland, Tittle conceived and helped to secure the capital for Northern Ohio LIVE, a monthly magazine covering arts and entertainment that began publishing in 1981. She guided the magazine’s editorial direction until her departure in 1986. A decade later, Ms. Tittle returned to oversee Northern Ohio LIVE’s editorial re-launch and redesign, an initiative that was nationally recognized by the magazine industry.

In 1987 Tittle launched Octavia Press with the publication of two trade titles: "Superman at Fifty: The Persistence of a Legend," a collection of essays examining the enduring popularity of the comic-book hero created by Clevelanders Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and "The Ultimate Benefit Book: How to Raise $50,000-Plus for Your Favorite Organization," a (then) one-of-a-kind primer written by a pre-eminent Cleveland fund raiser. "Superman," which was favorably mentioned or reviewed in Time, Variety and Omni magazine and scores of newspapers, including The New York Times, sold out its 10,000-copy print run in six weeks. The Ultimate Benefit Book enjoyed steady word-of-mouth sales for more than five years.

Under the imprimatur of Octavia Press, Tittle has guided the design and publication of more than a half-dozen nonfiction books of regional interest for which she has also written the text.