52 books named to 2024 Indiana Authors Awards shortlists

The 2024 Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Awards announced the shortlist of books eligible for top honors in eight of its literary categories. Fifty-two books written by Indiana authors and published in 2022 and 2023 have been shortlisted. All winners will be announced by Aug. 22.  

Shortlisted books were written by lifelong Hoosiers, professors at Indiana colleges and universities, and former residents with deep connections to Indiana. This year’s shortlists feature stories and poetry that explore Indiana’s forgotten past, difficult personal histories, contemporary retellings of favorite fairytales, mysterious happenings and more. From books for our youngest readers to insightful scholarship on unexpected topics, the breadth of voices recognized in the shortlists show that Indiana’s literary prowess persists and continues to grow. Whether exploring the local or looking out to the wider world (real or imagined), Indiana’s authors are claiming their place in the legacy of Midwestern writing about the history of this nation and our lives today. 

The awards were established in 2009 as a vision of Eugene and Marilyn Glick and are a component of Indiana Humanities’ rich and diverse literary programming. Indiana Humanities, with support from Glick Philanthropies, confer the awards every other year. Honorees can participate in an annual statewide speaker program and connect with readers, teachers and students. 

“Indiana is fertile ground for local writers to grow and flourish, and the awards celebrate that,” said Marianne Glick, chair of the Glick Family Foundation and daughter of Eugene and Marilyn Glick. “The Indiana Authors Awards programs provide the next generation of writers with opportunities to learn from previous winners and honorees. That’s something I would say is as important as the awards themselves, and I’m thrilled to see the continued success of both.” 

Judges for the Indiana Authors Awards included former winners, writers, educators, scholars, local bookstore owners and librarians. From lists of nominated titles, the judges selected shortlist books in the following categories: children’s, middle grade, young adult, poetry, genre, debut, fiction, and nonfiction. All winners will be announced by Aug. 22 via social media, then in the IAA newsletter. Follow @INAuthorsAwards and sign up at www.IndianaAuthorsAwards.org to receive the announcement.  

“Literature is far more than words on a page, and these shortlisted books display the incredible talent and effort that goes into writing works that represent Indiana well,” said Keira Amstutz, Indiana Humanities president and CEO. “We had the most nominations we’ve ever seen in 2024, and the competition was robust. We deeply appreciate the generosity of Glick Philanthropies that empowers us to connect readers with new and familiar writers whose work we know will inspire them.” 

A Literary Champion — an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to Indiana’s literary community — and a Lifetime Achievement Winner — recognizing an author for superior literary achievements throughout a career — will be announced at 10 a.m. on Aug. 19 and Aug. 20, respectively.  

SHORTLISTED BOOKS IN EACH CATEGORY ARE:  

NONFICTION 

• Edward E. Curtis IV, Indianapolis, for Arab Indianapolis, which examines the often-neglected history of Arab Americans in Greater Indianapolis, who have made a remarkable impact on the region since the late 1800s.  
• Edward E. Curtis IV, Indianapolis, for Muslims of the Heartland: How Syrian Immigrants Made a Home in the American Midwest, which uncovers the long history of Muslims in a part of the country where many readers would not expect to find them.  
• Edward Fujawa, Indianapolis, for Vanished Indianapolis, which explores the disappearance of many historic landscapes and structures in the Circle City which have been lost to history, or which have been reused and repurposed for a modern use. 
• Chris Lamb, Indianapolis, for Stolen Dreams: The 1955 Cannon Street All-Stars and Little League Baseball’s Civil War, the story of a historic team and the early civil rights movement.  
• Brittany Means, raised near Martinsville and now living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for Hell If We Don’t Change Our Ways, a memoir that offers a window into Means’ childhood while tackling subjects of abuse, neglect, violence, and instability. 
• J. Ronald Newlin, Indianapolis, for Legacy and Legend: The History and Mythology of Basketball in Indiana, which explains the development and history of basketball at all levels in Indiana. 
• Iliana Regan, raised in Indiana and now living in Michigan, for Fieldwork: A Forager’s Memoir, which explores her life and heritage as a forager, spanning her ancestry in Eastern Europe, her childhood in rural Indiana, and her new life set in the remote forests of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.  
• Janis Thornton, Tipton, for The 1965 Palm Sunday Tornadoes in Indiana, which documents Indiana’s worst weather disaster, which tore through the state the evening of April 11, 1965, in three separate lines of storms, claiming the lives of 137 Hoosiers, injuring more than 1,700, and racking up damages exceeding $30 million. 

FICTION 

• John F. Duffy, Bloomington, for A Ballroom for Ghost Dancing, a story that is both hilarious and heartbreaking about the value of friendship in the face of loss, and the hidden tragedies that we all have awaiting us, whether we are ready to confront them or not. 
• Karen Joy Fowler, raised in Bloomington and now living in Santa Cruz, California, for Booth, a meditation about what it might have been like to be John Wilkes Booth’s mother, his father, his brother or sister, to love him dearly, and to see him become the most hated man in America.  
• Tess Gunty, born and raised in South Bend and now living in Brooklyn, New York, for The Rabbit Hutch, a novel about an abandoned automobile industry in Vacca Vale, Indiana, which left its residents like Blandine Watkins behind with a deep desire for a true bodily escape.  
• Angela Jackson-Brown, who has taught at Ball State University and now teaches at Indiana University Bloomington, for Homeward, which follows Rose Perkins Bourdon’s path toward self-discovery and growth as she becomes involved in the Civil Rights Movement, finally becoming the woman she has always dreamed of being. 
• Sarah Layden, Indianapolis, for Imagine Your Life Like This, a short story collection that captures everyday Americans in all their discontent, misunderstandings, and dogged determination for a better world.  
• Brian Leung, who studied at Indiana University and now teaches at Purdue University, for All I Should Not Tell, a story following Conner Grayson, who grapples with the suicides of his biological father and brother while also investigating the disappearances of both his stepfather and his long-lost love.  
• Michael Martone, who was born in Fort Wayne, for Plain Air: Sketches from Winesburg, Indiana, which is a scrapbook of over 100 sketches voiced by the residents of Winesburg, a small town attached to the Old Lincoln Highway between Fort Wayne and South Bend, addressing their secret delights, desires, and dreads. 
• Scott Russell Sanders, Bloomington, for Small Marvels, a novel-in-stories set in the fictional town of Limestone, Indiana, a place tucked away among forested hills where peculiar things happen, often in the vicinity of a jack-of-all-trades named Gordon Mills.  
• Brando Skyhorse, who teaches at Indiana University Bloomington, for My Name Is Iris, a story about family, intolerance, and hope, offering a brilliant and timely look at one woman’s journey to discover who she can’t — and can — be. 

DEBUT 

• Agata Izabela Brewer, Crawfordsville, for The Hunger Book: A Memoir from Communist Poland, about food and motherhood, weaving together stories of alcohol addiction and violence against the background of Stalinist-era apartment buildings and lush gardens.  
• Tasha Jun, Fishers, for Tell Me the Dream Again: Reflections on Family, Ethnicity & the Sacred Work of Belonging, a memoir-in-essays and love letter to Jun’s Korean immigrant mother, an exploration of community, identity, faith, and family, and a guide to those who hold multiple worlds and wonder if they can ever truly belong.  
• Rebecca McKanna, who teaches at the University of Indianapolis, for Don’t Forget the Girl, a thriller that takes a critical lens to true crime and mines the complexities of friendship and the secrets people take to the grave.  
• Brittany Means, raised near Martinsville and now living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for Hell If We Don’t Change Our Ways, a memoir that offers a window into Means’ childhood while tackling subjects of abuse, neglect, violence, and instability. 
• Jeff Darren Muse, Fishers, for Dear Park Ranger: Essays on Manhood, Restlessness, and the Geography of Hope, a collection of essays with a central theme of searching for purpose, companionship, a lost father, and home. 
• Marabai Rose, Bloomington, for Holding Hope: One Family’s Odyssey through Lyme Disease and Psychosis, a memoir that opens as Rose is going into respiratory failure and paralysis following a cascade of interventions that have failed to address the unknown bacterial illness ravaging her body. 

GENRE 

• Maurice Broaddus, Indianapolis, for Sweep of Stars, the first in a trilogy that explores the struggles of an empire. Epic in scope and intimate in voice, it follows members of the Muungano empire.  
• Nicole Cushing, Jeffersonville, for The Plastic Priest, the eerie tale of an Episcopal priest in small town Indiana, and her struggles with fate and faith.  
• Elisabeth Hegmann, North Vernon, for Modus Perfectus, a collection of short stories that links together a cast of unforgettable characters yearning for a musical utopia and provides a mirror for our universal human longing for a sense of place in the world. 
• Anna Lee Huber, Fort Wayne, for A Perilous Perspective, a historical mystery featuring beloved inquiry agents Lady Kiera Darby and her dashing husband, Sebastian Gage, who, after a trying few months in Edinburgh, are eager to escape to an estate in the Highlands for a wedding.  
• Robin Lee Lovelace, Plainfield, for A Wild Region: Tales and Stories from the Heartland, a story collection that shares a version of Indiana that is wild, full of magical places and exceptional people. From urban to suburban to rural, magic rises in Indiana like an October mist off the Ohio River. 
• Rebecca McKanna, who teaches at the University of Indianapolis, for Don’t Forget the Girl, a thriller that takes a critical lens to true crime and mines the complexities of friendship and the secrets people take to the grave. 
• Lori Rader-Day, raised in Indiana and now living in Chicago, Illinois, for The Death of Us, a chilling suspense novel in which the discovery of a submerged car in a murky pond reveals betrayals and family secrets that will tear a small town apart. 

POETRY 

• Curtis L. Crisler, who lives in Fort Wayne and is currently Indiana State Poet Laureate, for Doing Drive-bys on How to Love in the Midwest, a lyrical poetic topography embodying his “urban Midwestern sensibility.” Through this lens, his poems transfigure and chronicle the humanity of the past, present, and future of Black Midwesterners. 
• George Kalamaras, Fort Wayne, for To Sleep in the Horse’s Belly: My Greek Poets and the Aegean Inside Me, a chronicle of Kalamaras’ Greek ancestry — literary, artistic, and familial. This book retells the lives of some of his favorite Greek poets and artists, most often with his characteristic Surrealist outpouring and expansive imagery.  
• D.A. Lockhart, Indiana University Bloomington alumnus and committed Hoosier who has temporarily relocated to Windsor, Canada, for North of Middle Island, a two-part collection of poetry that explores the Indigenous nature of Pelee Island in Lake Ontario, and a new Lenape myth about Deer Woman.  
• Douglas Manuel, raised in Anderson and now living in Long Beach, California, for Trouble Funk, a poetry collection that exposes ways Black Love is thwarted but never destroyed by racism, classism, and sexism.  
• Donald Platt, Lafayette, for Swansdown, a collection of poems that address in rapturous, though sometimes stricken, language the process of getting older.  
• Jessica D. Thompson, who splits her time between Evansville and Nashville, Indiana, for Daybreak and Deep, an invitation for us to wake up to life in spite of all its misfortunes, to lift ourselves up when we are paralyzed by grief, and to alchemize sorrow into gratitude. 

YOUNG ADULT 

• Katherine Higgs-Coulthard, who works in South Bend and lives in Niles, Michigan, for Junkyard Dogs, a suspenseful and gut-wrenching story of an unhoused teenager struggling to survive a criminal scrapping ring while unraveling a dark family history.  
• Sarah Hollowell, Muncie, for What Stalks Among Us, a deliriously creepy speculative thriller about two best friends trapped in a corn maze with corpses that look just like them.  
• Kekla Magoon, raised in Fort Wayne and now living in Montpelier, Vermont, for The Minus-One Club, a novel that follows grief-stricken 15-year-old Kermit Sanders who, after losing his sister in a car accident, receives a mysterious invitation from The Minus-One Club, a group of students who have also lost a close family member and meet secretly to support one another. 
• Jenna Voris, raised in Indiana and now living in Alexandria, Virginia, for Made of Stars, a novel inspired by the lawless love story of Bonnie and Clyde. The two main characters must choose between their own selfish motives or saving the planet they’ve always resented. 
• Francesca Zappia, Indianapolis, for Katzenjammer, a spine-tingling, suspenseful, and haunting story about tragedy and the power of memories. 

MIDDLE GRADE 

• Gabrielle Balkan, raised in Indianapolis and now living in Brooklyn, New York, for Meet the Megafauna! Get to Know 20 of the Largest Animals to Ever Roam the Earth, an interactive, highly visual book, where young readers encounter 17 supersized animals that once soared the skies, ruled the oceans, and prowled the Earth – and meet three more megafauna still roaming the earth today.  
• Maurice Broaddus, Indianapolis, for Unfadeable, a story about mentorship and agency. Responsibility and relationships are at the heart of mentoring, seeking to encourage young leaders to advocate for themselves and their community. 
• Patty Cisneros Prevo, raised in Lake Station and now living in Broomfield, Colorado, for Tenacious: Fifteen Adventures Alongside Disabled Athletes, a book that focuses on individuals with physical disabilities and their major life and athletic accomplishments. 
• Donna Griffin, Greenfield, for Super Cities! Indianapolis, a book all about Indianapolis’ interesting and unique culture. 
• Kekla Magoon, raised in Fort Wayne and now living in Montpelier, Vermont, for Ketanji: Justice Jackson’s Journey to the U.S. Supreme Court, a picture book biography of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

CHILDREN’S 

• Troy Cummings, Greencastle, for Otto the Ornament, a picture book about a snazzy Christmas ornament that tries to find the tree on which he can shine the brightest.  
• Helen Frost, Fort Wayne, for Wait and See, a poetry and photography book where readers are encouraged to look closely and watch as a praying mantis hides, hunts, and eats, then makes an ootheca (egg case) from which hundreds of baby praying mantises will emerge in the spring. 
• Dori Graham, Fort Wayne, for Brave Miss Muffet, a fun retelling on a classic nursery rhyme. 
• Kenneth Kraegel, raised in Mishawaka and now living in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for Mushroom Lullaby, a whimsical picture book introducing little readers to all sorts of mushrooms.  
• Janna Matthies, Indianapolis, for Here We Come!, a story in which a boy and his bear head into the evening air with a tune in their hearts and a skip in their steps.  
• Rebecca Mullin, raised in Indianapolis and now living in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, for Purple Carrot, a book exploring colors in the garden from planting to harvest.