46 books named to 2026 Indiana Authors Awards shortlists

The 2026 Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Awards announced the shortlist of books eligible for top honors in eight of its literary categories. Forty-six books written by Indiana authors and published in 2024 and 2025 have been shortlisted. All winners will be announced by Aug. 19.  

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 recognizable spots across Indiana, difficult personal and shared histories, notable Hoosiers who have left impactful legacies, magical socks, 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 continues to grow. Whether they are diving into the places that make Indiana unique or looking out to the wider world (real or imagined), Indiana’s authors are claiming their place in the tradition of great 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, confers the awards every other year. Honorees can participate in an annual statewide speaker program and connect with readers, teachers, and students. 

“The Indiana Authors Awards foster meaningful connections between authors and communities across our state,” said Marianne Glick, chair of the Glick Family Foundation and daughter of Eugene and Marilyn Glick. “When those connections are strong, Hoosier authors reach new readers, aspiring writers are inspired by accomplished professionals, and Indiana’s literary community continues to grow and thrive.”  

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. 19 via press release, social media, and in a monthly e-newsletter. Follow @INAuthorsAwards and sign up at www.IndianaAuthorsAwards.org to receive the announcement.  

“I know that my own perspective sharpens when I’m able to see through the eyes of a talented writer,” said Shelley Hunter, Indiana Humanities president and CEO. “The Indiana Authors Awards have allowed me to discover so many visionary storytellers, and I can’t wait for Hoosiers across the state to feel the impact of this cycle’s shortlisted books. We are grateful for the generosity of Glick Philanthropies, which empowers us to share this wealth of words, images, and ideas with readers of all ages.” 

A Literary Champion — an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to Indiana’s literary community — and a Lifetime Achievement Award— recognizing an author for superior literary achievements throughout a career — will be announced at 10 a.m. on Aug. 17 and Aug. 18, respectively.  

Shortlisted books in each category are:

NONFICTION 

Carolyn R. Boiarsky, Hammond, for Lead Babies and Poisoned Housing: Environmental Injustice, Systemic Racism, and Governmental Failure, the story of how governmental neglect and environmental injustice led to the displacement of more than one thousand minority residents in East Chicago.
A’Lelia Bundles, raised in Indianapolis, now living in Washington, D.C., for Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance, the biography of America’s first high-profile Black heiress and one of the most important arts patrons of the Roaring Twenties.
Phillip Cox & Niall Cronin, both grew up in Indianapolis, now living in New York City, for What a Building Does: The Hoosier Modernisms of Evans Woollen, which surveys the design contributions of some of Indianapolis’ most well-known Brutalist structures by one of its native sons.
Acamea Deadwiler, Hobart, for Daddy’s Little Stranger, a memoir that delves into the neglect and rejection Deadwiler experienced at the hands of her multiple father figures, and the resolve to build something sustainable from a fractured childhood.
Melissa Fraterrigo, West Lafayette, for The Perils of Girlhood, which explores Fraterrigo’s reflections on her adolescence in the 80s and 90s as she navigates raising twin daughters in the present day.
James A. Glass, Indianapolis, for Architecture in Indianapolis: 1820–1900 / Architecture in Indianapolis: 1900–1920, which traces the beginnings of the city’s built environment, and chronicles its building styles through the decades with photos, drawings, and architect biographies.
John Green, Indianapolis, for Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection, which explains how global healthcare inequities have led to one of the world’s deadliest, yet curable, diseases through the story of one young person living with the disease today.
Jeremy Hartnett, Crawfordsville, for The Remarkable Life, Death, and Afterlife of an Ordinary Roman, an exploration of everyday Roman life through the eyes of Flavius Agricola, a Roman only a generation or two removed from slavery.
Sid Shroyer, South Bend, for When Once Destroyed: A Historical Memoir of the Life and Death of a Small Town, which outlines the environmental destruction of Shroyer’s father’s hometown in a letter to his grandson. 

FICTION 

Kaveh Akbar, went to school in Indiana, now living in Iowa City, IA, for Martyr!, a novel following a recovering addict and poet’s search for meaning in art, family, and death.
Brian Allen Carr, Franklin, for Bad Foundations, a comedic absurdist novel about a home foundation inspector whose own home life is falling apart.
Susan Choi, born in South Bend, now living in Brooklyn, New York, for Flashlight, a story about the disappearance of a young girl’s immigrant father and moving on from catastrophe.
Bob Johnson, South Bend, for The Continental Divide, a short story collection that explores violence and sin along the St. Lawrence Continental Divide in northern Indiana.
Christian Moody, Indianapolis, for Lost in the Forest of Mechanical Birds, a speculative short story collection with elements of sci-fi, fantasy, fairy tales, and romance.
Robyn Ryle, Madison, for Sex of the Midwest, a novel that uncovers the secret lives of the residents of one small Indiana town after they are selected for a mysterious research survey.
Samrat Upadhyay, Bloomington, for Darkmotherland, a dystopian novel told through intertwined narratives exploring themes of authoritarianism, political ambition, and identity. 

DEBUT

Mary Ardery, West Lafeyette, for Level Watch, a collection of narrative-lyric poems that chronicle Ardery’s experience as a wilderness guide for women recovering from addiction.
Áine Cain & Kevin Greenlee, both living in Fishers, for Shadow of the Bridge: The Delphi Murders and the Dark Side of the American Heartland, a true crime story about two young girls who helped solve their own murders and the detectives who never gave up the search.
Karol Lagodzki, Bloomington, for Controlled Conversations, which follows a telephone operator who faces unexpected choices while falling in love with a resistance fighter in Soviet-controlled Poland.
Michelle McGill-Vargas, Merrillville, for American Ghoul, which follows a recently freed slave and a vampire as they begin a new life together in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Christian Moody, Indianapolis, for Lost in the Forest of Mechanical Birds, a speculative short story collection with elements of sci-fi, fantasy, fairy tales, and romance.
Isabelle Popp, Bloomington, for Let’s Give ‘Em Pumpkin to Talk About, a romance novel about an artist turned pumpkin farmer falling for her next-door neighbor. 

GENRE

Maurice Broaddus, Indianapolis, for Breath of Oblivion, a sci-fi novel which follows several citizens of an interplanetary empire experiencing renewed threats to their progress.
Michael Koryta, writing as Scott Carson, Bloomington, for Departure 37, a thriller about a teenager trapped in a town she loathes encountering a disturbing military conspiracy.
Anna Lee Huber, Fort Wayne, for Sisters of Fortune, a historical fiction novel about how the voyage of three women aboard the RMS Titanic transforms each of their lives in profound ways.
Jonathan Janz, West Lafayette, for Veil, a horror novel about a father attempting to save his family after they are abducted by invisible monsters threatening the entire planet.
Elizabeth Klehfoth, originally from Elkhart, now living in Westlake Village, CA, for The Lost Heiress, a haunting tale of forbidden love and the tragic cost of buried family secrets. 

POETRY

janan alexandra, Bloomington, for come from, a multilingual debut collection that centers family, memory, home, and inheritance — all in the wake of dislocation and fracture.
Rebecca Lehmann, South Bend, for The Sweating Sickness, which dives into mothering, domestic violence, and women’s rights with poems steeped in a fairytale tableau.
Alessandra Lynch, Indianapolis, for Wish Ave, which explores the power of intimate human conversation through memory, relationships, and death’s veil with lyric intensity.
Joyelle McSweeney, South Bend, for Death Styles, a torrent of poems, written in the wake of her infant daughter’s death, that navigate the opposing forces of perseverance and grief.
Derek Mong, teaches in Crawfordsville, currently living in West Lafayette, for When the Earth Flies into the Sun, which addresses the weight of digitalization and ecological disaster on domestic joys.
Bruce Snider, originally from rural Indiana, now living in Baltimore, MD, for Blood Harmony, a tale of two rural, working-class brothers whose relationship is torn apart by opioid addiction. 

YOUNG ADULT

Mel Hammond & Teghan Hammond, Fort Wayne, for Lucy, Uncensored, the story of a trans high school senior searching for belonging following a disappointing experience at her dream college.
K. R. S. McEntire, Indianapolis, forThat Girl Who Ran Off and Kissed a Vampire,a portal fantasy that follows a teen discovering her hidden heritage after her normal life crumbles.
Barbara Shoup, Indianapolis, for About Grace, the coming-of-age story about a young woman who reckons with the consequences of her actions in light of her privilege and past.
Arriel Vinson, Indianapolis, for Under the Neon Lights, a novel-in-verse about first love, female friendship, complicated family dynamics, and community building.
Jenna Voris, raised in Carmel, now living in Washington, D.C., for Say a Little Prayer, where a teen girl seeks to upend spring break church camp by committing all seven deadly sins.
Jenna Voris, raised in Carmel, now living in Washington, D.C., for Every Time You Hear That Song, a story that alternates between a teenage journalist investigating her favorite country musician and the same singer’s rise to stardom decades earlier. 

MIDDLE GRADE

John David Anderson, Indianapolis, for Dive, where a young girl under the pressures of a new school, a strained friendship, and her parents’ rocky relationship meets a dumpster diver who helps her find the courage to make her own path.
Rob Harrell, Zionsville, for Popcorn, a story of a young boy making it through school picture day before a failed science experiment and a run-in with a bully raises his anxiety.
Shifa Saltagi Safadi, Valparaiso, for Kareem Between, a novel-in-verse about a Syrian American boy figuring out who he is while striving to join his middle school’s football team.
Shifa Saltagi Safadi, Valparaiso, for Amina Banana and the Formula for Friendship, which follows a third grader who has just moved to Indiana from Syria and is nervous about making friends in a new American school.
Rosanne Tolin, Chesterton, for Freedom’s Game, the story of two Jewish girls in an orphanage who must decide if they can trust their new coach to lead them to safety in nearby Switzerland during the Nazi-allied Vichy regime in France.   

CHILDREN’S

Helen Frost, Fort Wayne, for The Mighty Pollinators, a poetry collection featuring captivating photos of the small creatures responsible for maintaining our ecosystems.
Kenneth Kraegel, raised in Mishawaka, now living in Grand Rapids, MI, for Something Good, in which a girl wakes one morning to find a chicken on her head and a gift of magic socks which turn her day around.
Janna Matthies, Indianapolis, for Over in the Garden, where children tend to a community garden by weeding, planting, composting, and harvesting.