Indiana Authors Awards announces 2024 winners
IAA News
Nine titles and two honorees celebrated in latest biennial cycle
Nine titles by Indiana authors have been honored with 2024 Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Awards.
Selected from numerous shortlisted works published in the last two years across nine categories, the winning titles were written by a diverse collection of authors, several of whom currently live in Indiana.
From innovative worldbuilding to vulnerable personal histories, from fresh takes on true crime to little-known local history, the stories and characters featured in this year’s winning titles are profound and complex.
The 2024 award-winners are:
Fiction
The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty
| Tess Gunty was born and raised in South Bend and now lives in Brooklyn, NY. In her novel, the automobile industry has abandoned Vacca Vale, Ind., leaving its residents like Blandine Watkins behind, too. Plagued by the structures, people, and places that not only failed her but actively harmed her, all Blandine wants is a true bodily escape.
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Poetry
To Sleep in the Horse’s Belly: My Greek Poets and the Aegean Inside Me by George Kalamaras
| George Kalamaras grew up enjoying the woods in Cedar Lake, graduated from Indiana University Bloomington, and now lives in Fort Wayne. Twenty-five years in the making, with some poems dating as far back as forty years, this book retells the lives of some of Kalamaras’s favorite Greek poets and artists, most often with his characteristic Surrealist outpouring and expansive imagery.
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Nonfiction
Vanished Indianapolis by Edward Fujawa
| Edward Fujawa’s hometown is Indianapolis, where he currently lives with his family. In the more than 200-year history of Indianapolis, the city has seen many changes, including the disappearance of many historic landscapes and structures. Vanished Indianapolis explores some of these sites which are lost to history, or which have been reused and repurposed. |
Debut
Hell If We Don’t Change Our Ways by Brittany Means
| Brittany Means spent part of her childhood in the rural area around Martinsville, graduated from Ball State University, and currently lives in Albuquerque, NM. While untangling the web of her most painful childhood memories, Means crafts a tale of self-preservation, resilience, and hope with a unique narrative style — a sparkling example of the human ability to withstand the most horrific experiences and still thrive.
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Genre
Don’t Forget the Girl by Rebecca McKanna
| Rebecca McKanna moved to Indiana to attend the MFA program at Purdue University and currently teaches at the University of Indianapolis. In her novel, University of Iowa freshman Abby Hartmann disappears. Twelve years later, Jon Allan Blue, the serial killer suspected of her murder, is about to be executed. Abby’s best friends, Bree and Chelsea, must reunite when a high-profile podcast dedicates its next season to Abby’s suspected killer.
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Children’s
Here We Come! By Janna Matthies
| Janna Matthies was born in Anderson and currently lives in Indianapolis. In this book, a boy and his bear head into the evening air with a tune in their hearts and a skip in their steps. They soon form a musical parade under the moonlight until another beat changes the course of this rhyming, read-aloud adventure.
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Middle Grade
Unfadeable by Maurice Broaddus
| Maurice Broaddus moved to Indiana when he was six years old and has lived in Indianapolis for most of his life. At its heart, Unfadeable is 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.
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Young Adult
The Minus-One Club by Kekla Magoon
| Kekla Magoon grew up in Fort Wayne and currently lives in Montpelier, VT. This book tells the story of 15-year-old Kermit Sanders after his sister dies in a car accident, leaving him grief-stricken and lost. That is until he receives a mysterious invitation from a group of students who have also lost a close family member, and Kermit begins a journey toward healing.
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Drama
Predictor by Jennifer Blackmer
Jennifer Blackmer has lived in several Indiana cities and currently lives and teaches in Muncie.
Based on true events, Predictor is the story of Margaret Crane who, in 1967, defied odds to become the inventor of the first home pregnancy test.
Supported by Glick Philanthropies and powered by Indiana Humanities, the Indiana Authors Awards are conferred every other year. Honorees have the opportunity to participate in an annual statewide speaker program and connect with readers, teachers and students.
“It is a distinct pleasure year after year to see which new and returning authors come into the fold of the Indiana Authors Awards,” said Marianne Glick, chair of the Glick Family Foundation and daughter of Eugene and Marilyn Glick. “My parents launched the Indiana Authors Awards with the notion that strong writing makes even stronger communities, and I’m proud to see how these awards have brought Hoosiers together over the years.”
Each winner receives $5,000, a hand-crafted limestone-and-steel award and the opportunity to make a $500 donation to an Indiana library of their choice.
“By now, it’s no secret that Indiana is a magnet for truly great writers,” said Indiana Humanities president and CEO Keira Amstutz. “We are so grateful to partner with Glick Philanthropies and work together to celebrate the vast scope of powerful work being written in the Hoosier State.”
