Susan Neville and Tony Brewer honored for literary accomplishments

Susan Neville and Tony Brewer have been named the 2024 Lifetime Achievement and Literary Champion winners, respectively, from the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Awards.

In addition to honoring works in nine categories, the Indiana Authors Awards also honors two influential Hoosiers who have made great strides in the literary space during each award cycle.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is given to an author for superior literary achievements throughout their career. Author Susan Neville is the 2024 honoree.

Susan Neville’s first collection of short fiction, Invention of Flight, won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction from the University of Georgia and her second collection, In the House of Blue Lights, won the Richard Sullivan Prize from Notre Dame University Press. It was named one of the best books of 1998 by The Chicago Tribune. The Town of Whispering Dolls won the Catherine Doctorow Award for Short Fiction from Fiction Collective 2 and the Fiction award during the 2022 Indiana Authors Awards cycle.

Neville’s accomplishments don’t stop at fiction. She is the author of seven works of creative nonfiction and hybrid prose including Fabrication, a collection of lyric essays about Indiana factories; Into the Fire, about women in the Ku Klux Klan; and Indiana Winter. Her collection of essays, Sailing the Inland Sea, was named the Best Book of Indiana in the nonfiction category from the Indiana Center for the Book.

“I love the work that Indiana Humanities is doing with the literary community in Indiana, and I’m very honored by this award,” Neville said. “There are so many worthy recipients, so I feel quite humbled actually.”

Neville was a professor at Butler University in Indianapolis, where she taught for more than 38 years. She was a founder of Butler’s MFA program and in 1983 began the Visiting Writers Series, which still exists and remains free and open to the public. During her time working on the program, she brought nationally and internationally known writers to Indianapolis, including Wole Soyinka and Salman Rushdie. She also organized the Spirit and Place Festival for the first two years, and the first festival featured Kurt Vonnegut, John Updike, and Dan Wakefield. Neville retired from Butler and still resides in Indianapolis with her husband and dog.

The Literary Champion Award is given to an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to Indiana’s literary community. Tony Brewer, this cycle’s honoree, has worked in Indiana’s literary community for 25 consecutive years.

The two-time Indiana Poet Laureate finalist and co-founder of Indiana’s first poetry slam has published countless poems and essays. As a board member of The Writers Guild at Bloomington, Brewer brought many poets from across the state to southern Indiana city through his many fundraising efforts to support the Guild.

Hiromi Yoshida, Brewer’s Writers Guild colleague, shared in her letter of recommendation, “His numerous publications, spoken word performances, service experiences, and awarded grants testify to his exceptionally strong and wide-ranging qualifications for the title. As the honoree, he will continue to champion the literary arts of the state of Indiana for many more years to come.”

Residing in Bloomington, Brewer is the executive director of the Spoken Word Stage at the 4th Street Festival of the Arts and Crafts, and co-producer of the Writers Guild Spoken Word Series and the Urban Deer Performance Series.

“I am honored to receive this recognition,” Brewer said. “For decades I have enjoyed traveling around Indiana to readings, open mics, workshops, and festivals, as a participant and audience member, experiencing the close-knit connections of poetry scenes large and small. I have learned so much from everyone I’ve talked with and listened to. I’m so thankful to be part of the Indiana writing tradition.”

“Susan and Tony have worked for many years to bring more literary opportunities to Indiana,” said Keira Amstutz, president and CEO of Indiana Humanities. “Both accomplished authors, they have stretched their reach by taking the time to help others along the way. They treat their craft with such care and consideration, from Tony’s countless hours bringing poetry to the ears of Hoosiers, to Susan’s long tenure as both a professor and mentor to students at Butler University. We are grateful for their passion to enrich the lives of those around them.”