Indiana Authors Awards 2022: Winners in eight categories chosen – IndyStar
If you’re looking for a new book — or several — to read, look no further.
The votes are in, and eight winners of the 2022 Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Awards have been chosen.
The Indiana Authors Awards happen every two years, which allows the winners to tour and connect with readers, students and teachers statewide between announcements. The awards were established in 2009 by Glick Philanthropies, with The Indianapolis Public Library Foundation. However, Indiana Humanities and Glick announced in 2019 that the former would take the reins going forward.
Each of the winners will receive a $5,000 cash prize, a limestone and steel award and the chance to donate $500 to the Indiana library of their choice.
“My parents were always big readers who believed in the power of literature to strengthen communities and the people who live in them,” Marianne Glick, chair of the Glick Family Foundation and daughter of Eugene and Marilyn Glick, said in a news release. “They created the Indiana Authors Awards to lift up the role of reading in educating ourselves, as well as to honor books coming from our own authors.”
In addition to announcing the category winners, the Indiana Authors Awards named Hoosier poet JL Kato, who lives in Beech Grove, the 2022 Literary Champion; and awarded author James H. Madison, of Bloomington, the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award.
The winners in eight categories include multiple New York Times best-selling authors, as well as several debut winners and otherwise lauded authors, all of whom live in Indiana.
The winning works were chosen from 40 shortlisted works published in 2020 and 2021.
More:Here’s the shortlist of books up for the 2022 Indiana Authors Awards
Here are the 2022 Indiana Authors Awards winners:
‘Somebody’s Daughter: A Memoir’
By Ashley C. Ford, Indianapolis. Born and raised in Fort Wayne.www.ashleycford.net
Category: Debut
Ford’s New York Times best-selling memoir tells the story of her childhood in Fort Wayne, growing up with her father incarcerated.
“Somebody’s Daughter” is “a memoir about the complexity of childhood in a family fragmented by incarceration, the physical changes in adolescence that draw unwanted attention from men, and a journey to bring together the threads of identity and to understand complicated familial love,” according to a news release from the Indiana Authors Awards.
Ford lives in Indianapolis and “Somebody’s Daughter” is her first book.
‘The Town of Whispering Dolls: Stories’
By Susan Neville, Indianapolis. www.susan-neville.com
Category: Fiction
Neville’s book takes place in the fictional rust belt town of Whispering Dolls, where residents grapple with the way that technology has changed their world. The book’s format is a collection of short fiction and is inspired by the HIV epidemic fueled by opioid use in Austin, Indiana in 2015, along with social and economic change, according to Neville’s website.
Neville is a professor of creative writing at Butler University. She is the author of several other works, including “Invention of Flight: Stories” and “In the House of Blue Lights.”
‘Author in Chief: The Untold Story of Our Presidents and the Books They Wrote’
By Craig Fehrman, Bloomington. craigfehrman.com
Category: Nonfiction
Fehrman’s book tells the stories of American presidential books, from Abraham Lincoln’s book on political debates to Barack Obama’s autobiography, “Dreams from My Father.” The book explores the works by former presidents that have immense influence on both U.S. history and the Americans who read them at the time, as well as how the works provide insight into the lives of these powerful men.
Fehrman is a journalist and historian who lives in Bloomington. “Author in Chief” is his first book.
More:From ‘Princess Diaries’ to ‘Shiloh,’ here are 8 authors you might not realize are Hoosiers
‘Hollow Heart’
By Paul Allor, Indianapolis
Category: Genre
Allor’s graphic novel follows El, a “jumble of organs in a bio-suit,” who falls in love with Mateo, the mechanic brought in to work on the suit. The queer love story shows the power of connection and “the choices we make between giving our loved ones what they want and giving them what we think they need,” according to the brief.
Allor is a comics writer, editor and letterer living in Indianapolis. He’s also a writing instructor at Comics Experience.
‘Be Holding: A Poem’
By Ross Gay, Bloomington. rossgay.net
Category: Poetry
In this book-length poem, Gay writes an ode to basketball legend Dr. J — Julius Erving — connecting Erving’s history and career with the Philadelphia ‘76ers to a world of other topics, from the Middle Passage to state violence, music and familial love.
Gay is a poetry instructor at Indiana University and lives in Bloomington. His essay collection, “The Book of Delights,” won the Indiana Authors Award for nonfiction in 2020.
‘You Should See Me in a Crown’
By Leah Johnson, Indianapolis. www.byleahjohnson.com
Category: Young Adult
Johnson’s 2020 debut novel follows Liz Lighty, a Black, queer girl growing up in fictional Campbell, Indiana who runs for prom queen in hope of securing a scholarship. Along the way, she falls in love with one of her competition — and Liz makes her dreams come true, shining despite once believing she didn’t belong.
Johnson is a writer and editor who lives in Indianapolis. She is also the author of “Rise to the Sun.” Her middle-grade novel, “Ellie Engle Saves Herself,” will come out in May 2023.
More:Her novel was challenged as ‘obscene.’ Leah Johnson will keep telling Black, queer stories
‘All He Knew’
By Helen Frost, Fort Wayne. www.helenfrost.net
Category: Middle Grade
Frost’s middle grade novel tells the story of Henry, a young deaf boy who is sent to an institution during World War II because his family has little money. Victor, a conscientious war objector sent to the institution as an alternative to the draft, sees that Henry isn’t actually “unteachable” and forms a connection with him.
Frost is the author of several other books for young people including “Keesha’s House,” “When My Sister Started Kissing,” “Salt” and more.
‘Grace and Box’
By Kim Howard, Bloomington. https://kimhowardbooks.com
Category: Children’s
“Grace and Box” follows the adventures of a young girl, Grace, and her refrigerator box playmate. The story shows the power of friendship and imagination.
Howard lives in Bloomington and “Grace and Box” is her debut picture book. The illustrator, Megan Lötter, lives in Cape Town, South Africa and has also illustrated “The Chalk Giraffe” by Kirsty Paxton.