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News Release

Last modified: Friday, October 2, 2009

IU Press authors honored at Indiana Authors Award celebration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 2, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Two authors published by Indiana University Press were winners and two were finalists of the inaugural Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award. The finalists are Indiana University faculty members.

James Alexander Thom was the winner of the National Author award, and Scott Russell Sanders was a finalist in the same category. Susan Neville was the winner and James H. Madison was a finalist for the Regional Author award.

Awards were presented at a gala dinner Sept. 26 at the Indianapolis-Marion County Central Library in downtown Indianapolis. IU Press not only helped sponsor the dinner, but the day of the event, director Janet Rabinowitch moderated a public panel discussion at which the nine finalists discussed their work.

Nominations were open to any published writer who was either born in Indiana or has lived in the state for at least five years. A seven-member panel selected the winners and finalists in three categories (National, Regional, Emerging) from a pool of publicly nominated authors. The Indiana Authors Award recognizes the contributions made by Indiana authors to the literary landscape in the state and across the nation.

Thom, a Gosport, Ind., native, has been writing historical fiction in Indiana since the 1970s. His successful career as a novelist has taken him from the pages of the Indianapolis Star to the Saturday Evening Post to the Indiana University School of Journalism. One of Indiana's best known contemporary authors, Thom's body of work includes Follow the River, From Sea to Shining Sea, Long Knife, Panther in the Sky, and The Spirit of the Place (IU Press, 1995).

Sanders is the author of more than 20 books including novels, nonfiction and collections of short stories. His writing has been widely recognized, earning him a number of state and national awards, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination for A Private History of Awe. Originally from Memphis, Tenn., Sanders is Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at Indiana University Bloomington. His books A Conservationist Manifesto, Bad Man Ballad, Terrarium, and Writing from the Center are published by IU Press.

Neville is a native of Indianapolis and author of many works of short fiction and creative nonfiction. Her book In the House of Blue Lights won the Richard Sullivan Prize for Short Fiction, while Invention of Flight won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. She is also author of Iconography, Indiana Winter and Sailing the Inland Sea, all published by IU Press. Neville is professor of English and creative writing at Butler University, where she also serves as Butler's Demia chair.

Madison has, with a special insight that only a native Hoosier could possess, explored the history of Indiana's culture, traditions and some of its best-known residents. His books include A Lynching in the Heartland, Slinging Doughnuts for the Boys (IU Press, 2007), and The Indiana Way (IU Press, 1990). Madison is Thomas and Kathryn Miller Professor of History at IU Bloomington.

Eugene and Marilyn Glick established the Indiana Authors Award with the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation. Glick charitable funds have invested in Indiana educational institutions, arts organizations, hospitals and the Pro-100 program -- a leadership program for underprivileged youth. The Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation supports and enhances programs, services and facilities of the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library, and its partnerships in lifelong learning initiatives that benefit a diverse community.

For more information on titles published by Indiana University Press visit www.iupress.indiana.edu

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