INDIANAPOLIS — Six writers with Indiana ties have been named winners or finalists of the 2016 Eugene & Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award, including a first-ever winner in the category of Genre Excellence.
Bloomington native Karen Joy Fowler is the winner of the $10,000 National Author Award. She is the author of six novels, including The Jane Austen Book Club, a 19-week New York Times bestseller that was made into a major motion picture. Her most recent novel, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, won the PEN/Faulkner Award as well as the California Book Award for Fiction for 2013.
Danville native Philip Gulley has been named the Regional Author winner, earning him a $7,500 prize. Gulley, a Quaker pastor, writer and speaker, has published 20 books, including the acclaimed “Harmony” series.
Children’s picture book author and South Bend resident April Pulley Sayre is the winner of the first-ever Genre Excellence Award, earning her a $6,000 cash prize. She is best known for her lyrical, read-aloud science books, including Raindrops Roll, an ALA Notable/NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor book.
Emerging Author Award finalists include Sarah Gerkensmeyer (Greencastle), Bill Kenley (Noblesville) and Edward Kelsey Moore (Indianapolis). All winners and finalists will be honored at the eighth annual Indiana Authors Award Dinner on Saturday, October 29 at Central Library in Indianapolis. In addition to their cash awards, winners will designate individual $2,500 grants to the public libraries of their choosing.
The annual award program recognizes Indiana authors’ contributions to the literary landscape in Indiana and across the nation. The Eugene & Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award is a program of The Indianapolis Public Library Foundation and is funded through the generosity of The Glick Fund, a fund of Central Indiana Community Foundation.
Tickets to the Award Dinner benefiting the Library Foundation are available at indianaauthorsaward.org.
