INDIANA AUTHORS AWARD

National Winner and Finalists Named for Indiana Authors Award
Nationally acclaimed author Scott Russell Sanders
to receive 2nd annual award from Library Foundation

INDIANAPOLIS --- The 2010 Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award recipient has been named. Indiana resident Scott Russell Sanders was chosen as the National recipient, and finalists in all categories were named this week by the Award Panel. The winning author in the Regional and Emerging Author categories will each be named from among the finalists on October 9, 2010.

This annual award seeks to recognize the contributions of Indiana authors to the literary landscape in Indiana and across the nation. The Indiana Authors Award is a program of the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation and is funded through the generosity of The Glick Fund, a fund of Central Indiana Community Foundation.

Nominations were submitted from across the state in early spring. Any published writer who was born in Indiana or has lived in Indiana for at least five years was eligible. An eight-member, statewide Award Panel selected the national winner and finalists in three categories from the pool of publicly nominated authors:

• National Author - $10,000 prize: a writer with Indiana ties, but whose work is known and read throughout the country. National authors were evaluated on their entire body of work. Winner: Scott Russell Sanders
• Regional Author - $7,500 prize: A writer who is well-known and respected throughout the state of Indiana. Regional authors were evaluated on their entire body of work. Finalists: Ray Boomhower, Colleen Coble and Andrew Levy
• Emerging Author - $5,000 prize: A writer with only one published book. Emerging authors were evaluated on their single published work. Finalists: Douglas Light, Micah Ling and Greg Schwipps

“My wife and I moved to Indiana in 1971, and ever since our arrival I have grounded my writing in this place, hoping through my books to reach my neighbors as well as readers across America,” said Sanders. “So I feel deeply honored to be named this year’s national winner of the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award. Like many writers, I entered the world of books through the doors of public libraries. So it gives me special pleasure that this award comes from the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation.”

“We’re very excited that the award panel selected Scott Russell Sanders, an author whose writings so eloquently capture the importance of community and our shared heritage,” said Marianne Glick, daughter of Gene and Marilyn Glick and vice chairwoman of The Glick Fund. “The Indiana Authors Award program continues to grow in prominence, and I can’t wait for the October gala when our other winners will be announced.”

Award finalists in all three categories will be honored on October 9, 2010 at Central Library in downtown Indianapolis. The day’s events will include free public programs such as author lectures from this year’s Indiana Authors Award honorees, “how to get published” workshops for aspiring writers, and book sales and signings featuring authors from around the state. A ticketed Award Dinner and fundraiser benefiting the Library Foundation will follow that evening where the winner of the Regional Author and Emerging Author categories will each be named. Sanders will serve as the dinner’s keynote speaker. Ticket information for the Indiana Authors Award Dinner is available by contacting the Library Foundation at (317) 275-4700 or by visiting www.indianaauthorsaward.org.

Media Contacts:
Emily Hankley Berger
Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation
317.275.4872
eberger@imcpl.org

Bob Schultz, APR
Borshoff
317.442-2155
Bob.Schultz@Borshoff.biz

National Winner
Scott Russell Sanders
Sanders was born in Tennessee and grew up in Ohio but became a Hoosier in 1971 when he joined the faculty of Indiana University, where he taught until 2009, retiring as Distinguished Professor of English. He has published 20 books, including novels, collections of stories and essays, and personal narratives. He has also published seven storybooks for children. His work has appeared in such magazines as Harper’s, Audubon, Orion, and The Georgia Review, and it has been reprinted in The Art of the Essay, American Nature Writing, The Norton Reader, and other anthologies. His collection of essays, “The Paradise of Bombs,” won the Associated Writing Programs Award in Creative Nonfiction in 1987. His latest book is “A Conservationist Manifesto” (2009), which lays out the ecological, ethical and practical grounds for shifting from a culture based on consumption to a culture based on stewardship. Sanders has received fellowships for writing from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Indiana Arts Commission, the Lilly Endowment and the Guggenheim Foundation. Sanders and his wife Ruth have reared two children in their hometown of Bloomington, Ind. To learn more about Sanders, visit http://www.scottrussellsanders.com.