Tess Gunty, Maurice Broaddus among nine honored Indiana authors
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South Bend native Tess Gunty and Indianapolis resident Maurice Broaddus lead this year’s class of Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Awards recipients.
The awards, administered every other year by statewide not-for-profit Indiana Humanities, were announced Wednesday in nine categories.
“The Rabbit Hutch” by Gunty was selected in the fiction category. In 2022, Gunty’s novel won a National Book Award for fiction.
“Unfadeable” by Broaddus was selected in the category of middle grade works. In 2020, Broaddus won an Indiana Authors Award in the genre category for his book “Pimp My Airship.”
Selected from 52 shortlisted works, each winning author receives $5,000, a limestone-and-steel trophy, and the opportunity to make a $500 donation to an Indiana library of their choice.
“By now, it’s no secret that Indiana is a magnet for truly great writers,” Indiana Humanities CEO Keira Amstutz said in a written statement. “We are so grateful to partner with Glick Philanthropies and work together to celebrate the vast scope of powerful work being written in the Hoosier State.”
The 2024 winners:
Fiction category: “The Rabbit Hutch” (2022), by Tess Gunty. This debut novel is set in a fictitious post-industrial town in Indiana. Gunty’s second novel, “Honeydew,” is scheduled to be published in 2025.
Middle grade category: “Unfadeable” (2022), by Maurice Broaddus. A 2023 anthology compiled by Jordan Peele, “Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror,” included a contribution by Broaddus. For upcoming anthology “The End of the World as We Know It: Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand,” Broaddus is writing a story with Wayne Brady.
Poetry category: “To Sleep in the Horse’s Belly: My Greek Poets and the Aegean Inside Me” (2023), by George Kalamaras. Former Indiana State Poet Laureate Kalamaras is an Indiana University alum who lives in Fort Wayne.
Nonfiction category: “Vanished Indianapolis” (2023), by Ed Fujawa. Indianapolis attorney Fujawa received the Indiana Historical Society’s Hubert Hawkins History Award in 2023.
Debut category: “Hell If We Don’t Change Our Ways: A Memoir” (2023), by Brittany Means. People magazine selected “Hell If We Don’t Change Our Ways,” by Ball State University alum Means, as a best book of fall in 2023.
Genre category: “Don’t Forget the Girl” (2023), by Rebecca McKanna. University of Indianapolis faculty member McKanna wrote about a murder and a podcast focused on true crime in fictional story “Don’t Forget the Girl.”
Children’s category: “Here We Come!” (2022), by Janna Matthies. Indianapolis resident Matthies wrote about an evening adventure in this picture book.
Young adult category: “The Minus-One Club” (2023), by Kekla Magoon. In 2022, Fort Wayne native Magoon was a Printz Award honoree for “Revolution In Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People.”
Drama category: “Predictor” (2023), by Jennifer Blackmer. This play by Ball State faculty member Blackmer was produced by American Lives Theatre at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre.