New Indiana Author Award

Great news for Indiana authors. Yesterday, February 26, the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation announced that nominations for the inaugural Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award are now being accepted. This award seeks to recognize the contributions of Indiana authors to the literary landscape in Indiana and across the nation, and is funded by the generosity of The Glick Fund, a fund of the Central Indiana Community Foundation.

Nomination forms are available now through April 8 at www.indianaauthorsaward.org. Complete information and eligibility guidelines are included on the nomination forms.

Any published writer who was born in Indiana or has lived in Indiana for at least five years is eligible for the nomination. A seven-member, statewide award panel will select winners 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 will be evaluated on their entire body of work.

* Regional author ($7,500 prize): a writer who is well-known and respected throughout the state of Indiana. Regional authors will be evaluated on their entire body of work.

* Emerging author ($5,000 prize): a writer with only one published book. Emerging authors will be evaluated on their single published work.

In addition to a cash prize, each author's Indiana hometown public library will receive a grant of $2,5000 from the Library Foundation.

Those serving on the award panel are: Roberta Brooker, Indiana State Library director; Tracy Haddad, Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation board director; Bruce Haines, WFWA-Channel 39 president/general manager; Sharon Kibbe, Eugene and Marilyn Glick Family Foundation executive director; Ricardo Parra, poet; Janet Rabinowitch, Indiana University Press director; and Thomas Wilhelmus, University of Southern Indiana professor of English.

Award finalists will be honored on September 26, 2009, at the Central Library in downtown Indianapolis. The day's events will include free public programming such as author lectures, "how to get published" workshops for aspiring writers, and more. An award dinner/fund raiser benefitting the Library Foundation will follow that evening to support library programs and services. Ticket information for the award dinner is available by contacting the Library Foundation at (317) 275-4700.

Apollo 1 Talk at Gas City Library

I'll be lecturing on the subject "Tragedy at Pad 34: Gus Grissom and the Apollo 1 Fire" at 5 p.m. on Thursday, February 26, at the Gas City-Mill Township Public Library, 135 East Main Street, Gas City. The program is free and open to the public.

Copies of my Grissom biography, Gus Grissom: The Lost Astronaut, will also be available for purchase. Autographs are always free!