Indiana Author Series

I will be examining the career of famed Hoosier war correspondent Ernie Pyle as part of a special Indiana Author Series sponsored by OASIS and the Indiana Historical Society from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Friday, July 10, at the Glendale OASIS office, 6101 North Keystone Avenue in Indianapolis. My lecture comes from my book Ernie Pyle: The Soldier's Friend, published by the IHS Press in 2006.

The series, which also includes authors Wes D. Gehring and Michael S. Maurer, is an exclusive offer to IHS and OASIS members. A book sale and signing will follow each presentation. From 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Friday, July 17, Gehring will examine the life and times of Indiana comedian Red Skelton. Maurer will discuss contemporary female Hoosier leaders from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Friday, July 24.

Call (317) 233-5659 to register for the programs or to purchase an IHS membership prior to registration.

Carmel Clay Public Library Children's Book Festival

I will be one of a number of authors/illustrators to appear at the Carmel Clay Public Library Foundation's inaugural Children's Author & Illustrator Festival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 16, at the library, 55 4th Avenue S.E., in Carmel. The library is located across Main Street from Carmel High School. All book sale proceeds will benefit the library's foundation.

At the event, I will be signing copies of my three youth biographies published by the Indiana Historical Society Press:

* The Sword and the Pen: A Life of Lew Wallace
* The Soldier's Friend: A Life of Ernie Pyle
* Fighting for Equality: A Life of May Wright Sewall

In addition to book signings by the authors at the festival, there are a number of programs scheduled during the day. For a complete list of programs, visit the foundation's Web site. Call (317) 81403905 for more information.

Kennedy Book Wins Honor

My book Robert F. Kennedy and the 1968 Indiana Primary won first place in the book category of the Indiana Pro Chapter, Society of Professional Journalists, annual Best of Indiana Journalism contest. I received the award at the award banquet on Friday, April 24, at the Indianapolis Marriott North hotel.

RFK Speech Site to Receive Upgrades

Saturday, April 4, marks the forty-first anniversary of Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 speech at Seventeenth and Broadway streets in Indianapolis announcing to a crowd that Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot and killed. Kennedy's poignant remarks that evening helped avert potential violence in the community, as the crowd returned peacefully to their homes. In a number of major American cities, the news of King's death had sparked riots and destruction; Indianapolis remained peaceful.

In conducting research for my book on Kennedy's 1968 campaign in the Indiana Democratic presidential primary, I examined how and why Kennedy was in Indianapolis for his emotional speech. Indianapolis has paid homage to Kennedy's speech with a memorial at Martin Luther King Jr. Park at 1702 North Broadway Street that includes a Landmark for Peace sculpture of King and Kennedy. Unfortunately, the site is away from the hustle of the downtown area, and many visitors to the city are unaware of its existence.

The memorial's isolation may soon end if community leaders have their way. Organizers recently announced a $3 million fund-raising campaign to improve and expand the memorial. According to an article in the Indianapolis Star, the expansion would include:

* An eternal flame incorporated into a new sculpture or sculptures by Greg Perry, the artist who designed the existing memorial.

* An amphitheater to seat 75 to 200 people, depending on the final design.

* Twin elliptical walkways, one for King and one for Kennedy, that slope along a wall that abruptly ends to symbolize the sudden end of their lives.

A ceremonial groundbreaking will be held at the memorial from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 4.

Radio Show Appearance for Grissom

I will be appearing on Nelson Price's live call-in radio program "Hoosier History Live!" at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 4, on WICR-FM 88.7 to discuss the life and times of Hoosier astronaut Gus Grissom.

Here is what the program has to say about my appearance:

"April 4 Gus Grissom Remembered

We will be back, live with listener call-in and our Hoosier History Trivia Mystery, as we explore the life, legacy, and tragic death of Virgil “Gus” Grissom, the day after what would have been his 83rd birthday--and 50 years after the Mitchell, Ind., native was selected by NASA as one of the original seven American astronauts in 1959.

Nelson will be joined in studio by Grissom expert Ray Boomhower, editor of the award-winning Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History magazine, which is celebrating a milestone of its own. Traces, published by the Indiana Historical Society, is turning 20 years old. During those years, Ray has written a cover story and other articles about Grissom, who became the first person to travel in space twice when he orbited the Earth in 1965. For that mission, Grissom was in a Gemini spacecraft, a chapter that Ray says often is a “lost” part of NASA history because it came between the excitement surrounding the first men in space (those were the Mercury missions, which also involved Grissom) and the moon landings.

Sadly, the Hoosier astronaut wasn’t involved in the latter because Grissom was killed in the explosive fire of his Apollo spacecraft during what was supposed to be a routine test at Cape Kennedy in 1967. A Purdue grad who had been an Air Force fighter pilot during the Korean War, Gus Grissom was just 40 years old.

Ray is the author of Gus Grissom: The Lost Astronaut (Indiana Historical Society Press, 2004).

Fun fact: Still widely remembered as a hero in his home state, Grissom was selected as one of the “10 Greatest Hoosiers of the 20th Century” in a reader participation project by the Indianapolis Star, which Nelson oversaw at the end of the millennium when he was a feature writer/columnist at the newspaper. (Others on the list included Eli Lilly, James Whitcomb Riley, Cole Porter, Madam Walker, Ernie Pyle, and Hoagy Carmichael.)"

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!