Updated 6/19/22

There are many great literary events around Indiana. Looking for something to do?  Below are just a few ideas.

Many events are virtual. Please confirm with the venue for scheduled events listed here.

To be featured in our “Literary Events Around Indiana” monthly events blog, email the details to mail@indianawriters.org.

INconversation with Indiana Poet Laureate

Join current Indiana Poet Laureate Matthew Graham and Indiana Humanities on Friday, June 2, at 4pm ET for a happy hour conversation with several former Indiana poets laureate, including Shari Wagner, Joyce Brinkman and Norbert Krapf. The panelists will discuss writing in Indiana and engage in dialogue about poetry, place and the power of both to inspire, delight and move us. Light refreshments and drinks will be served. Following the event, we invite attendees to check out First Friday festivities across the street at the Harrison Center for the Arts from 6-9pm ET. Get details and register for the free happy hour here.

Heartland Society of Women Writers presents “I Dissent” Magazine launch

The Book Matters presents Jane Friedman

Monday, June 26 from 7:30 – 9:30PM at The Falcon Theater
636 Monmouth Street, Newport, KY
doors open at 7:00

What Do Writers Have to Fear?
Writers’ traditional fears have been around for centuries: poor sales, poor recognition, scathing rejection, and strictly posthumous recognition of their genius. (Well, maybe that last one isn’t feared—it can be a backup plan.) 
But new fears have surfaced of late that feel more challenging and transformative. Will AI and chatbots undercut human writers and creativity?  Can anyone ever become a successful writer when more than 2 million new titles (not a typo) are published every year? How can writers compete with the likes of TikTok, Snapchat, Netflix, and the latest funny cat videos?
Jane will speak to both old and new fears and how writers can thrive in the future—any future.

All proceeds from this event will support the mission of the Queen City Book Bank.

The mission of QCBB:
We are proud to work in tandem with our community to champion the development of literacy through tutoring, little free libraries, literacy outreach and guaranteeing book access for all of our neighbors.

Indy Arts Council presents Indianapolis Bicentennial Legends: Etheridge Knight

New Etheridge Knight mural to be unveiled 5:30 PM June 30 at the Chatterbox Jazz Club. Read More and register here.

Event will feature music, poetry, and speakers including Elizabeth Gordon McKim, author of new memoir “Elizabetheridge”

Indianapolis, Indiana (June 15, 2023)–A two-story outdoor mural of Black Arts Movement poet Etheridge Knight (1931-1991) will be unveiled at a free public event at 5:30 p.m. Friday, June 30, at the Chatterbox Jazz Club, the Indy Arts Council announced.

Knight, who became a poet while incarcerated in the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City in the 1960s, was a regular at the Chatterbox in the late 1980s and taught some of his Free People’s Poetry Workshops there. (**Background on his life is included at the end of this release.)

The free event will feature memories shared by Knight family members; a reading by poet Elizabeth Gordon McKim, Knight’s longtime partner and the author of the new memoir Elizabetheridge; and performances by Indianapolis-based poet Ashley Mack-Jackson and musician Carl Hines. Guests can also explore the Black Worldschoolers Mobile Bookstore and buy Knight’s books from Ujamaa Community Bookstore.

“Etheridge Knight wielded influence both as a nationally recognized poet and as a conscientious, down-to-earth resident of Indianapolis,” said Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett. “The Bicentennial Legends series has been a great way to honor historic figures like Knight while recognizing the diverse influences that shape our present. Knight put it best in his poem The Idea of Ancestry: ‘I am all of them and they are all of me.’”

INconversation with Tess Gunty

Indiana Humanities and the Indiana Authors Awards invite you to join us for a conversation between National Book Award winner Tess Gunty and Indiana author Susan Neville at the Indiana Landmarks Center on Monday, July 17.

South Bend-native Tess Gunty’s debut novel,?The Rabbit Hutch, won the 2022 National Book Award for fiction. The book explores the interconnected stories of residents of a low-cost housing complex in the fictional city of Vacca Vale, Indiana. Loosely based on her hometown of South Bend, Gunty’s Vacca Vale is filled with distinct characters and vivid imagery of the post-industrial Midwest.

Gunty’s novel also won the?Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and the Barnes and Noble Discover Prize. It was named one of twelve essential reads by?The New Yorker, and a best book of the year by TIME, NPR, the?Chicago Tribune,?People, the?New York Times and others. Gunty received an undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and holds an MFA in creative writing from New York University, where she was a Lillian Vernon Fellow. She now lives in Los Angeles.

Gunty will be joined in conversation with Indiana author and Butler University professor emerita Susan Neville, who writes essays and stories inspired by the history, culture and people of Indiana. In 2022, her book of short stories, The Town of Whispering Dolls, which also explores post-industrial America through the lens of a fictional Indiana town, won the Indiana Authors Award for fiction.

Held in partnership between Indiana Humanities and the Indiana State Library’s Center for the Book, this event coincides with the paperback release of The Rabbit Hutch and the upcoming National Book Festival. The novel has been selected by the Indiana Center for the Book as the state’s 2023 contribution to the Library of Congress’s Great Reads from Great Places program held at the Festival.

Books by both authors will be available for purchase with a book signing to follow.

Brightlane Learning Book Club Hosted by the IDEA Committee

Join our book club as we come together, learn, and have candid conversations about poverty and systemic issues in America.

About this Event: Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliott follows eight dramatic years in the life of Dasani, a girl whose imagination is as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn shelter.

Book Club Meeting Dates: Join the IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Awareness) Committee on the first Tuesday of every month starting in February as we discuss this Pulitzer Prize Winner nonfiction book and engage in larger conversations surrounding poverty and systemic issues in America. Each meeting will correspond with a section of the book.

• Tues, Feb 7 – Part 1
• Tues, March 7 – Part 2
• Tues, April 4 – Part 3
• Tues, June 6 – Part 4
• Tues, July 11 – Part 5
• Tues, August 1 – Part 6
• Tues, September 12 – Part 7

Meetings will be from 6:30-7:30 pm at the Brightlane Learning office at 2955 N Meridian Street Ste 250, Indianapolis, IN 46208. Light refreshments will be served. This book club is free and open to anyone.

In-person attendance is highly encouraged. However, there will be a virtual Zoom option for those who are unable to make it to our office space.

Please note: your attendance is welcomed even if you have not yet read the corresponding section of the book we will be discussing or were unable to attend a previous meeting.

VOCAB (Monthly)

Hosted by Cory Ewing & Januarie York with sounds by DJ Cleopatra

Door 8pm, Show 9pm General Admission *$10 at the door / advance tickets here

White Rabbit Cabaret, 1116 Prospect Street, Indianapolis, United States

Spoken Word ELEVATED: Black Excellence

Rhythm & Poetry Open Mic at PHIRI Art Gallery (Weekly)

An Evening with the Authors (Monthly)

Tea’s the Artist Youth Open Mic Night (Monthly)

Thurs Dec 16 (every third Friday)

Writers Helping Writers (Monthly)

Hancock County Public Library has a writing group that meets on the third Wednesday of each month. Join us!

Brick Street Poetry (monthly)

Margarita Mondays Open Mic

Irving Theater Weekly Poetry Open Mic

Every Thursday night
7:00p – 9:00 PM EST
LOCAL POETS * ORIGINAL POETRY * COME READ OR LISTEN]

A completely nonjudgmental and safe space to share poetry! Every Thursday on the deck at the Irving Theater in the Summer, inside all Winter. Performances are broadcast live on our Facebook page (link below). Come enjoy original poetry and readings from local and regional artists, or present your own poetry.

This event is free.

FACEBOOK LIVE LINK  
For more information, visit the Irving Theater’s website

Books & Brews Open Mic