Michael martone, National Winner
Michael Martone’s most recent books include The Moon Over Wapakoneta: Fictions and Science Fictions from Indiana and Beyond, and Double-wide, his collected early stories. Michael Martone, a memoir in contributor’s notes, Unconventions: Writing on Writing and Rules of Thumb, edited with Susan Neville, were all published recently. He is also the author of The Blue Guide to Indiana, published by FC2.
The University of Georgia Press published his book of essays, “The Flatness and Other Landscapes,” winner of the AWP Award for Nonfiction, in 2000. With Robin Hemley, he edited “Extreme Fiction.” With Lex Williford, he edited “The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction” and “The Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction.”
Michael was born and grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He attended Butler University and graduated from Indiana University. He holds the MA from The Writing Seminars of The Johns Hopkins University. Michael has won two Fellowships from the NEA and a grant from the Ingram Merrill Foundation. Michael is currently a professor at the University of Alabama where he has been teaching since 1996.
James H. Madison, Regional Winner
James H. Madison is the Thomas and Kathryn Miller Professor Emeritus of History, Indiana University, Bloomington. He has also taught as a Fulbright Professor, at Hiroshima University, Japan, and at the University of Kent, Canterbury, England. He has served on the boards of Indiana Humanities and the Indiana Historical Society and as a member of the Indiana Bicentennial Commission. Jim is the author of several books, including Eli Lilly: A Life, A Lynching in the Heartland, Slinging Doughnuts for the Boys: An American Woman in World War II, World War II: A History in Documents, The Indiana Way: A State History, and Hoosiers: A History of Indiana.
Mike Mullin, Emerging Winner
Mike Mullin’s first job was scraping the gum off the undersides of desks at his high school. From there, things went steadily downhill. He almost got fired by the owner of a bookstore due to his poor taste in earrings. He worked at a place that showed slides of poopy diapers during lunch (it did cut down on the cafeteria budget). The hazing process at the next company included eating live termites raised by the resident entomologist, so that didn’t last long either. For a while Mike juggled bottles at a wine shop, sometimes to disastrous effect. Oh, and then there was the job where swarms of wasps occasionally tried to chase him off ladders. So he’s really glad this writing thing seems to be working out.
Mike holds a black belt in Songahm Taekwondo. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife and her three cats. He has written five novels including Surface Tension and the Ashfall Trilogy. His debut, Ashfall, was named one of the top five young adult novels of 2011 by National Public Radio, a Best Teen Book of 2011 by Kirkus Reviews, and a New Voices selection by the American Booksellers Association. For more information, visit http://www.mikemullinauthor.com/.
Tricia Fields, Emerging Finalist
Tricia Fields lives in a log cabin on a small farm with her husband and two daughters. She was born in Hawaii but has spent most of her life in small town Indiana, where her husband is an investigator with the Indiana State Police. A lifelong love of Mexico and the desert southwest led to her first book, The Territory, which won the Tony Hillerman Award for Best Mystery. She has since published four more books featuring border town Chief of Police Josie Gray in the series. For more information, visit https://www.triciafields.com/.
Kelsey Timmerman, Emerging finalist
Kelsey Timmerman is the author of Where am I Wearing? A Global Tour to the Countries, Factories, and People That Make Our Clothes and Where am I Eating? An Adventure Through the Global Food Economy. His writing has appeared in publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Condé Nast Portfolio and has aired on NPR. Kelsey is also the cofounder of the Facing Project, which seeks to connect people through stories to strengthen community. He has spent the night in Castle Dracula in Romania, played PlayStation in Kosovo, farmed on four continents, taught an island village to play baseball in Honduras, and in another life, worked as a SCUBA instructor in Key West, Florida. Whether in print or in person he seeks to connect people around the world. For more information, visit www.whereamiwearing.com.