May 2021:
Bookmark Indy is a literary trail and exploration of Indianapolis through the eyes of the writers who have called it home. The experience was designed to uplift points of inspiration for Hoosier authors, such as Kurt Vonnegut, Mari Evans, Booth Tarkington, Adrian Matejka, Susan Neville, Etheridge Knight and John Green.
In 2019, Indiana Humanities received a $100,000 Lilly Endowment grant to help create the trail, which launched in the fall of 2020, coinciding with Indianapolis’ bicentennial celebration.
“Many people are familiar with Indianapolis’s long history as a nationally admired hotbed of literature, especially during the “Golden Age” of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries,” said Keira Amstutz, president and CEO of Indiana Humanities. “But many people don’t realize that Indianapolis is currently in the middle of a literary renaissance and home to some of the most acclaimed writers in the U.S. Bookmark Indy celebrates our rich literary past and current dynamic moment and highlights our city’s consistent role as a literary stronghold.”
Throughout the year, Indiana Humanities has implemented readings, poetry performances, writing activities and other literary-related programming along the trail. Featured destinations include the James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home, Booth Tarkington’s home, and the Mari Evans and Kurt Vonnegut murals on Massachusetts Ave. A mobile-friendly website, Bookmarkindy.com, was created to showcase each site and serve as a guide to Indy’s rich literary culture, highlighting local art inspired by Indy’s writers and offering prompts for people to engage and create on their own.
Learn more and view lists of locations and authors here.
Related News: https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/city-initiative-highlights-indy-writers