Author Expo

Join Indy Reads on Saturday, October 17th, 12pm-2pm to meet local authors, buy books, and support literacy for all! Join Indy Reads on Saturday, October 17th, from 12pm-2pm to meet local authors, buy books, and support Indy Reads’ vision of 100% Literacy For All! This free community event brings together local authors and readers for an engaging afternoon of conversation, connection, and book signings. Attendees will have the chance to meet the authors in person, learn more about their work, and purchase signed copies during the two-hour expo. Come support local writers and celebrate storytelling in our community! Meet Our Featured Authors! Jeana Jorgensen Dr. Jeana Jorgensen, author of Folklore 101 and Fairy Tales 101 among other books, has degrees in folklore from the University of California, Berkeley and Indiana University. She has taught at these universities along with Indiana University-Purdue University of Indianapolis and Butler University, where she currently teaches in the Department of History, Anthropology, and Classics. Dr. Jorgensen serves on the editorial board of the academic journal Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy Tale Studies and is a member of the American Folklore Society, the International Society for Folk Narrative Research, the International Society for the Fantastic in the Arts, and other scholarly organizations. In her research, Dr. Jorgensen focuses on how folkloric and fantastical storytelling genres reveal deeply human anxieties around identity, especially gender, sexuality, and disability. She is also a creative writer, having recently released her debut poetry collection "The Thorn Key: Fairy Tales in Verse." Whatever mode she writes in, she seeks to explore the links between individuals, communities, and the stories they tell. Follow Jeana online: Facebook: Foxyfolklorist Instagram: Jeanadances Bluesky: Foxyfolklorist Folklore 101 When's the last time you got to pick a folklorist's brain? Did you know memes count as folklore? Or that folklorists assign numbers to fairy tales to keep track of them all? The field of folklore studies is over two centuries old, and it's full of amazing insights about human behavior, creativity, and community. Folklore studies is as interdisciplinary as it gets, squished somewhere between anthropology and linguistics and religious studies and comparative literature and more. It’s all about the informal human interactions, the million tiny acts and stories and beliefs and arts that function as social glue even if they seem beneath notice. Do traditional holiday foods have a deeper meaning? Yep. Same with folk music, ballads, proverbs, jokes, urban legends, body art, and a ton more genres covered in this book. Is the whole book as easy to read and irreverent as this description? Yep! This fun, accessible guide to the academic study of folklore packs in a college class's worth of material, from basic concepts and major folklore genres to special topics based on identity, fancy theories, and more. If you've always wanted to take a folklore class, or you're a writer or artist using folklore in your work, or you're just generally interested in the topic, this is the book for you! Robin Lovelace Robin Lee Lovelace is a mixed-race African American author who usually writes short fiction in the magical realism genre. Robin’s novella, Savonne, Not Vonny won numerous awards including the Etchings Press Novella of the Year in 2019 and the CIBA in 2021. Her short story "Uncle" won the Marguerite McGlinn Short Fiction Award in 2021. Robin was listed as an honoree in 2020 and 2024 by Indiana Humanities for her work in fiction. In 2025, Robin won the Tusculum Chapbook Competition for her story "Snakebite." When Robin is not obsessively revising her most recent story, she is working in her flower garden, cooking Italian dishes, or walking her rowdy dog, Lucy. Follow Robin online www.robinleelovelace.com Facebook: RobinLeeLovelace Savonne, Not Vonny From her Indianapolis home, upstairs from the brothel where her mother works, young Savonne is taken deep into the bayous of New Orleans. There she learns about Voodoo magic from her great-grandfather and meets the dangerous Diamond John who is out to steal her family's powerful conjure book. With its mix of urban realism and rural magic, Savonne, Not Vonny invites readers to reimagine the cultural traditions of New Orleans, pushing the boundaries of reality and redefining home. Shannon Morrigan Shannon Morrigan is an Indianapolis-based fantasy author and lifelong lover of stories filled with magic, mystery, and adventure. She enjoys creating imaginative worlds, memorable characters, and tales that explore friendship, courage, and the search for where we truly belong. When she isn't writing, Shannon can usually be found reading fantasy novels, spending time with her family, or dreaming up new corners of Havacani. Havacani and the Mark of the Arcanum is her debut novel and the first book in the Havacani series. Follow Shannon online: Instagram: shannon.morrigan TikTok: shannon.morrigan Havacani and the Mark of the Arcanum Avery Sterling has never had many friends, and she has never had a good explanation for the strange things that happen around her. Lights flicker when she cries. Objects break when she is upset. And for years, she has been followed by Grey, a storm-colored cat her parents insist does not exist. On her first day of college, Grey leads her to four strangers who tell her what he really is: her familiar. Avery is pulled through a portal into Havacani, a hidden realm of magic, where she learns that she is an Arcanum, the first of her kind to appear in centuries. Her arrival should be impossible. To the leaders of Havacani, it is a miracle. To Avery, it is overwhelming, especially when demons begin appearing soon after she enters their world. When disaster strikes, she is left with little choice but to remain in Havacani and learn the magic everyone seems to expect her to know. With the help of Salem, Joss, and Lark, Avery begins searching for answers about herself, her powers, and the darkness that seems to have found her in a world she barely knows. Kim Peters Kim Peters is a former Registered Nurse and Board-Certified Health Coach and the author of Josie's Closet, a novel about finding strength and resilience. Kim draws on her deep knowledge of the human condition and the challenges we all encounter to build characters who are both deep and relatable. Kim is a member of the Women's Fiction Writers Association and the Indiana Writers Circle. She was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, where she now lives with her husband of many years. Full-time writing is Kim's passion, but she also takes time to travel and read, of course. Large, noisy, and fun extended-family gatherings are a favorite of hers, as well as spending time with her four children and six grandchildren. Follow Kim online: http://www.kimpetersauthor.com Facebook: kimpetersauthor Instagram: kimpetersauthor Josie's Closet Character-driven, women's contemporary fiction about overcoming denial and past trauma. The story follows Josie Lambert as she separates from her narcissistic husband and her prestigious career as a Hollywood costume designer for the small town in Georgia where she lived as a child. Unexpected memories, secrets, and surprising betrayals challenge her ability to cope, threatening to destroy her sense of self and her very sanity. She falls down the slippery slope of denial and obsession that forces her to find the strength and resilience to start over. Thomas Ramseyer Thomas Ramseyer is a retired high school English teacher whose passion for travel inspires much of his work. In his writing, he loves to explore how culture and nature interact to influence our viewpoints. His influences are varied, but he is especially drawn to early twentieth century literature.