New literary festival Proof is one for the books

As an event name, “Proof: A Midwest Lit Fest” works on more than one level.

In publishing, a proof is a document used to confirm final corrections before a work goes to press. A more universal definition of proof refers to something undeniable and irrefutable.

The new books-focused gathering scheduled for Saturday at the Harrison Center, 1505 N. Delaware St., is designed to offer conclusive evidence of a thriving literary community in Indianapolis.

Poets Mitchell L.H. Douglas and Chantel Massey pitched the idea of “Proof” to Indiana Humanities, which organized 10 public conversations, five author readings and four writing workshops. Also scheduled: a book fair and ways to connect with publishers and literary magazines, as well as food, beverages, music and games.

Megan Telligman, director of programs at Indiana Humanities, cites the rising popularity of silent book clubs—where attendees read whatever they like in quiet company—and a wave of new independent bookstores in the city as signs that the time is right for Proof.

“There are amazing authors who have always called Indianapolis home,” Telligman said. “We were seeing this critical mass of energy around literature and writing. It seemed like a great opportunity. So when Mitchell and Chantel brought the idea to us, we said, ‘Yes, this is something we’ve always wanted to do, too. Let’s try it out.’”

The day’s roster of participating authors based in Indianapolis includes Susan Neville, a new lifetime achievement honoree of the Indiana Authors Awards; Tamara Winfrey-Harris, author of “A Black Woman’s Guide to Getting Free” and co-founder of Black Women’s Writing Society; Thomas Kneeland, author of poetry collection “We Be Walkin’ Blackly in the Deep”; and Januarie York, poet laureate at Central Library’s Center for Black Literature and Culture.

The 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. event isn’t confined to the Harrison Center. Proof sessions also are planned at Indiana Humanities, 1500 N. Delaware St.; Dream Palace Books & Coffee, 111 E. 16th St.; and Loudmouth Books, 212 E. 16th St. The festival is free and open to the public, with registration encouraged at indianahumanities.org.

Proof co-founder Douglas, an associate professor of English at Indiana University Indianapolis, said he and Massey, an Indianapolis native in the master of fine arts program at Virginia’s Randolph College, initially brainstormed a wish list of authors to invite to Indianapolis.

“We started dreaming and thinking about the kind of events we could help Indiana Humanities with,” Douglas said. “We’re always thinking about what we don’t have and trying to make a space for it. That’s basically our creative process.”

The headlining attraction at the first edition of Proof is an Indianapolis native who built his career while living in New York City, Germany and England. Darryl Pinckney, a North Central High School alum, has written for The New York Review of Books since 1977.

Pinckney’s first novel, 1992’s “High Cotton,” was a coming-of-age story inspired by the author’s time in Indianapolis. His 2022 memoir, “Come Back in September,” details Pinckney’s life in New York during the 1970s and 1980s.

Taylor Lewandowski, co-owner of Dream Palace Books & Coffee, invited Pinckney to make the homecoming visit. Lewandowski hosted a reading last fall at Brooklyn’s Powerhouse Books, where the lineup of authors included Pinckney.

Regarding Proof, Lewandowski said the event is a rare local opportunity to see Pinckney in person.

“I’m really drawn to his criticism,” he said of Pinckney. “I think he’s been one of the best literary critics for decades.”

Pinckney will participate in a Proof conversation with Lewandowski and “The Town of Whispering Dolls” author Neville. The title of the session is “You Can’t Go Home Again,” a phrase credited to author Thomas Wolfe.

In contrast to Pinckney, who left Indianapolis as a teenager, fellow North Central alum Neville taught English at Butler University for 38 years.

“There’s this idea of a restlessness of being here, but then when you leave, it’s kind of a yearning for Indiana—or not,” Lewandowski said.

Adrian Matejka, a Pike High School alum and former state poet laureate of Indiana, moved to Chicago in 2022 to become editor of Poetry magazine.

Matejka will return to Indianapolis for Proof, where he will participate in a conversation with event co-founder Douglas. In 2021, Douglas and Massey read from their works at the Jazz Kitchen, 5377 N. College Ave., as part of a book-release event for Matejka’s “Somebody Else Sold the World” collection of music-inspired poetry.

Douglas and Massey point to that night as the origin of their creative partnership.

“I always think of poetry or writing in the community aspect and the benefit of raising each other up together,” Douglas said. “That’s the way I think of the workshops I teach, and that’s the way I think of an event like Proof. The arts make the quality of our community better.”

Buying power

Jake Budler is co-owner of Tomorrow Bookstore, 882 Massachusetts Ave., a shop that opened in 2023. Proof venues Dream Palace and Loudmouth also opened last year.

Budler said readers are a crucial component of a literary community.

“If nobody buys books, nobody reads books, and there’s no industry,” he said.

Budler will serve as moderator for a Proof conversation titled “The Business of Books,” which will explore the difference between independent bookstores and enormous online retailers.

“I think our biggest goal for the panel is to give general readers a better understanding of the industry but then actually a better understanding of tactically how decisions around buying books impact the industry,” Budler said. “What can a regular reader do to play a positive role in the book industry?”

In 2020, the House Judiciary Committee reported that Amazon sells more than 50% of physical books in the United States and more than 80% of e-books.

The “Business of Books” conversation will feature Danny Caine, a Cleveland-based author who wrote the books “How to Resist Amazon and Why” and “How to Protect Bookstores and Why”; Kathy Burnette, founder of South Bend’s Brain Lair Books and a board member of the American Booksellers Association; and Kristen Renee Miller, editor-in-chief of Louisville-based publisher Sarabande Books.

Budler said it’s not easy to run a profitable small bookstore in 2024, but it’s possible.

“A book takes an author, a publisher, a designer, a marketer, an agent and then it takes a bookseller to say, ‘Yeah, we want to sell it,’” he said. “That’s all upfront and that all costs money. It’s a lower-margin business. But I think ours and other businesses prove that it’s completely doable.”

According to data-gathering online platform Statista, 2,600 independent bookstores operated in the United States in 2023. This figure represented a comeback from a pandemic dip that showed a decrease from 2,524 stores in 2019 to 2,100 in 2021. In 2009, 1,651 independent bookstores operated in the United States.

Spaces for stories

Proof co-founder Massey said she’s encouraged by the trend of new independent bookstores in Indianapolis, a list that includes Golden Hour Books, 5208 N. College Ave., and the Whispering Shelf, 414 N. College Ave.

“It’s important that we support this growing number of bookstores and what they add to the community,” she said.

Telligman, an Indiana Humanities staff member since 2017, described bookstores as a conduit between writers and readers.

“They often feature local authors and people coming in on book tours,” Telligman said. “They’re recommending reads for people and just being those spaces where this community can come together, whether it’s a book club or a writers group.”

At Proof, writer workshops will be led by Word As Bond co-founder Rashida Greene, playwright Lou Harry, Anderson University faculty member Kneeland and Winfrey-Harris, who contributed to the 2019 collection “The Lemonade Reader: Beyonce, Black Feminism and Spirituality.”

Massey said she’s looking forward to the Proof Open Mic that will serve as the festival’s final session. The spoken word showcase is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. at the Harrison’s Rooftop & Sky Gallery.

“The goal is to do as much as we can to meet people where they are in their niche of the literary community,” Telligman said.

Centrally located

As Proof makes its debut, the October calendar includes the beginning of the 26th annual Ann Katz Festival of Books & Arts presented by JCC Indianapolis. Scheduled Oct. 21 to Nov. 12, the Katz festival will close with an appearance by “The Office” actor B.J. Novak at Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation, 6501 N. Meridian St.

If Proof is the spiritual successor of any event, it echoes the energy of Divedapper Poetry Carnival. Butler University hosted one-day Divedapper events from 2016 to 2019. Founded by Butler alum Kaveh Akbar, Divedapper was designed to debunk perceptions of poetry as obtuse or unapproachable.

Akbar, who co-founded the MFA program at Randolph where Massey studies, became a New York Times bestselling author this year for his debut novel, “Martyr!”

Part of Proof’s energy is generated by the geographic proximity of the Harrison Center, Indiana Humanities, Loudmouth and Dream Palace in the Herron-Morton Place neighborhood.

Dream Palace co-owner Lewandowski said the cluster of Proof venues is reminiscent of Chicago’s Printers Row, which has hosted an annual literary festival since 1985.

Lewandowski, who teaches English at Herron High School across the street from Dream Palace, said Indianapolis can build on its writing and reading momentum.

“I see the growth every day when writers come in who are regulars at the coffee shop,” he said. “I have conversations with them about books and literature, and I think that exchange happens at other bookstores, too. What Proof brings is this moment where these separate ecosystems of the literary scene are coming together.”•