6 Indy Nonfiction Writers to Follow

TAMARA WINFREY-HARRIS

Tamara Winfrey-Harris is a writer who specializes in the ever-evolving space where current events, politics, and pop culture intersect with race and gender. She says, “I want to tell the stories of Black women and girls, and deliver the truth to all those folks who got us twisted—tangled up in racist and sexist lies. I want my writing to advocate for my sisters. We are better than alright. We are amazing.”

Tamara is the author of two books: “The Sisters Are Alright: Changing the Broken Narrative of Black Women in America” and “Dear Black Girl: Letters From Your Sisters On Stepping Into Your Power.” The award-winning Sisters, now in its second edition, has been optioned by Wise Entertainment and Gabrielle Union’s production company, I’ll Have Another, to be turned into a dramedy for television.

Andi Robinson

Andi Robinson had “write a book” on her bucket list. She even has a Pinterest board for resources related to book writing. But she is not a writer by trade. Andi is the owner of the content consultancy Hijinx Marketing, as well as an Adjunct Professor at the Butler University Lacy School of Business.

In 2013, she started to write a young adult novel, but life got in the way. She was raising two children and working full-time. She put the book aside to focus on work and family. In her role as a content strategist, she met with many others in her profession. She realized that many of them had written books about professional topics they were passionate about. In early 2021, she decided she had enough knowledge in the field to fill a book. She started to outline her book on content strategy, with a dual focus on the content strategy elements and the audience’s psychology. While she was still working full-time, she wrote on weekends and evenings and launched her book in September 2022. “The Content Puzzle…and the Missing Piece” helps marketers and small business owners understand how to create a content strategy and how to use psychological techniques to target their audience better.

And what about that young adult novel Andi started in 2013? She has restarted the writing process and hopes to launch it later this year.

LINDSAY WILLARD

Local author Lindsay Willard is the owner of 10MoreSeconds, LLC. After graduating with her master’s degree from Ohio State University, she worked with companies to help them create a healthier workplace for their associates. After 20 years of experience in the field, she branched out and created her own business in 2019. Lindsay was looking for a book to recommend to her clients to help them make sense of conflicting health information, but couldn’t find exactly what she was looking for, so she wrote her own book (“80 Days to Better Health,” available on Amazon). This guidebook helps readers navigate through 80 days of improved health habits and includes space for them to record their food and beverage intake as well as their physical activity.

Lindsay’s next project is developing a comprehensive strength-training program, which will be available on her website in the Summer of 2024. She’s also working on her second book, which will focus on improving women’s health as they enter their 30s and 40s. Lindsay works from her in-home fitness studio in Fishers, Indiana.

ALEXANDRA O. HUDSON

Alexandra O. Hudson is passionate about how ideas and storytelling can change people’s lives. A writer and popular speaker, she is the founder of Civic Renaissance, a publication and intellectual community dedicated to beauty, goodness, and truth. She was named the 2020 Novak Journalism Fellow and contributes to CBS News, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, TIME Magazine, POLITICO Magazine, and Newsweek. She earned a master’s degree in public policy at the London School of Economics as a Rotary Scholar and is an adjunct professor at the Indiana University Lilly School of Philanthropy. She also created a series for The Great Courses, Netflix for lifelong learners, called “Storytelling and The Human Condition.” Her bestselling book, “The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves,” was published by St. Martin’s Press and was selected as a “Must Read” book by The Next Big Idea Book Club. She lives in Indianapolis with her husband and two children.

TÉA FRANCO

Téa Franco (she/her) is a writer in Indianapolis who tests the limits of humor and whimsy in her stories that center around themes of girlhood for queer, latinx women. Frida Kahlo resurrects as a social media influencer, a girl feeds all of her food to a bloom of angry ladybugs, a skunk funeral makes a young woman contemplate her life, and more in Franco’s debut short story collection, YOU COULD BE THAT KIND OF GIRL, out in August 2024. Franco is a multi-genre writer with poetry, prose, and nonfiction published in several venues, including Barrelhouse Magazine, Foglifter Press, and Barren Magazine. Currently, she is working on a novel that has received funding from the Central Indiana Community Foundation, which allowed her to travel to her father’s city of birth, San Juan, Puerto Rico, to research and write.

LINDSEY FRAZIER

Lindsey Frazier is the author of “Oh Love, Come Close: A Memoir” and advocates for mental health and gun reform. She has spent the last decade of her life advocating for those on the margins, serving as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) and as a Victims of Violent Crime Assistant in a local prosecutors’ office in Indianapolis, where she lives with her husband and three kids. Frazier has not announced her next project yet, but she is finishing up a collection of poetry and musings called “I Am Eve” and will head straight into a suspense/mystery novel titled “Her Name Means Lake.”

For something more recent that is already out in the world, she wrote and recorded the voiceover for To Write Love On Her Arms’ suicide prevention campaign, “The World Is Not Better Without You.” The campaign recently won silver in the Indianapolis Addy’s and was an honoree at The Webby Awards.

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