Jim Powell, Elwood Indiana native and author of Only Witness, a collection of short stories founded the Indiana Writers Center (IWC) (originally the Writers’ Center of Indiana) as part of the in 1979, offering classes and workshops in spaces around the city, including Powell’s living room. Readings at the Hummingbird Café, the Alley Cat Tavern and other local venues featured poets and writers, including Jared Carter, , and Alice Friman, who became recognized nationally.
Upon incorporation in 1984, the Center settled at . Programming expanded to include an annual Gathering of Writers, as well as readings and workshops with prominent writers including Indianapolis native Dan Wakefield, Tim O’Brien, Mark Strand, Lisel Mueller, W. S. Merwin, Robert Bly, and Rita Dove.
During this time, the IWC launched INwords, a publishing initiative featuring original works generated by writers in IWC programs. Through this initiative, IWC introduced a literary magazine, The Flying Island, and published numerous chapbooks and anthologies of work by Indiana writers such as Jim Powell.
Powell retired as the IWC’s executive director in 1999, succeeded by a series of short-term directors at the Wheeler Art Center, in , and the , in .
Barbara Shoup, author of eight novels and recipient of numerous grants from the , a statewide arts agency funded by the Indiana General Assembly, began a 10-year tenure as executive director in 2009, committed to serving writers working at all levels, growing membership, and expanding the IWC’s reach through community programming. From 2009-2019, the Center developed more than a hundred partnerships with community organizations throughout central Indiana and launched an annual summer learning program that served at-risk youth. Free memoir projects for women veterans, senior citizens, homeless women, incarcerated teens, and others celebrated voices not usually heard and produced anthologies of their work. In partnership with the and , the IWC generated writing on a variety of themes that were set to choreography by Dance Kaleidoscope dancers and performed as part of the .
In 2016, Shoup and programs manager Rachel Sahaidachny edited Not Like the Rest of Us: An Anthology of Contemporary Writers as part of Indiana’s Bicentennial Celebration. The same year, the center won Newsweekly’s Cultural Vision Award.
In 2017, the IWC moved to Circle City Industrial Complex, on the near east side. Two years later, in 2019, it celebrated its 40th anniversary with the publication of Jim Powell’s short story collection Witness. That year Andy Black, who had joined IWC’s staff in 2012, established the Indiana Playwright’s Circle, offering playwrights instruction, scene nights, table reads, and the possibility of production through the annual Short Play Festival.
From 2020-2021, IWC met the challenge of a global pandemic by pivoting to online classes, even holding its annual Gathering of Writers on a virtual platform. It returned to in-person programming in 2022, with almost 200 classes, workshops and events, reaching nearly 4,000 writers.
In 2023, The IWC moved to the Indianapolis Opera Center, in the neighborhood, where it continues to support Indiana writers with classes, workshops, and literary events.
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