Barbara Shoup, Indy-based novelist and mentor to writers

As Hoosier History Live salutes Women's History Month, our spotlight will be on one of the state's best-known contemporary novelists. She's almost equally well known for nurturing generations of aspiring writers ranging from high school students and young children to residents of retirement communities and prisoners at the Indiana Women's Prison. Barbara Shoup, the former executive director of the Indiana Writers Center, is the award-winning author of eight novels for adults and young adults, including several set in Indiana and some with teenage protagonists. Before her long tenure at the Indiana Writers Center, where she continues to be the "writer-at-large" she was a beloved teacher at the former Broad Ripple High School in its Center for Humanities and Performing Arts.