Bloomington Book Festival John Green Delphi murder authors William Kent
As Michael Koryta wrote “Departure 37” (2025), he felt drained. Much of his research on the nuclear age terrified him. He feels the same about artificial intelligence: “There is potential for good, sure, but also potential for disaster,” he said in an email. “Scary, and perfect,” says Stephen King, on the cover of Koryta’s “Departure 37.”
Koryta and other highly ranking authors come to the three-day Bloomington Book Festival Oct. 24-26 at several locations.
Authors sharing with local audiences include Aine Cain and Keven Greenlee, who wrote “Shadow of the Bridge: The Delphi Murders and the Dark Side of the American Heartland.” True Crime Panel with Aine Cain and Kevin Greenlee and their book “Shadow of the Bridge: The Delphi Murders and the Dark Side of the American Heartland.” Cain and Greenlee investigated reports on the murders of best friends Libby German and Abby Williams and talked with the girls’ families about what happened on Feb. 13, 2017, when the two best friends took a walk near Delphi, Indiana.
The festival also has many other Hoosier authors and artists throughout three days of events. Visit bloomingtonbookfestival.com for details.
The festival, founded by Morgenstern Books & Cafe’s Jenna Bowman, is a nonprofit company, separate from Morgenstern Books, and is run by a board of directors. Bowman said she approached Koryta one day in 2023, suggesting the birth of a book festival in Bloomington. Koryta grinned.
” I loved it immediately,” Koryta said, “because I’ve spent 20 years on the speaking circuit at other festivals, and have yet to encounter one in a town I like as much as Bloomington.”
Even before Bowman asked, Koryta had believed Bloomington could muster a good book festival.
Proof is ‘the quality of writers we have appearing in just our second year’
“Proof of the promise is the quality of writers we have appearing in just our second year,” Koryta said. “John Green is selling out auditoriums around the globe; William Kent Krueger is at the top of The New York Times bestseller lists, and the duo that wrote ‘Shadow of the Bridge,’ about the tragic Delphi murders, is earning national acclaim.
“There’s no single right way to (write),” Koryta said. “The best thing about the creative process is how individual it is, and I think one of the special opportunities of the book festival is hearing varied approaches on the craft.”
Koryta voraciously reads all types of writing. The bookstore was his favorite childhood hangout, and it remains so.
“The technology changes, but storytelling endures, and I don’t fear for (storytelling’s) future. This festival is symbolic of that lifeblood.”
“I’m not sure who we could have delivered with more talent than John Green”
Koryta said “(Indiana author) John Green was, to quote (Bowman), ‘our white whale,’ the writer we most wanted to bring in. I can’t think of any living writer who is doing more for the greater good while still entertaining people.”
Koryta described Green as “a guy who brings readers to laughter and tears with fiction, educates the world about tuberculosis through compelling storytelling, hosts a wildly entertaining podcast, and then heads off to speak to the United Nations.”
“Short of Benjamin Franklin, who was sadly unavailable, I’m not sure who we could have delivered with more talent than John Green. And he’s a Hoosier!”
Green (“Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection,” 2025), who is experiencing monstrous global success, is a hero of Koryta’s, who values Green’s participation in the Bloomington festival as “an act of real generosity.” The festival adds demands to Green’s already jammed schedule.
Green is the No.1 New York Times bestselling author of “Everything Is Tuberculosis,” “Looking for Alaska,” “An Abundance of Katherines,” and other books.
He also has coauthored a book and won the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award, a 2009 Edgar Award and has been a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize two times.
For Koryta, place is a character
Koryta, a Bloomingtonian and New York Times-bestselling author, has earned or been nominated for awards including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Edgar Award and the Shamus Award. His novels have been translated into more than 20 languages, and many publications have named his works “best books of the year.”
Koryta usually begins a novel with its setting, or place. For him, it’s a “character,” as important as the people. “Each shapes the other,” he said.
He had managed not to use Bloomington as a setting until his “Lost Man’s Lane” last year. But he had fun with it and said he’ll likely use a Bloomington setting again.
In “Lost Man’s Lane,” an excited teenager works as a summer intern for a private investigator who is looking into a frightening crime in Bloomington. A Bloomington woman is gone, after having been noticed as a backseat passenger in a police car.
Koryta grew up in Bloomington and graduated from Indiana University with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. He received the honor a “distinguished young alumni” (2008) by IU, and two years later earned “distinguished alumni’ by the criminal justice department.
Jennifer Niven and a teacher’s murder
Jennifer Niven’s young adult novel “When We Were Monsters” tells the reader right up front that these students are going to murder their (cruelly obnoxious) teacher.
“The day before we kill Meredith Graffam is calm and blue,” begins chapter one.
“When I was in college,” Niven said in an email, “the chair of the English department — who was also my advisor — accused me of plagiarism.”
Niven was exonerated by the university and dean, and the professor was told to apologize. “She never forgave me,” Niven said.
As Niven pondered what to write, she saw a book, Lois Duncan’s “Killing Mr. Griffin.” “I picked it up,” Niven said. “Reread passages. And, like that, I heard the first two lines of the book-to-be.”
Niven is another New York Times and international best-selling American author. She is known for the 2015 young adult book “All the Bright Places” and grew up in Richmond. She has worked in journalism, screenwriting and as an associate producer at ABC TV.
If you go: festival schedule
Visit bloomingtonbookfestival.com/ for more information about the three-day festival, which has events for children and adults.
Oct. 24, 7 p.m. John Green with Michael Koryta at Buskirk-Chumley Theater. (sold out)
Oct. 25, 10 a.m. Children’s Story Hour, Morgenstern Books, 849 S. Auto Mall Road.
Oct. 25, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Children Book Swap, Morgenstern Books, 849 S. Auto Mall Road.
Oct. 25, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Community Vendor Expo, outside of The Mill, 642 N. Madison St.
Oct. 25. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Local Author Fair, outside of The Mill, 642 N. Madison St.
Oct. 25, 1 p.m. Children’s Book Writing Class, with children’s author Tanya Konerman, The Mill, 642 N. Madison St.
Oct. 25, 1-2 p.m. Author gathering with New York Times bestselling authors Jennifer Niven (“When We Were Monsters”) and Gayle Forman (“If I Stay.”). The Mill (aka Dimension Mill), 642 N. Madison St.
Oct. 25, 2-5 p.m. Poetry on Demand with Christy Prahl, author of “With Her Hair On Fire.”
Oct. 25, 2:30 p.m. Life of a Book Panel, moderated by Bob Bledsoe, with Gideon Pine, agent at Inkwell Management; Jenna Bowman, of Morgenstern; Ashante Thomas, aquisitions editor at John Wiley & Sons; and John Hastie, sales rep with Penguin Random House. The Mill, 642 N. Madison St.
Oct. 25, 4 p.m. Author Jeff Darren Muse “Dear Park Ranger”), The Mill, 642 N. Madison St.
Oct. 25, 6 p.m. Behind the Music with Jenn Cristy and Michael Koryta. This is a free event but tickets are required. Singer/songwriter/musician Cristy has a candid conversation with Koryta about stories from her new album, her writing process and a premier listening of “Right Where I Should Be.”
Oct. 26, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Fiction and Nonfiction Book Swap, Morgenstern Books, 849 S. Auto Mall Road.
Oct. 26, 1-2 p.m. True Crime Panel with Aine Cain and Kevin Greenlee and their book “Shadow of the Bridge: The Delphi Murders and the Dark Side of the American Heartland.” Cain and Greenlee investigated reports on the murders of best friends Libby German and Abby Williams and will address questions asked by the audience. Event is free but tickets must be reserved in advance. The Mill, 642 N. Madison St.
Oct. 26, 3-4:30 p.m. A conversation with New York Times bestselling author William Kent Krueger, talking with Michael Koryta, also a New York Times bestselling author. The event is free but tickets must be reserved in advance. The Mill, 642 N. Madison St.
Find Morgenstern Books at https://morgensternbooks.com.
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