Announcing: Our 2026 Award Winners and Honorees

The Society of Midland Authors announced its annual awards, honoring its choices for the best books by Midwestern authors published in 2025. Read the list of winners and honorees, who were honored at our May 12 awards banquet at the Cliff Dwellers Club in Chicago. Tickets to the banquet can be reserved at this link.

Check Out Our Latest Events

Visit our Events page to learn more about Midland Authors’ past and upcoming events. We feature virtual and in-person panel discussions, author presentations, and more. We’d love to have you join us.

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Literary License: Midland Authors’ Newsletter

Literary License is the monthly newsletter of the Midland Authors. It includes news about members, their books, and their notable recent events. It informs members about recent programs, the annual book awards, new members, and final passages. It provides columns about the Midland Authors’ history and the writing life and much more. Members receive it in the mail, but PDFs of past and current issues are available on our website.

Download the Latest Issue (PDF)

Literary License Archives

A closer association among the writers of the Middle West

When fifty writers formed The Society of Midland Authors on April 24, 1915, their objectives included “a closer association among the writers of the Middle West” and “the stimulation of creative literary effort.” A century later, the Midland Authors still accomplishes those goals; hosting literary events, honoring the region’s best books with annual awards, and connecting its members with a newsletter, Twitter, Facebook and other channels.

Our Twelve-State Region

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Sept. 17: Noteworthy Moments From City Council Audio Recordings

The Midland Authors, the Chicago Collections Consortium, and Chicago Public...

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Pictures from our recent events.

Steven Dahlman, seated at center, and Keir Graff, right, talk about their new books with attendees before the start of the Midland Authors Nov. 4, 2025, program at the Fine Arts Building in Chicago. (Photo by Thomas Frisbie)

Mary Nitsch (from left), Gunter Nitsch, Dodie Frisbie and Board Member Jim Walker attend the April 8, 2025, Midland Authors program at the Volumes Book Cafe in Chicago. (Photo by Thomas Frisbie)

Visitors stop by the Midland Authors’ Printers Row Lit Fest tent in September, 2025 and chat with author Diane Piron-Gelman, whose pen name is D.M. Pirone. (Photo by Carolyn Boiarsky)

Syed Afzal Haider and Gwen Cohen chat at a reception after the Jan. 8, 2019, Midland Authors program.

Book awards judge Shari Frost (right) presents a Children’s Fiction award to Samira Ahmed at the Midland Authors book awards ceremony on May 14, 2019.

Former Midland Authors President Richard Lindberg and former Treasurer Bob Remer, who also has been a frequent book judge, at the May 18, 2018, Midland Authors book awards.

Richard Frisbie and Jim Schwab, both former Midland Authors presidents, chat at the Cliff Dwellers Club before the start of the Nov. 14, 2017, program.

Midland Authors Program Chair Greg Borzo with Lynn Sloan and Shanti Nagarkatti at the Plymouth Grill rooftop bar and grill after a Sept. 11, 2018, panel program at which Sloan was a panelist.

Allen Salter and Mahmoud Saeed talk before the start of the Feb. 12, 2019, Midland Authors program at the Cliff Dwellers Club in Chicago.