Congratulations Ross Gay, Winner of the 2025 Voice of the Heartland Award

The Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association (GLIBA) and the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association (MIBA) are proud to announce that acclaimed poet, essayist, and gardener Ross Gay has been selected as the recipient of the 2025 Voice of the Heartland Award. This annual honor celebrates individuals who exemplify the values and spirit of independent bookselling, and whose work resonates deeply with readers and communities across the region. Gay will receive the award during the Heartland Fall Forum Book Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, October 14, 2025.

Ross Gay’s writing, infused with joy, attentiveness, and profound humanity has had a transformative impact on readers and literary communities alike. His books—including The Book of Delights, Inciting Joy, and the National Book Critics Circle Award winning Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude—invite readers to engage with the world through generosity and wonder. Rooted in the Midwest, Gay’s work consistently reflects the landscapes, voices, and daily practices of our region while also speaking to universal truths that connect us all.

In addition to his celebrated poetry and essays, Gay has been a tireless advocate for the arts and education. As a professor at Indiana University, a founding member of the Bloomington Community Orchard, and a collaborator on numerous community based projects, he has fostered spaces where creativity and shared humanity flourish. His words and actions remind us of literature’s power not just to move hearts, but to build more compassionate and connected communities.
By honoring Ross Gay with the 2025 Voice of the Heartland Award, GLIBA and MIBA recognize a writer whose voice embodies the best of our region and our shared literary values. Heartland Fall Forum is the premier annual gathering of independent booksellers, publishers, and authors across the Midwest and Great Lakes, and is the perfect stage to celebrate his remarkable contributions to literature and culture.
“Ross takes us readers into his gargantuan literary arms and gently suspends us there till we almost think, damn am I flying? And by the time we land, we’ve felt something ancient, something real, something like love. The thing is…to know him, is to know this isn’t just the way he writes, it’s his way of life. He’s certainly an angel of the midwest.” - Bernardo Wade, Author

"In Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, Ross Gay writes, 'I can't stop / my gratitude, which includes, dear reader, / you, for staying here with me, / moving your lips just so as I speak. / Here is a cup of tea. I have spooned honey into it." The tenderness of Ross Gay's writing also exudes from his person, cultivating a classroom wherever you are standing. Here is a writer who is earnestness personified, a true beacon of the power Midwestern authors behold."
- February Spikener, GLIBA & RoscoeBooks, IL

“On the page, Ross Gay delivers gifts of pure thought and hope within exquisite packages of poetry and prose. We open them to understand a piece of the world, ourselves, and those around us. In person, Ross Gay stands before us as a dimple to a knowing and inquisitive smile. There is something extraordinary about his casual open arms and soul that profoundly invite us in. How very elementally Midwestern of us all, to know as soon as we read or meet him, that the deepest and most delightful answers lie with our hands in the soil.”
- Carrie Koepke, Skylark Bookshop, Columbia, MO

“Ross Gay is a bright beam of sunlight in a dark world. His casual candor makes him seem like a friend you've known forever, but his ability to twist a commonplace scenario or wry exchange into an enlightening spark of grace and intelligence makes him a powerful visionary. Ross is also kind and generous with his time, participating in book festivals, virtual COVID events, lecture series, and writing workshops. He is the ideal Voice of the Heartland and we are honored to have him.”
- Harriett R. Logan, Loganberry Books, Cleveland, OH

“As publisher of Ross Gay’s prose titles, Algonquin Books is honored by this recognition. Ross writes about life’s precious little moments: the joys, the wonders, the sorrows. We need voices like Ross’s now more than ever, and we’re delighted that his writing has touched readers across the Heartland region. Many thanks to GLIBA and MIBA for supporting Ross’s work and long career and for their dedication to bookselling.”
- Algonquin Books
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About Ross Gay:
Ross Gay is the New York Times bestselling author of the essay collections The Book of Delights and Inciting Joy and four books of poetry. His Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Award; and Be Holding won the 2021 PEN America Jean Stein Book Award. Gay is a founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard, a non-profit, free-fruit-for-all food justice and joy project and has received fellowships from Cave Canem, the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He teaches at Indiana University.

Past Voice of the Heartland Winners