Often misunderstood, Indianapolis is a diverse and politically blue city in a red state which has been earning national attention: Most Affordable Cities(#2), Forbes’ America’s 20 Best Cities For Young Professionals (#10), Top 10 Best Downtowns (#3), World’s Most Livable Cities. Restaurants like Bluebeard and Milktooth (both featured in Gourmet magazine) have elevated the Indianapolis food scene to make it one of Zagat’s Top 26 Food Cities. The serious food and drink culture combined with a “100-acre sculpture park, a scenic downtown canal rowed by kayaks and gondolas, an authentic duckpin bowling alley, and the largest children’s museum in the world” earn Indy a spot on Conde Nast’s Most Underrated Cities.
Many of our students and faculty have moved from other cities and have good things to say about it:
- Mike Pence is no longer in Indianapolis, but John Green is, and he’s “a real fan” of Indianapolis. “There’s a vibrant culture here and a lot of value placed on hard work and innovation. This makes it a useful place for me to live, because I am surrounded by the kind of experience I want to write about.” John Green has a slew of other reasons for loving Indy you can read in this essay.
- “You get to be a Hoosier. Like, what even is that?” – Bailey Merlin, Fiction candidate, moved from Florida
- More than $5 billion has been invested into the downtown Indianapolis area since 1990. It boasts unique shops, local restaurants, ever-changing exhibits, a 250-acre urban park, sports, festivals, concerts, and an 8-mile cultural trail connecting distinct neighborhoods and displaying outdoor art. Even the New York Times noted Indianapolis’ improvements as a bike-friendly city.
- “I love riding my bike canal-side to Holcomb gardens to read beneath the willow trees, getting my favorite pick-me-up — the “White Zombie” at Monon Coffee — and Sunday brunch at Milktooth followed by an afternoon at Tapper’s arcade bar. Broad Ripple is an artsy neighborhood in walkable distance to thrift shops, restaurants & live music. I’ve met awesome people here — students, professors, neighbors alike — who have given my poetry a Midwest home.” – Natalie Tombasco, Poetry candidate, moved from Staten Island
- 60,000 fans of board games, comics, and nerd culture attended Indy’s Gen Con in 2016 — the longest-running, best-attended gaming event in North America.
- “The counter-culture here is supercharged: it has to be. And we have more breweries per person than any other state.” – Hilene Flanzbaum, MFA director, moved from Philadelphia
- Indianapolis is the most sexually satisfied city in the country according to Men’s Health magazine.
- “We have six different species of turtle living in the White River Canal, which is insane to me. That seems like a lot.” – John Eckerd, Fiction candidate, moved from Texas
- “Indy’s a tidy little secret with lots of cool people, cheap housing, and zero pretense. Cozy up with one of our cheerfully sardonic locals and prepare to spend a single-digit number of dollars on drinks.” – Greg O’Neill, Fiction candidate, from Indianapolis
- Neighborhood bar, Red Key Tavern, is a perennial Best Bar in America in Esquire, not to mention one of Buzzfeed’s 12 Historic Bars Every Book Nerd Needs To Visit joining a list that includes Oxford, Madrid, and Paris. If you go to the Red Key to write, you will not be alone … but you will be “alone.”
Cross Country Skiing: 
Lights at the Brickyard
Circle of Lights
Christmas at the Lilly House
Congratulations to Butler MFA graduate, Laura Kendall. Not only is she a 
Karin Salisbury: It’s a home away from home. I’m grateful for insightful faculty, supportive staff, and faithful friends I adore. I am also grateful for the many outreach programs, including Writing for Wellness.
Luke Wortely: Writing in the Schools 
Lydia Johnson: I’m thankful for friendships, writing support, encouragement and being a part of a community of writers and the Butler community at large. Also that the programs and events are open to alumni so that we can still be involved!
Lisa Frazeur: I am thankful to be in an environment where we want to see each other succeed. I don’t feel pressure to be better than the person next to me, just encouragement to consistently become a better me.
Bailey Merlin:The Writing for Wellness program made me want to be a better, more compassionate human being. I’d say I’m pretty damn grateful for that. 
Tracy Mishkin: The Butler MFA has helped me meet all the goals that I had coming in: write more, write better, send more stuff out, get published. We have great faculty, students, and staff supporting us!
Andrea Boucher: I am thankful to the Butler MFA program for helping me establish a second and far better life as my alter ego Butler Andrea. Exceedingly thankful. I finally found my people.
Annie Sullivan: Besides the wonderful writers and mentors I met, I’m thankful for a program that welcomed writers who write in different genres and for different ages. Not every program welcomes people who write YA and MG, but Butler always made me feel valued and respected for my writing.
The following day, Strout met with students for an intimate Q & A. She discussed her writing process and where she found inspiration. “I grew up on a dirt road in Maine with all my great-aunts. They were miserable, elderly people. I went in and out of their homes like a squirrel—they didn’t care. Their voices and concerns were the music of my childhood.”