The 2026 Georgia Author of the Year Awards feature horror, literary fiction
Selected from 110 entries, 14 Georgia writers have won the 2026 Georgia Author of the Year Award (GAYA) bestowed by the Georgia Writers Association.
This year marks the first time an award has been given in the category of horror, a genre that has exploded in the publishing industry in recent years.
“Lots of genre writing is really popular right now,” said Gregory Emilio, executive director of Georgia Writers Association. “(Horror has become) just as popular as romance, and it has a really devoted fan base.”
Michael Wehunt of Atlanta won in the horror category for his novel “The October Film Haunt” (St. Martin’s Press, $29), also winner of the Bram Stoker Award for best first novel. It’s about a recovered horror film fanatic and former blogger who gets sucked back into that world by supernatural forces.
The finalist in the category, which received six submissions, is “Dark Sisters” by Kristi DeMeester.
Emilio noted that this year’s contest also saw increased interest in the literary fiction category.
“It was really, really competitive,” he said.
Savannah author Patricia Lockwood’s “Will There Ever Be Another You” (Riverhead Books, $29) beat out 11 other entries to take top prize.
Alan Grostephan, who won a GAYA in the same category last year for his novel “The Banana Wars,” is the judge who selected Lockwood’s book. He describes it as a “fever dream of a novel about illness, obsession, metalworking, fairies, a cat that changes colors after eating a skink, a husband with an incurable hole in his belly, a messed-up family, all filtered through the consciousness of a smart, unstable and perceptive narrator.”
Said Emilio, “It’s an excellent novel — weird and so deserving of the award.”
The finalist for literary fiction is “The Goddess Complex” by Sanjena Sathian.
Other noteworthy winners this year include Milledgeville author Kerry Neville’s “Momma May be Mad” (Madville Publishing, $21.95) in the memoir category.
“Kerry Neville’s memoir is about struggling with mental illness and alcoholism while being a young mom,” said Emilio. “It’s really unique for memoir because it was pretty experimental, pretty inventive in its structure, and it used things like journal entries and poems alongside the prose. I thought that was such a really innovative approach to the genre.”
Emilio also was delighted that Clarkston poet Rupert Fike won in the poetry collection category for “All Things in Common” (Redhawk Publications, $15).
“He’s a longtime fixture in the Atlanta poetry scene — a really great force out there, always at all the readings and the events,” said Emilio. “He’s such a good ambassador for Atlanta poetry. His collection ‘All Things in Common’ is about his experiences living in a commune in 1970s rural Tennessee.”
For its competition, GAYA considers books produced by traditional publishers and self-published books. This year saw one self-published winner — Atlanta author Danielle Singleton in the detective/mystery category. Her novel “Revenge” (independent, $24.99) is a whodunit set in Wyoming, where a wealthy family of ranchers contends with a murder in their midst.
Emilio observed that Singleton’s win demonstrates that the competition is “about the quality of the work, not who published it.”
Other notable winners include:
Ann Hite’s “I Am a Georgia Girl: The Life of Lucille Selig Frank” for biography.
Justin Haynes’ “Ibis” for first novel.
Charles Seabrook and Ann Litrel’s “35 Natural Wonders of Georgia to See Before You Die” for specialty book.
Ashley Jordan’s “Once Upon a Time in Dollywood” for romance.
Ann Michelle Harris’ “North” for science fiction/fantasy.
Founded in 1964, the Georgia Author of the Year Award is open to authors who wrote their books in Georgia or lived there when their books were submitted for consideration. Winners are selected by a single judge in each category, typically the previous year’s winner.
In lieu of an awards ceremony, the Georgia Center for the Book will host readings featuring select GAYA winners later this year. Details to come.
For a full list of GAYA winners, finalists and nominees, go to authoroftheyear.org.