Following a one-year delay due to the pandemic, the prestigious biennial Townsend Prize for Fiction returns April 13 to recognize the best fiction produced in Georgia during 2020-2022.
Previously bestowed upon such luminaries as Alice Walker, Ferrol Sams, Terry Kay, Ha Jin, Kathryn Stockett and Mary Hood, the award was established in 1982 and now falls under the auspices of the Atlanta Writers Club.
“Georgia has been fertile ground for some of the best writers in the country, from Flannery O’Connor to Terry Kay, telling the stories of red clay roads and tobacco fields,” says director Clayton Ramsey.
“Every two years the sponsors of the Townsend Prize for Fiction have the task of identifying the most remarkable works of literary fiction in the tradition of such celebrated Georgia writers. This year the list of 10 finalists is no less dazzling. The talent ranges from brilliant debuts to the mature work of previous Townsend winners.”
Nominees for the 2023 Townsend Prize for Fiction are:
Daniel Black, “Don’t Cry for Me”
Kimberly Brock, “The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare”
Taylor Brown, “Wingwalkers”
Anjali Enjeti, “The Parted Earth”
Ann Hite, “Haints on Black Mountain”
Thomas Mullen, “Midnight Atlanta”
Lo Patrick, “The Floating Girls”
Josh Russell, “King of the Animals”
Sanjena Sathian, “The Gold Diggers”
Tiphanie Yanique, “Monster in the Middle”
“On this list are characters that settle into your bones, settings that capture the imagination, tales that catch your breath and transport you to other times and places,” said Ramsey.
Finalists were selected by a committee composed of members from the Georgia literary community. The winner will be selected by a panel of three judges from outside the state.
“This is the best craft Georgia can offer, a thrill for readers and proof to the rest of the nation that the Peach State can hold its own in any competition of literary skill,” said Ramsey.
Melissa Fay Greene, author of “Praying for Sheetrock” and “The Temple Bombing,” will give the keynote speech at the AWC Townsend Prize for Fiction Award Ceremony, which is preceded by drinks and dinner. Festivities begin with a reception at 6 p.m. April 13 at the Atlanta Woman’s Club Wimbish House, 1150 Peachtree St., Atlanta.
Finalists’ books will be on sale at the event. Tickets are $60, including dinner, and can be purchased at atlantawritersclub.org.
Never forget. In honor of Yom HaShoah, aka Holocaust Remembrance Day, The Breman Museum will host a program featuring renowned husband-and-wife poets Ilya Kaminsky and Katie Farris on April 18.
Formerly a professor at Georgia Tech and a finalist for the National Book Award, Kaminsky is a Jewish poet from the Ukraine who often deals with political issues in his poetry.
Kaminsky has won a laundry list of major awards, including the Whiting Award, the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. In 2019, he was named by the BBC as one of “12 artists who changed the world.” He will read, among other pieces, “We Lived Happily During the War” from his collection “Deaf Republic.”
Farris, also a former professor at Georgia Tech, will read from her new book “Standing in the Forest of Being Alive” (Alice James Books, $18), a collection of poems that chart her experience with the diagnosis and treatment for an aggressive form of breast cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic and a time of political upheaval.
Farris wrote a very moving essay about her experience and how her dream-life helped her navigate her treatment options that was recently published in the New York Times.
The event will be held 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, at The Breman Museum, 1440 Spring St., Atlanta. Tickets are free but registration is required. For details go to thebreman.org.
Suzanne Van Atten is a book critic and contributing editor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. You can contact her at svanatten@ajc.com.
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