Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Congratulations to our 2012 Townsend Finalists!

The Townsend Prize for Fiction is awarded biennially to the Georgia writer judged to have published the best book-length work of fiction in the previous two years. The prize was founded in 1980 in honor of founding editor of Atlanta Magazine, Jim Townsend. Past recipients include respected Georgia authors Celestine Sibley, Alice Walker, Terry Kay, Ha Jin, and Kathryn Stockett.

Books are brought to our attention through communication from publishers, agents, and in some cases authors themselves. The final nominees are then selected by The Chattahoochee Review and the Georgia Center for the Book. Determination of the winner is carried out by anonymous, independent judges and announced at an awards ceremony. The next Townsend Prize for Fiction will be awarded April 26th, 2012, at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Ann Beattie will give the keynote address.


The 2012 Townsend Prize Finalists:

Daniel Black, Perfect Peace (St. Martin’s Griffin)

Lynn Cullen, Reign of Madness (Putnam Adult)

Ann Hite, Ghost on Black Mountain (Gallery Books)

Joshilyn Jackson, Backseat Saints (Grand Central Publishing)

Collin Kelley, Remain in Light (Vanilla Heart Publishing)

Thomas Mullen, The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers (Random House)

Andrew Plattner, A Marriage of Convenience (BkMk Press at the University of Missouri-Kansas City)

Josh Russell, My Bright Midnight (Louisiana State University Press)

Joseph Skibell, A Curable Romantic (Algonquin Books)

Amanda Kyle Williams, The Stranger You Seek (Bantam)