Townsend Prize for Fiction
The Townsend Prize for Fiction is awarded biennially (that is, every two years) to a writer from the U.S. state of Georgia for the best novel published during those years, by the Georgia Center for the Book and The Chattahoochee Review the literary journal of Perimeter College at Georgia State University. The award was named in honor of the founding editor of Atlanta magazine, Jim Townsend. It was first granted in 1982.[1]
For more in-depth information about The Townsend Prize for Fiction, including its history and criteria for eligibility visit the prize's new web site hosted by Perimeter College at Georgia State University at http://chattahoocheereview.gsu.edu/townsend-prize/.
The 2016 Townsend Prize
The awarding of the 2016 Townsend Prize for Fiction took place on Thursday, April, 28, 2016 at the DeKalb History Center. The novel A Clear View of the Southern Sky by Mary Hood won the prize. The keynote address was presented by celebrated National Book Award Winner, Mr. T. Geronimo Johnson. The nine other finalists for the 2016 award were:[1]
- The Coming by Daniel Black
- Twain's End by Lynn Cullen
- Driving the King by Ravi Howard
- An Isolated Incident by Soniah Kamal
- Song of the Vagabond Bird by Terry Kay
- Pretty Is by Maggie Mitchell
- Kismetwali & Other Storie by Reetika Khanna Nijhawan
- Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich
- Offerings from a Rust Belt Jockey by Andrew Plattner
The next celebration of the biennial Townsend Prize for Fiction will take place in the spring of 2018.
Previous winners[2]
- Celestine Sibley, Children, My Children (1982)
- Alice Walker, The Color Purple (1984)
- Philip Lee Williams, The Heart of a Distant Forest (1986)
- Mary Hood, And Venus Is Blue (1988)
- Sara Flanigan, Alice (1989)
- Charlie Smith, The Lives of the Dead (1990)
- Ferrol Sams, When All the World Was Young (1991)
- Pam Durban, The Laughing Place (1994)
- JoAllen Bradham, Some Personal Papers (1996)
- Judson Mitcham, The Sweet Everlasting (1998)
- James Kilgo, Daughter of My People (2000)
- Ha Jin, The Bridegroom (short story collection) (2002)
- Terry Kay, The Valley of Light (2004)
- Judson Mitcham, Sabbath Creek (2006)
- Renee Dodd, A Cabinet of Wonders (2008)
- Kathryn Stockett, The Help (2010)
- Thomas Mullen, The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers (2012)
- Mary Hood, "A Clear View of the Southern Sky" (2016)
References
- 1 2 "Literary Awards | Georgia Center for the Book | Supporting Libraries, Literary Programs and Georgia's Rich Literary Heritage". Georgia Center for the Book. 2012-02-02. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
- ↑ "The New Georgia Encyclopedia".