In partnership with Eatonton’s Georgia Writers Museum, 10 finalists were named recently by the 110-year-old Atlanta Writers Club for the 2025 Townsend Prize for Fiction. The biennial winner will be announced during the Townsend Award Ceremony and Dinner on April 16 at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in Atlanta.
Sanjena Sathian received the most recent Townsend award in 2023 for her novel Gold Diggers. Eatonton’s own Alice Walker received the 1984 Townsend Prize for her novel The Color Purple, representing only its second time awarded. Walker also is among several Townsend winners featured by GWM in its downtown Eatonton location.
The following novels and short story collections (listed alphabetically by author’s last name) were selected by the AWC reading committee as 2025 Townsend Prize finalists (publisher and release date in parentheses):
• KimberlyBrock, The Fabled Earth (Harper Muse, 10-1-24)
• JuliaFranks,TheSaySo (Hub City Press, 6-6-23)
• AnissaGray, Life and Other Love Songs (Berkley, Penguin, 4-11-23)
• GordonJohnston, Seven Islands of the Ocmulgee: River Stories (Mercer UP, 2-7-23)
• Ra’Niqua Lee, For What Ails You (ELJ Editions, 11-6-23)
• DeneneMillner, One Blood (Forge Books, 9-5-23)
• PeterSelgin, A Boy’s Guide to Outer Space (Regal House Publishing, 11-12-24)
• BarbaraTucker, Lying In (Colorful Crow Publishing, 5-15-24)
• ChikaUnigwe, The Middle Daughter (Dzanc Books, 4- 4-23)
• JohnM.Williams,End Times (Sartoris Literary Group, 9-15-23) The 2025 Townsend Awards ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. with an opportunity to purchase copies of each of the Townsend Prize finalists’ books and have them signed and personalized by the authors. A full buffet dinner with vegetarian and gluten-free options will follow at 7 p.m., with several choice desserts, wine, and beer options available.
After dinner, each of the Townsend Prize finalists will read a brief selection from their nominated book before the 2025 Townsend Prize for Fiction winner is announced.
Tickets to the 2025 Townsend Awards ceremony are $125 each and available through the AWC website at atlantawritersclub. org/writer-resources/ awc-townsend-prize-for-fiction, where sponsorship and Townsend Prize donation opportunities also can be found.