January 13, 2012

For Immediate Release

Contact: Rebecca Rakoczy

Phone: 678-891-26891

Fax: 678-891-2966

email: Rebecca.rakoczy@gpc.edu

GPC Announces 10 Finalists for the 2012 Townsend Prize

The Southern Academy for Literary Arts and Scholarly Research at Georgia Perimeter College, The Chattahoochee Review, and The Georgia Center for the Book announce the 10 finalists for the 2012 Townsend Prize for Fiction.

Selected by a jury of the sponsoring organizations, this panel considered more than 40 books published by Georgia writers in the past two years. A board of judges awards the Townsend Prize for Fiction biennially to an outstanding novel or short-story collection published by a Georgia writer during that biennium. The winner of the 2012 Townsend Prize will receive a $2,000 award and a silver commemorative tray.

The Townsend Prize will be awarded, Thursday, April 26, at the Day Room of the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Ann Beattie, author of “Mrs. Nixon,” and “Walks With Men,” will give the keynote address at the event.

Created in 1981, the prize was named for Jim Townsend, the founding editor of “Atlanta” magazine, the associate editor of “Atlanta Weekly Magazine” (of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution), and an early mentor to such Georgia writers as Pat Conroy, Terry Kay, Bill Diehl, and Anne Rivers Siddons. Previous winners of the Townsend Prize include Kathryn Stockett for “The Help,” Ha Jin for “The Bridegroom: Stories”, and Alice Walker for “The Color Purple.”

The 10 Finalists for the 2012 Townsend Prize for Fiction are:

• Daniel Black, “Perfect Peace,” St. Martin’s Press

• Lynn Cullen,  “Reign Of Madness,” G.P. Putnam’s Sons

• Ann Hite,“Ghost On Black Mountain,” Gallery Books

• Joshilyn Jackson, “Backseat Saints,” Grand Central Publishing

• Collin Kelley, “Remain in the Light,”  Vanilla Heart Publishing

• Thomas Mullen, “The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers,” Random House

• Andrew Plattner, “A Marriage Of Convenience,” BkMk Press, University of Missouri-Kansas City

• Josh Russell, “My Bright Midnight,”, Louisiana State University Press

• Joseph Skibell, “A Curable Romantic,” Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill

• Amanda Kyle Williams, “The Stranger You Seek,” Bantam Books

For more information about the event, please contact Rebecca Rakoczy at 678-891-2691, or email Liam Madden at the Southern Academy for Literary Arts and Scholarly Research at GPC at William.madden@gpc.edu

Georgia Perimeter College, the third largest institution of the University System of Georgia, serves more than 26,000 students through four campuses and several sites in metro Atlanta. For additional information, visit www.gpc.edu.