2019 Nominees
BIOGRAPHY
Vincent Coppola, Tommy Malone, Trial Lawyer: And the Light Shone Through…The Guiding Hand Shaping One of America’s Greatest Trial Lawyer
William Foege, The Fears of the Rich, The Needs of the Poor: My Years at the CDC
Ruby Lal, Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan
Mary Schmidt Campbell, An American Odyssey: The Life and Work of Romare Bearden
CHILDREN’S BOOK
Barbara Brown Taylor and Melanie Cataldo (Illustrator), Home by Another Way: A Christmas Story
Shanda McCloskey, DOLL-E 1.0
Lisa Stauffer and Angelika Scudamore (Illustrator), Two by Two
Deborah Wiles, A Long Line of Cakes
DETECTIVE/MYSTERY
Emily Carpenter, Every Single Secret
David H. Hanks, Black Waters
Linda Hughes, Secrets of the Island
Roger Johns, River of Secrets
Angie Lovell, Off the Dark Ledge
Trudy Nan Boyce, The Policeman’s Daughter
Linda Sands, Precious Cargo
Paul Sinor, Long Ago and Far Away
Paul Sinor, Sentimental Journey
Karin Slaughter, Pieces of Her
Maggie Toussaint, Confound It
ESSAY
Robin Conte, The Best of the Nest: Robin Nest Columns from the Reporter Newspapers
André Joseph Gallant, A High Low Tide: The Revival of a Southern Oyster
Lee St. John, She’s a Keeper! Cockamamie Memoirs from a Hot Southern Mess
Megan Volpert, Straight Into Darkness: One Tom Petty Redemption Song
FIRST NOVEL
Xhenet Aliu, Brass
Stephanie Baldi, Redemption
Robert Covel, Twilight of the Gods
Michael Dubrow, American Judas
Samantha Heuwagen, Dawn Among the Stars
Karen Lynn Nolan, Above the Fog
David Valdez, Eyes to the Mountains
Jamie Weisman, We Are Gathered
Julian Winters, Running with Lions
Spencer Wise, The Emperor of Shoes
HISTORY
Gina Caison, Red States: Indigeneity, Settler Colonialism, and Southern Studies
Joseph Crespino, Atticus Finch: The Biography
Duncan Dobie, Dawn of American Deer Hunting, Volume II
John Ferling, Apostles of Revolution: Jefferson, Paine, Monroe, and the Struggle Against the Old Order in America and Europe
Phil Hudgins and Jessica Phillips, Travels with Foxfire: Stories of People, Passions, and Practices from Southern Appalachia
Matthew H. Jennings and Gordon Johnston, Ocmulgee National Monument: A Brief History with Field Notes
Jared Knott, Tiny Blunders/Big Disasters
Gordon Lamb, Widespread Panic in the Streets of Athens, Georgia
Sidney Perkowitz and Eddy von Mueller, Frankenstein: How a Monster Became an Icon: The Science and Enduring Allure of Mary Shelley’s Creation
LITERARY FICTION
Cathy Adams, A Body’s Just as Dead
Raymond Atkins, Set List: A Novel
Thom Brucie, Children of Slate
Edward Cooper, The Okinawa We Lost
Jack McDevitt, The Long Sunset
Roberta George, The Day’s Heat
Tayari Jones, An American Marriage
Bob O’Kelley, Original Baby Boomers
Mark Warren, Born to the Badge: Wyatt Earp, An American Odyssey
Karen White, Dreams of Falling
MEMOIR
James C. Abbot, Jr., The Burdens of Aeneas: A Son’s Memoir of Duty and Love
Kelly Beard, An Imperfect Rapture
Julie Bragg, The Brothers of Bragg Jam: A Mother’s Memoir
Bruce Blackman, The Road to Moonlight Feels Right
Lawrence Carter, A Baptist Preacher’s Buddhist Teacher: how My Interfaith Journey with Daisaku Ikeda Made Me a Better Christian
Tena Clark, Southern Discomfort: A Memoir
Michael Coles and Catherine Lewis, Time to Get Tough: How Cookies, Coffee, and a Crash Led to Success in Business and in Life
Harrison Scott Key, Congratulations, Who Are You Again?
Michelle LeClair and Robin Gaby Fisher, Perfectly Clear: Escaping Scientology and Fighting for the Woman I Love
Linda Grant Niemann, Cosas: Folk Art Travels in Mexico
David Schaeffer, Another Five Big Mountains and Treks: A Regular Guy’s Guide to Climbing Mt. Rainer, Everest Base Camp, Mt. Fuji, the Inca Trail/Machu Picchu, and Cho Oyu
Dorin Schumacher, Gatsby’s Child
Michael Shaffer, In Memory of Self and Comrades: Thomas Wallace Colley’s Recollections of Civil War Service in the 1st Virginia Cavalry
Connie Tuttle, A Gracious Heresy: the Queer Calling of an Unlikely Prophet
POETRY CHAPBOOK
F.S. Blake, Terminal Leave
Katherine Fallon, The Toothmakers’ Daughters
Julia Knowlton, The Café of Unintelligible Desire
Jane Simpson, Blessings of the Beasts
Cynthia Robinson Young, Migration
POETRY FULL-LENGTH
Mario Chard, Land of Fire
Travis Denton, My Stunt Double
Rupert Fike, Hello to the House
Danielle Hanson, Fraying Edge of Sky
Eve Hoffman, Memory & Complicity: Poems
Karen Paul Holmes, No Such Thing as Distance
Joan Howard, Jack, Love and the Daily Grail
Alexander Johns, Darwin’s Book of Saints
Stephanie Kartalopoulos, Amulet
Collin Kelley, Midnight in a Perfect World
Jennifer Holley Lux, White Portals
Amy Pence, [It] Incandescent
Sara Pirkle Hughes, The Disappearing Acts: Poems
Matthew E. Silverman, The Floating Door
William Wright and Jesse Graves, Specter Mountain: Poems
ROMANCE
Marilyn Baron, The Siege: A Novel
Amber Brock, Lady Be Good
Sally Kilpatrick, Oh My Stars
Jane Lewis, The Barnstormer
Ricki Schultz, Switch & Bait
SHORT STORY COLLECTION
Sabrina Orah Mark, Wild Milk
Andy Plattner, Dixie Luck: Stories and the Novella Terminal
Laura Valeri, The Dead Still Here
Sandra Worsham and Letha Hawkins, Patterns: Stories
SPECIALTY BOOK
Jennifer Boles, Inspired Design: The 100 Most Important Interior Designers of the Past
Sarah Boykin and Susan Hunter, Southern Homes & Plan Books: The Architectural Legacy of Leila Ross Wilburn
Blake Burton and Jerry Hancock, Ponce City Market: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of Atlanta’s Largest Building
Jimmy Carter, The Paintings of Jimmy Carter
Staci Catron, Mary Ann Eaddy, and James R. Lockhart (Photographer), Seeking Eden: A Collection of Georgia’s Historic Gardens
Pano Karatassos and Francesco Tonelli (Photographer), Modern Greek Cooking: 100 Recipes for Meze, Main Dishes, and Desserts
Susan Lindsley, Wildlife in Persimmon Paradise
Todd Richards and Angie Mosier (Photographer), Soul: A Chef’s Culinary Evolution in 150 Recipes
YOUNG ADULT
Rachael Allen, A Taxonomy of Love
Matthew Laney, PRIDE WARS: The Spinner Prince
Kam Karem, Ranger Nader & The Sunstruck Phantom
Nic Stone, Odd One Out
Lisa Lewis Tyre, Hope in the Holler
Will Walton, I Felt a Funeral in My Brain