Presenting our 2025 Georgia Author of the Year Awards Nominees!
We are thrilled to announce this year’s nominees for the Georgia Author of the Year Awards! Congratulations to everyone on being nominated! Stay tuned for our announcement of the winners in the coming months.
Biography
From Rags to Enrichment: How I Define Success in Business and in Life by Wayne Brown
Big Cat: The Life of Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Mize by Jerry Grillo
Genius of Sport -- Pierre de Coubertin, Paris, and the Birth of the Olympic Movement -- A Brief Biography of a Forgotten Hero by George Hirthler
Vagabond Princess by Ruby Lal
Children’s Book
Veto, The Governor’s Cat by Nathan Deal
When a Monster Meditates by Catherine Gayle
Yaya and the Sea by Karen Good Marable
A to Z Poems for the Very Young by Julia Caroline Knowlton, illustrated by Leah Owenby
Zekes Quest for Courage by Shymara Medina
Bentley Makes a Dump Cake by Miki Taylor
Elodie and Guber in Africa by P.E. Waring
Simple Thanks by Deborah Wiles
Hot Boiled Peanuts: A Georgia Food Tour by Kelly Young-Silverman
Detective/Mystery
Quilty as Charged by Maggie Bailey
The Paris Widow by Kimberly Belle
Booked for Murder by Phillip Depoy
Next of Kin by Samantha Jayne Allen
The Street King by Michael Ludden
Trap, Neuter, Die by Sharon Marchisello
What You Leave Behind by Wanda Morris
The Rumor Game by Thomas Mullen
Nothing But the Bones by Brian Panowich
The Empty Beach Chair by Renee Propes
The Garden of Earthly Delights: A John Wesley O’Toole Novel by William Rawlings
Sapelo Island: A Stella Bankwell Mystery by Ronda Rich
The December Postcards by Alayne Smith
Long Lost Justice by Barbara Tucker
ButterBean ShingALing by Cliff Yeargin
First Novel
A Secret Soldier's Confession by Dennis Barger
Wofford’s Blood: A Novel by Donna Coffey Little
The Day After Yesterday by Karli Donalson
Devil's Defense by Lori Duff
Among the Wolves of Nottely Lake by Chip Jett
Inside the Mirror by Parul Kapur
The Gardins of Edin by Rosey Lee
Under the Circumstances by Susan Middleton
War Bonds: A Novel of World War Two by Pamela Norsworthy
Dad Camp by Evan Porter
Masquerade by O. O. Sangoyomi
History
Above and Beyond: The Mason Family and the Transformation of Gwinnett County by Catherine M. Lewis
Punished for Dreaming by Bettina Love
A Debt of Gratitude: How Jimmy Carter Put Vietnam Veterans' Issues on the National Agenda by Glenn Robins
Brunswick’s Golden Era of Minor League Baseball by David Sweat
James Oglethorpe, Father of Georgia by Michael Thurmond
Inspirational
Dig Deeper: A 21-Week Guide to Self-Discovery Through Plants by Alisha Bridges
Discover the Holy Spirit; Overcome the Unholy World by Sandra F. McClure
The Playbook by Gary Parker
In Loving Memory: Instructions for Living Without Me by Terry Segal
Literary Novel
One Lap to Go by Kenneth Boekhaus
The Fabled Earth by Kimberly Brock
Rednecks by Taylor Brown
The Trial of Mrs. Rhinelander by Denny S. Bryce
The Cape Ann Hat by Michael Cain
Spiderflies by Mandy L Cantrell
Merchants of Iniquity by John Cressler
The Banana Wars by Alan Grostephan
Flight of the Wild Swan by Melissa Pritchard
A Boy's Guide to Outer Space by Peter Selgin
War Stories and Fairy Tales by Paul Sinor
Lying In by Barbara Tucker
The Middle Daughter by Chika Unigwe
Moon of the White Tears by Mark Warren
Nate, The Texas Story by Mark Warren
Nate, The Wyoming Story by Mark Warren
Memoir
The Innermost House: A Memoir by Cynthia Blakeley
This Penis Business: A Social Activist's Memoir by Echo Garrett
The Heroes We Needed: The B-29ers Who Ended World War II and My Fight to Save the Forgotten Stories of the Greatest Generation by Trevor McIntyre
Zenith Man: Death, Love, and Redemption in a Georgia Courtroom by McCracken Poston
Come By Here: A Memoir in Essays from Georgia’s Geechee Coast by Neesha Powell-Ingabire
Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman
Poetry Chapbook
Ilze's Daughter by Livija (Riki) Bolster
Then Darkness: Sketches by Jaydn DeWald
Rabbit Box by John Griffin
After My Father: A Book of Odes by Beth Gylys
Stay On The Trail by Eleanor Hoomes
Postcards from the Masthead by Candice M. Kelsey
Shadows by Kristin Rajan
Broken Grace at Low Tide by Sally Stewart Mohney
Poetry Full-Length Book
Between Birdsong and Boulder – Poems on the Life of Gaia by Robert Ambrose
The Goose Liver Anthology: Mother Goose Meets Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology by Ken Anderson
One Day the Birds Will Explain Everything by Mark Bromberg
Girl at the End of the World by Erin Carlyle
Silent After by Joshua Eric Williams
On the Overnight Train by Alice Friman
Resurrected Body by Elizabeth Garcia
The Way the Moon: Poems by Holly Haworth
What We Missed by Karen Head
In Another Country by Andrea Jurjević
Wonder & Wreckage: New & Selected Poems, 1993-2023 by Collin Kelley
A Night in the Country by Laura Newbern
Firmament by Christopher Martin
The Bones in the Garden (and other things found there) by Elizabeth Michaud
Hail My Attention Kindly by Stephen Powers
Don't Go ; Stay by Deanna Repose Oaks
Facing Toward the East by Carroll Taylor
Slaughterhouse for Old Wives' Tales by Hannah V Warren
Romance
PS: I Hate You by Lauren Connolly
Nobody's Perfect by Sally Kilpatrick
19 CRIMINALS, Maizie Albright Star Detective 9 by Larissa Reinhart
The Dividing Sky by Jill Tew
Science Fiction/Fantasy
I'll See You Again Last October by Carl England
Chosen by Richard Fierce
The Underground Chameleon by Lynn Hesse
The Sky on Fire by Jenn Lyons
Alan Dreams of Giants by T.M. May
House of Fire & Magic by Sherrilyn McQueen
Short Story Collection
The Ward at Twilight: Goth Poems by Ken Anderson
People Among Us by Michael Brown
Zan by Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh
The Women Who Would Not Die by Uddipana Goswami
Where Risky Women Travel by Mary Hopper
Specialty
I Want to Start by Saying by Samuel Ace
Small Altars by Justin Gardiner
Seeing is Believing by Amber Nagle
The Fermentation Oracle by Julia Skinner
Young Adult
L.E.A.P. by Toni Bellon
Blood Justice by Terry J. Benton-Walker
Darkness in the Forest by Brittany Groussman
Millie by McCall Hoyle
Jasmine is Haunted by Mark Oshiro
Untangling Hope by Johnna Stein
Nice Girls Finish First by Megan Wargula
A Copperhead Summer by Mark Warren