2023 Judges’ Statements
Biography/Memoir
Winner: Odyssey: Young Charles Darwin, The Beagle, and the Voyage that Changed the World by Tom Chaffin
Odyssey is the cinematic account of the historic voyage that gave a young Charles Darwin direction in life and served as the foundation for scientific ideas that still roil and illuminate our world. Using a rich array of sources, including Darwin’s letters and diaries, Chaffin shows readers a new side of the bearded old sage they know from school textbooks. We meet an aimless Darwin who was neither the first or the second choice to serve as naturalist on the HMS Beagle, but who came of age during the five years he served in that role. It’s an epic and often amusing story about a young man who frustrated his father to no end, but evolved into an adventurer, intellectual, and writer who surely made him proud.
Finalist: Bodies Out of Place: Theorizing Anti-Blackness in U.S. Society by Barbara Harris Combs
Timely and thought-provoking, Bodies Out of Place illustrates that despite professions to color-blindness, fixed attitudes about where Black bodies belong still predominate. The beautifully written book developed out of Harris Combs’ two social identities: a sociologist who wants to understand the world; and a Black woman married to a Black man and the mother of two Black children who wants to protect them from it. Mining current events such as the Ahmaud Arbery murder, and her own family history, Harris Combs shows how despite Black gains, the new social structure looks and operates a lot like it did in the Jim Crow era, only in a nuanced, complex and multilayered way that makes it difficult to see. It’s a necessary read, especially for non-Black Americans, and it calls on White people to acknowledge the racism they created so the nation can work together on positive social changes.
Children’s Book
Winner: Penny, The Engineering Tail of the Fourth Little Pig, by Kimberly Derting and Shelli R. Johannes
Penny, The Engineering Tail of the Fourth Little Pig, by Kimberly Derting and Shelli R. Johannes oozes with humor and joy. This fresh take on a classic fairy tale is not only hilarious, but also inspiring for budding engineers. Clever words paired with comical illustrations by Hannah Marks make this story ideal for read aloud time! STEM Educators will gravitate to the science, math, and engineering that is woven seamlessly into this spunky tale. The fact that Penny is a female pig assisting her three older pig brothers is empowering for girls and will inspire readers of all ages to start sketching some blueprints!
Finalist: Nigel and the Moon by Antwan Eady, Illustrated by Gracey Zhang
From the opening lines of Nigel and the Moon, Antan Weady’s words and Gracey Zhang’s illustrations shine with lyricism and love. Witnessing Nigel’s growth from shy to bold will not only warm hearts, but encourage others to follow their dreams. Nigel’s embarrassment over his parents’ careers during Career Week are relatable and endear him to the reader. Weady’s lyrical words paired with Zhang’s dreamy watercolor illustrations will inspire readers to step into their own light and to become whoever they dream to be.
Cookbook
Winner: Eat Plants, B*tch by Pinky Cole
Despite not identifying as vegan, I was pleasantly surprised by how captivated I was by Pinky Cole’s personal story. Raised on Jamaican vegetarian cuisine and a love for plant-based cooking, she has innovatively adapted her childhood experiences into a repertoire of mouthwatering vegan recipes. These dishes are not only approachable and familiar favorites, but also bursting with bold and exciting new flavors. Her cookbook aims to educate readers about the benefits of this lifestyle, making it a must-read for the curious, health conscious, and anyone seeking fresh and inventive ways to savor something new. With her wildly popular recipes now at our fingertips, we can easily recreate the same amazing flavors in the comfort of our home kitchen.
Finalist: Our Fermented Lives: A History of How Fermented Foods Have Shaped Cultures & Communities by Julia Skinner
Our Fermented Lives is a meticulously researched and comprehensive look at fermentation. Covering a wide range of fermented foods and drinks, from craft beers and sourdough bread to kimchi, this book provides a wealth of information on the health benefits and methods of this ancient practice. The recipes come with clear instructions and helpful tips for successful fermentation. With Julia Skinner’s passion and expertise shining through on every page, this book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in exploring the art and science of fermentation. Now you can begin your own fermentation journey at home with this exceptional guide
Detective/Mystery
Winner: Anywhere You Run: A Novel by Wanda M. Morris
A tender and ferocious novel, Anywhere You Run has an incredibly timely story to tell, and Wanda M. Morris tells it superbly. Well-researched, excellently paced, with carefully drawn characters, the novel shows us the true power of narrative storytelling.
Finalist: Such a Pretty Smile: A Novel by Kristi DeMeester
DeMeester’s compelling narrative explores the ways in which women must fight against the forces that try to silence them. This book is a rallying cry, but it is also a brilliant exploration of two characters whose lives intertwine in profound ways. DeMeester’s narrative is excellently plotted, with an important story to tell.
Essay
Winner: Sifting Artifacts: Essays by Kathy A. Bradley
Kathy Bradley’s book Sifting Artifacts writes about her past and present on the Georgia coast with intimacy and soft hands. Bradley’s storytelling is quiet and beautiful, centering Southeast Georgia’s natural landscape and her place in it, a welcome change from the hustle and busyness of the social-media dominant world we live in. A particular line that stands out for me is from the February 22, 2015 essay: “Repetition creates ritual, and ritual is really nothing more than remembering.” Bradley encourages the reader to think about the connections between community, memory, and nature. Sifting Artifacts amplifies the beauty in the quotidian, the mundane, and the life lessons we pick up if we just take some time to pay attention to and appreciate the (natural) world around us.
Finalist: A Month of Sundays: The New Mexico Columns by Harry Musselwhite
This short but delightful book from Harry Musselwhite features a series of columns written for the Rome News-Tribune, a newspaper in Rome, Georgia. I immediately smiled at the title of the book and thought about the southern euphemism “ain’t seen you in a month of Sundays.” This euphemism, I believe, is the key to understanding Musselwhite’s musings about new experiences in Albuquerque, New Mexico, while referring to signature places, people, and events in his beloved hometown for context. He writes, “New Mexico is called the Land of Enchantment. . .others jokingly call this area the Land of Entrapment. I think there may be a bit of truth in both.” Gentle, witty, and engrossing, A Month of Sundays reads like Musselwhite is a long-distance friend keeping you up to date with his new life in New Mexico while reminding you he is still very much rooted in Georgia soil.
First Novel
Winner: The Cicada Tree by Robert Gwaltney
In The Cicada Tree, Robert Gwaltney has crafted an irresistible, provocative, and magical tale set in the 1950s in Providence, Georgia, about a young piano prodigy whose mysterious gifts and powers go far beyond how her dexterous fingers move across the black and white keys. Gwaltney’s prose is symphonic. His deeply-drawn characters, which include 11-year-old Analeise Newell and Etta May, her equally gifted musical partner in crime, leap off the page. The Cicada Tree is a haunting, hypnotic masterpiece about the Deep South, the dark histories of intertwined family trees, and how secrets, once unearthed, can shatter a community.
Finalist: Mama Tried by Kathy Des Jardins
In Mama Tried, Kathy Des Jardins unspools the hilarious antics of the fearless and irreverent Quida Raye Perkins, who shows up unannounced to throw the life of her DJ daughter, Joy Faye Perkins, into a tailspin. But when Joy Faye starts regaling listeners with tales about her mother’s wild life, her radio show soars in popularity and is soon broadcast across the state of Louisiana. With wit and humor, Des Jardins paints an irresistible portrait of this dynamic duo, and gets to the heart of this complicated mother-daughter relationship, where both laughter and grief reside.
History
Winner: Against All Odds: A True Story of Ultimate Courage and Survival in World War II by Alex Kershaw
Kershaw’s book is a wonderful example of the way thorough research upholds fabulous storytelling. The four men featured in Against All Odds are truly inspirations, and reading about their stunning feats of courage and selflessness kindles both pride and awe. The narrative is compelling and often gut-wrenching; with every word, Kershaw pulls us into the most perilous battles of World War II, and he reminds us why these heroes and so many more are still known as the United States’ Greatest Generation.
In a world in which patriotism and love of country today are often ridiculed, this book reminds us of the almost supernatural bravery and remarkable character that infused those who fought in this horrible, costly war. Kershaw reminds us that, while war is hell, the very fires of hell can forge strength and valor in men (and women) who might never have known just how extraordinary they are.
Finalist: A Road Running Southward Following John Muir’s Journey through an Endangered Land by Dan Chapman
Chapman’s retracing of John Muir’s journey is engaging, and rather unique. Muir’s undertaking deserves to be respected and remembered, and Chapman found a way to do both. A Road Running Southward takes an honest, unfiltered look at the South’s breathtaking natural beauty. The author also laments, again with honesty, the unbridled pilfering of her natural resources and splendor. Chapman manages to pay homage to a splendidly biodiverse region, using vividly-painted prose and even humor in some places, to call attention to what’s happening to the South – a steady, relentless decimation of one of the most beautiful places on earth. This book is both a celebration and a wake-up call.
Inspirational
Winner: The Self Delusion: The New Neuroscience of How We Invent—and Reinvent—Our Identities by Gregory Berns
Having told Americans What It’s Like to Be a Dog and How Dogs Love Us, neuroscientist Gergory Berns now coaches us in both understanding and loving our selves. And paradoxically, he does it by clearing away The Self Delusion. A learned and wonderful book.
Finalist: You're Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God's Design and Why That's Good News by Kelly M. Kapic
We find a healthy corrective in Kelly Kapic’s view of the limited, creaturely nature of the human person. His book is a reminder that You’re Only Human is both True and Good News that America can use. Kapic shows us all that “the Christian life is not to become superhuman; it is to become truly human.”
Literary Fiction
Winner: Sister Mother Warrior by Vanessa Riley
When I think of literature that bends time, softens the heart, and challenges the imagination, it would be hard to go far without reaching for Sister Mother Warrior by Vanessa Riley. By entering the reading in the quite literal belly of the beast, Riley does as Toni Morrison has done: taken me on a sweeping saga, which has the stuff of horror and liberation, and walking me through the ever present life and dignity contained in black life. It is much more than a tale of two people finding themselves. It is the story which contains the seeds that can make this world right again. I wasn’t just captivated by the meticulous research. It was the heart and the unfolding of history bound to intimate stories that kept me going. This was an absolute feat.
Finalist: The Hollow Kind by Andy Davidson
For a man who finds himself fascinated with the blending of humans, horror, and hope, I found Andy Davidson’s world unforgettable. The Hollow Kind finds a way to reckon with words like family, history, terror, triumph, denial, nostalgia, mystery, life, death, grit, and most of all, courage. Like the best writing — that which begins in desperation and ends in empathy — The Hollow Kind is a sort of filling that I think most Americans need.
Poetry Chapbook
Winner: It Felt Like Mississippi by Monica Lee Weatherly
It Felt Like Mississippi is a sorrowful yet triumphant exploration of the dynamic of being a child versus an adult, the transition from one to the other, and the simultaneous complexity, difficulty, and joy of being black and in the south while doing so. Generational and personal trauma influence the collection significantly, with candid poems that ask such difficult questions as “How can motherhood save my life and make me want/ to end it at the same time?” (from “Suicide by Motherhood”) or “When I gaze at my hands and see my umber/ skin, can I ever truly be free?” (from “Free”). And while the collection dedicates great care to recognizing and naming pain, it makes sure to dedicate equal space to recognizing the joy and importance of community, most evidently within the collection’s final piece, “Front Porch,” a sprawling poem that catalogs the myriad life lessons that the speaker received from observing conversations between her elders on the front porch of their home. In these ways, Weatherly’s chapbook feels like a love letter to her upbringing and to her ancestors, putting both her joy and her strife in conversation with those who came before her and those who will follow, likening itself to one giant front porch: a space for growth, tears, sorrow, and love.
Finalist: Poem at the Edge of the World by Julia Caroline Knowlton
Knowlton’s collection is a restrained yet indulgent gathering of poems packed full of details that make one wish they could touch each page to feel for variation in warmth and texture. Of particular note are the wealth of “Self Portrait” poems, such as “Self Portrait with Loss of Appetite,” where Knowlton writes, “The crux of it is, who does not want to glide/ through space, light—to enter like a dancer,/ exit like a gold autumn leaf, float away?” and the brief and more directly titled “Self Portrait,” where the first stanza offers this delectable line: “One red flower on a cactus,/ more silence between us.” Such poems present themselves as different viewpoints on the same subject, illuminating the value of perspective; the same red book, when viewed from behind, becomes suddenly blue. To read Poem at the Edge of the World is to be given the privilege of many unique perspectives at once, each one as equally vivid as it is strange.
Poetry Full-Length Collection
Winner: Call it in the Air by Ed Pavlić
Pavlić’s genre-bending book never loses its sharp ear for language. The judges were impressed by the truly heartfelt emotion in this book, the grief of losing a loved one, the generosity sparkling within Pavlic’s prose. For fans of narrative poetry, Call it in the Air is a must-read.
Finalist: Palabras que respiran / Words that Breathe by Cecilia Lee
Lee’s important work of translation relies on deceptively simple poetic insights layered across two languages. This book is a thrill to read, as meaning dances from one tongue to another. Lee deserves a wide audience.
Romance
Winner: Stealing Ares by Kim Conrey
This slow-build of a romance, filled with distinct and entertaining characters, starts out as a treasure hunt and becomes so much more. With characters that you fall in love with over and over, and remarkable worldbuilding, Conrey’s clever story has you wishing for more.
Finalist: Racing to You by Susan May Carlisle
This book is a beautifully written and heartwarming story about two young people who find love in the most unexpected of places. The characters are well-developed and relatable, and the plot is full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the very end.
Short Story Collection
Winner: Tower: Stories by Andy Plattner
Tower has an ear for particularity, an old-school realism that seems to have emerged right out of the mid-20th century. Plattner plays the greatest hits with ease, and he brings his own idiosyncratic humor and flare to every story in this collection.
Finalist: Haints on Black Mountain: A Haunted Short Story Collection by Ann Hite
Hite’s collection of spirits is a truly ambitious project, one that moves between time and theme with ease. Reading Hite’s prose is a pleasure, with recurring characters deepening the texture of the narrative throughout.
Specialty
Winner: Bigger Than Bravery: Black Resilience and Reclamation in a Time of Pandemic Edited by Valerie Boyd
The names alone in this anthology make it a must-read: Tayari Jones, Kiese Laymon, Imani Perry, Alice Walker, and many others. Lee, who was the recipient of Georgia Writers’s posthumous lifetime achievement award, has gathered a truly remarkable collection of voices whose cumulative impact will be felt many years from now. This is a collection that deserves to be studied in classrooms across the country.
Finalist: Frankie Welch's Americana: Fashion, Scarves, and Politics by Ashley Callahan
First off, this book is absolutely gorgeous. The amount of work that went into producing such a thoughtful arrangement of text and image is astounding. Callahan has woven Welch’s life into the literal fabric of American history. Fans of general history and cultural studies alike will find plenty to love in this book.
Young Adult
Winner: Does My Body Offend You by Mayra Cuevas and Marie Marquadt
Does My Body Offend You by Mayra Cuevas and Marie Marquadt explores the lives of two very different teenage girls and their discovery of power, privilege, bias and friendship. When a humiliating incident at school forces Malena Rosario to cover up her body, Malena finds herself grappling not only with the struggle of being a new student haunted with homesickness, but also her own autonomy and body as a young woman of color. Her new friend, Ruby McAllister, is quick to help Malena, but Ruby has her own path of self-discovery…one that gently engages with the privilege of race and bias while still celebrating what it means to forge your own path. Told in a raw and scintillating voice, this story beautifully captures the complex conversation of feminism, body power, privilege and navigating the turbulence of friendships.
Finalist: Omar Rising by Aisha Saeed
Omar Rising by Aisha Saeed is an inspiring story of changing a rotten system from the inside out. Omar is thrilled to be accepted to the prestigious Ghalib Academy Boarding School, but he soon discovers that as a scholarship student, he is restricted from communal activities and forced to perform menial tasks. Once Omar realizes that the school’s system is designed to oust out students like himself, he — and his charming network of friends — courageously work to change the institutional powers in place. Saeed paints a tender and moving portrait of Omar and his stubborn optimism, with the immortal reminder that all things can change and hope is never wasted.
