2022 Judges’ Statements
BIOGRAPHY
Judge: David Cady
Winner: Overnight Code: The Life of Raye Montague, the Woman Who Revolutionized Naval Engineering by Paige Bowers & David Montague
Overnight Code is the inspiring and powerful story of Raye Montague, an African American woman born in 1935 in the segregated South, who overcame many obstacles to reach the pinnacle of her profession. As a single mother, Raye Montague, educated herself both inside and outside of the classroom to become the professional of her dreams against what seemed like insurmountable odds. Working for the United States Navy, Montague became, not just the first woman or the first African American, but the first person to draft a Naval ship by computer using a program she designed. This well documented and incredible book demonstrates that perseverance and passion are truly the keys to success in fulfilling your life-long ambitions.
Finalist: The Music and Mythocracy of Col. Bruce Hampton: A Basically True Biography by Jerry Grillo
Reading like a novel, Jerry Grillo did a superb job of conveying, in detail, the story of a wild and mysterious Atlanta legend, Bruce Hampton. The author painted a moving portrait of the often-misunderstood life and times of a man who inspired creativity in others through his humor and his playing of some of the best music ever heard in America. Most importantly, Grillo helps the reader see the world through Hampton’s eyes – and he created a truly mesmerizing vision.
CHILDREN’S BOOK
Judge: Malcolm Mitchell
Winner: We Are All Under One Wide Sky by Deborah Wiles, Illustrated by Andrea Stegmaier
We Are All Under One Wide Sky is delivered with superb timing. While life seems to be different from person to person, the whole truth is that we all have so much in common. Whether through triumphs or tragedies, we share the human experience of wanting to be our best selves. By celebrating our diversity we reveal our similarities. Instead of using our talents in isolated pockets, we move this world forward by using our talents in unison. We Are All Under One Wide Sky sends a message that will never lose its value: We are stronger together.
Finalist: I Can Help by Reem Faruqi, Illustrated by Mikela Prevost
With a breathtaking dose of vulnerability, Reem Faruqi and Mikela Prevost grant an opportunity for us to step into the perspective of a child whose innate instinct is to help, but struggles with the social barriers that inflict us all, even as adults. I Can Help highlights the beauty an pains associated with those who want to help, and those who want to be helped. While the central character learns a valuable lesson, as a reader taking on the perspective of the two characters that need a little extra attention, I learned there is value in helping for all parties involved.
COOKBOOK
Judge: Asha Gomez
Winner: Cheryl Day's Treasury of Southern Baking by Cheryl Day
As much as I am someone who loves to cook Southern food, I'm often intimidated by baking. Cheryl Day's cookbook has quickly become my go to Southern Baking Bible that I can depend on for delicious sweet treats. This trusted trove of recipes is born out of what Cheryl accurately calls "lineage", an ancestry that ties her generationally to recipes that are rooted in the South. How Lucky we are that we can now bring Cheryl Day's Treasury Of Southern Baking into our kitchens to satisfy our sweet tooth.
Finalist: Y'all Come Over: Charming Your Guests with New Recipes, Heirloom Treasures, and True Southern Hospitality by Rebecca Lang
Let Rebecca Lang show you how to throw a party in the South y'all! This book is a gem for people who love to entertain, it guides you on how to be genuinely hospitable and as Rebecca says "no matter the size of your home or budget, entertaining can be a sparkling light in your life."
DETECTIVE/MYSTERY
Judge: Brian Panowich
Winner: A Fire in the Night by Christopher Swann
It’s already been proven that Christopher Swann can offer up fantastic and engaging novels, but with A Fire In The Night, Swann gives us a no-holds-barred action mystery thriller that in nearly impossible to put down. The plot is a speeding bullet and the attention to detail and setting is amazing, but mainly Swann can just flat-out write people. He plays inside the gray area where heroes can sometimes not be so heroic and where villains garner as much sympathy as the protagonists. Swann's ability to convey a true family dynamic yet never stop churning out cinematic scenes custom made for the big screen makes Christopher Swann one of the best writers that Georgia—or anywhere for that matter—has to offer.
Finalist: While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams
It’s incredibly hard not to be a fan of Stacey Abrams. The woman. The activist. And definitely the writer. While Justice Sleeps is a compelling and complex legal thriller on par with any of the masters of the genre such as Meltzer and Grisham. The book checks all the boxes. Danger, intrigue, a shadow government, a brutal plot and fascinating characters, and not once does the novel pander to its readers or speak over our heads. It’s a brilliant book written by a brilliant author who every Georgian should have on the top shelf of their bookcase.
ESSAY
Judge: Megan Volpert
Winner: Chronicling Stankonia: The Rise of the Hip-Hop South by Regina N. Bradley
Bradley is a defining voice of the new south—an engrossing one that blends academic analytical chops with the personal narrative of lived experience as a Black woman who grew up after the civil rights movement. Her argument, that hip-hop culture since the Eighties represents concerns and methodologies of the next wave of contemporary southern Black identities, is clear and persuasive and without alternatives. Chronicling Stankonia begins with a close philosophical reading of Outkast and ends with an exhortation to invigorate cultural studies through attention to the popular arts and letters made by Black southerners. To echo André 3000, “Regina Bradley got something to say.”
Finalist: Wild Spectacle: Seeking Wonders in a World Beyond Humans by Janisse Ray
Janisse Ray’s lifelong ecology project continues in Wild Spectacle with a deeply poetic and broadly relatable bent. The beauty of Georgia and Montana are particularly on display in a collection of essays covering travels all over the globe that are linked by themes of meridian, migration and magnitude rather than chronology or place. Ray is an expert at both showing and telling, sometimes allowing a powerful spectacle to speak for itself and other times explaining what is truly at stake for unprotected wilds in the long-term. Wild Spectacle proves yet again that Ray is a trusted guide.
FIRST NOVEL
Judge: Ginger Eager
Winner: The Parted Earth by Anjali Enjeti
Anjali Enjeti’s family saga, The Parted Earth, drew me in from the first page. tlove story of Deepa and Amir, two teenagers living in New Delhi in 1947. Their youthful affections take on multigenerational consequence when the sectarian and religious violence of Partition overturns their lives. What follows is a mystery whose very structure mirrors the effects of genocide and exile. There are more beginnings than endings, more questions than answers. The work of piecing together the past falls to the grandchildren—specifically, Deepa’s Indian-American granddaughter, Shan, who is committed to understand her father and grandmother despite the complicated role each has played in her life. Enjeti doesn’t shy away from the damages wrought by trauma, and neither is she afraid to proclaim the profound, life-altering capacities of generosity, forgiveness, and stubborn familial love. The Parted Earth is cathartic and renewing. I cried the best sort of tears at the end.
Finalist: All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris
Wanda M. Morris’s legal thriller, All Her Little Secrets, doesn’t sacrifice a whit of theme to plot. I couldn’t quit turning pages to discover the sinister scheme that protagonist Ellice Littlejohn works to uncover at Houghton Transportation Company, but never did my speed reading allow me to breeze past Littlejohn’s experience as an educated Black woman in corporate America. Even as she’s fighting a big fight against the well-funded, well-organized racism of a hate group that intends to frame her for its wrong-doing, her days are punctuated by steady, smaller racisms, such as microaggressions from clueless coworkers and racist profiling from store clerks. Even the secret from her childhood that may be her downfall if uncovered reveals less about Littlejohn’s capacity to do wrong than about her determination to survive when targeted. By the time Littlejohn struts into Houghton ready to be “done with this hellhole and the ignorant bigots that inhabited it,” I was rooting for her in a way that curled the edges of the book.
HISTORY
Judge: Lisa Russell
Winner: Peachtree Corners, Georgia: The History of an Innovative and Remarkable City, 1777-2020 by Carole Townsend
At first glance, Peachtree Corners, Georgia: The History of an Innovative and Remarkable City 1777-2020, looks like a beautiful coffee-table book. Open the cover and discover Carole Townsend’s skilled history narratives. In the end, comes down to good writing with impeccable research. The opening pages set the tone:
What we are at risk of sacrificing with change is our heritage, the history of a place, the land, and her people. Once those treasures are bulldozed and buried under the red Georgia clay, they are lost forever; all that remains are the memories, scattered photographs, and word-of-mouth accounts of those who walked here before us. Eventually, even those are lost to transition, to carelessness, to fire, to flood, and ultimately to death. (Townsend xiii)
History books can be dull and data-filled or story-driven and compromise the truth. Townsend strikes the perfect balance.
Finalist: Lighthouses of the Georgia Coast by William Rawlings
William Rawlings continues to be the premier Georgia narrative historian. After several titles exploring Georgia’s history, Lighthouses of the Georgia Coast does not disappoint.
This beautifully designed book draws the reader into the historical significance of Georgia’s coastal lighthouses. His narratives of shipwrecks explain why lighthouses popped up across our coastlines. The solid stories draw us into the engineering details and captivate readers to go deeper.
He does not ignore the mystical quality and symbolism of lighthouses while offering encouragement in these difficult days:
Over the centuries the lighthouse has become more than a physical object. For many, it is seen as a powerful symbol of hope, a metaphysical beacon of guidance for those tossed about on the stormy seas of life, a psychological landmark pointing the way to a place of shelter. (Rawlings 10)
Honorable Mention: Seen/Unseen: Hidden Lives in a Community of Enslaved Georgians by Christopher R. Lawton, Laura E. Nelson, and Randy L. Reid
If there were a third-place category, this book would be it. This group of authors and editors did impeccable research by using primary sources. The letters confirm the narrative. The history is not pretty or admirable, but the authors tell the story of slave owners who established an early franchise in Georgia. Even difficult history deserves to be told. The letters include former enslaved as well as the Cobb-Lamar family.
INSPIRATIONAL
Judge: Beth-Sarah Wright
Winner: Carry On: Reflections for a New Generation by John Lewis
With wisdom, wit and authenticity, Lewis shares his unique insight on a variety of topics ranging from Justice and Hope to Marriage and Love to the Pandemic and On Leaving a Legacy among many more. He continues to teach, guide and offer keen perspective from a lifetime of experiences as a civil rights activist, dedicated congressman and accomplished human being.
Finalist: Eavesdropping on the Most Segregated Hour: A City’s Clergy Reflect on Racial Reconciliation edited by Andrew M. Manis and Sandy Dwayne Martin
Editors Andrew M. Manis and Sandy Dwayne Martin have created a timely book that raises an important conversation about race and its place in pulpits across America. With a diversity of contributors, this book takes the reader on a journey that critically explores the challenges and opportunities for 'the most segregated hour' through stories and perspectives on some of the country's most pressing questions around politics, racial reconciliation and Christianity.
LITERARY FICTION
Judge: Zoe Fishman
Winner: Midnight Atlanta by Thomas Mullen
There’s something about a good crime novel. The reader is transported to the scene; taking diligent notes on a pad of paper with a nubby pencil while wearing a fedora. And that’s just a good one. The great ones, like Mullen’s Midnight Atlanta seamlessly weave history and setting while amplifying the humanity of its characters and most importantly its protagonist.
This is a crime novel not just about a murder, but about racism: both implied and absolute. You can feel Atlanta in its pages –a bourbon just before the storm rolls in; a belly full of barbecue; a whole lot of history in the humid summer air.
Finalist: Song of the Horseman by Mark Warren
To seamlessly weave descriptive prose and interior thought while propelling a story forward is no small task, but do so while simultaneously evoking empathy for and frustration towards the protagonist is impressive. But to pull that off while meshing two generations’ worth of grief, misunderstanding and racism against a masterfully rendered backdrop of nature in all of its infinite glory while touching on the universal bond between man and animal is downright Herculean. Warren’s prose is magnificently rendered; the kind of writing that makes the reader put down their book for a moment and marvel.
This is a story about retracing steps, both literal and figurative to find out where we began.
MEMOIR
Judge: Kristie Robin Johnson
Winner: Shoutin’ in the Fire: An American Epistle by Danté Stewart
An epistle, in its simplest form, is a letter—a formal or didactic written communication. At its height, an epistle is a gospel—a glorious tiding, a doctrine, an uncompromised truth. Danté Stewart’s Shoutin’ in the Fire: An American Epistle is soul-changing gospel. Stewart’s often ecclesiastical cadence becomes palpable as he explores the seminal notion: “I wonder if the country I love can imagine itself as being better than the ways it has learned to be terrible.” Through his sometimes harrowing and often maddening experiences that range from being shot at by a racist neighbor to being silenced by well-meaning Christians, Stewart takes both a sleeping society and a spineless church to task. By way of his own moving revelation, the reader is challenged to examine their own humanity. Shoutin’ in the Fire is a work of both unrelenting bravery and forward-looking hope. It is the gospel truth indeed.
Finalist: The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames by Justine Cowan
“It is lonely to have no love for one’s mother.” This stark confession from the final page of Justine Cowan’s gripping memoir, The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames, is a perfect distillation of the profound emotional honesty that is the hallmark of all notable works of art. Cowan’s journey into her mother’s mysterious unspoken past reveals not only a traumatic personal history, but also a dark social history fraught with the brutality of codified misogyny, classism, and child abuse. As Cowan examines the origins of the Foundling Hospital, a sinister almost-Dickensian institution in which her mother spent her formative years, she discovers telling truths about her mother and herself. As she writes “But my mother’s journey was not about anger—it was about shame” readers sense a shift in Cowan’s heart, that universal sense of relief that comes with understanding one’s parent. Ultimately, this narrative is a meditation on the healing power of reflection and forgiveness—forgiving one’s mother and forgiving oneself.
POETRY CHAPBOOK
Judge: Jae Nichelle
Winner: Still, No Grace by A. Prevett
Still, No Grace is a thoughtful and creative exploration of gender, the body, and what it means to be and to become. Each poem is full of the type of intimate tenderness one would expect out of a reunion with a close friend, and so many lines take gorgeous, unpredictable turns that keep readers invested and on their toes (i.e. “Your name should be the name you would give to an alien/ if you were the first person it met.”) This honest collection asks hard questions and illustrates the inherent clumsiness in the task of searching for and finding ourselves.
Finalist: Demoted Planet by Katherine Fallon
Incredibly moving and balanced, Demoted Planet is one of those chapbooks that pulls the reader to return to it again and again. Each poem is like a vignette, slowly unveiling the narrative of a child coping with loss. Fallon’s elegant delivery of poignant images and the small moments that make up a life take the reader on a journey through the complexities of grief. This collection is simultaneously heart-wrenching and captivating.
POETRY FULL-LENGTH
Judge: Julie E. Bloemeke
Winner: Gumbo Ya Ya by Aurielle Marie
Aurielle Marie’s Gumbo Ya Ya is searing sanctuary and feast; it shapes the stars of Blk gxrl voice and queer body politic. Summoning in egun, Aurielle Marie’s poems companion us sharp, splinter a relentless encourage to take up the “joint contract” of curiosity; they necessary our eviction from colonist and capitalist conditioning. Dazzlingly dangerous, vulnerably acrobatic in form, riff, and sound break, these poems catapult from the page and into the marrow, irrevocable. Language is held accountable, even as it consumes and anneals. The altar of Gumbo Ya Ya is a temple of wonder and divine interruption—a cartography that calls us with absolute certainty, a gospel we undeniably must return to again and again.
Finalist: Saint Agnostica by Anya Krugovoy Silver
In a letter to her son, Anya Krugovoy Silver wrote: I still exist. Energy doesn’t die. This testament is proven repeatedly in Saint Agnostica, a posthumous collection of poems that winds into spaces of mystic attunement, one that bares and bears the questions within the universe of the body. A reconciliation with divine presence and absence, these poems invite us into unavoidable depths of grief, into raw truths of confronting grace in one’s final chapters. Attentive in their rendering, offering “miracles of quiet/and quickness, of coupled wildness,” Krugovoy Silver’s work never shies from fang or insistence. A collection lovingly finalized by her husband and family of poets, an anthem from a beloved teacher and sage departed too soon, the resonance of Saint Agnostica is a comfort: Krugovoy Silver’s words will keep their time within us, fierce in their compassion. This book is a gratitude to open and reopen.
ROMANCE
Judge: Susan Sands
Winner: The Invisible Husband of Frick Island by Colleen Oakley
Colleen’s writing is immersive, humorous, and entertaining. The Invisible Husband of Frick Island is the story of one man’s dogged journey to discover the truth, but what he finds is far more enlightening. Written with gentleness and wisdom, the romance unfolds between Piper and Anders as they discover that persistence and an open mind make anything possible. The twist at the end is the cherry on top of this lovely story.
Finalist: The Break-Up Book Club by Wendy Wax
Wendy writes with sparkling wit and empathy for those who find themselves in tough situations. In this story of heartbreak, friendship, and redemption, Wendy masterfully juggles four points of view as the story celebrates overcoming obstacles in life and coming together to support one another and rejoice in that victory. This story is a testament to strength and perseverance in a challenging world.
YOUNG ADULT
Judge: Kristin Gwin
Winner: The Bronzed Beasts by Roshani Chokshi
Roshani Chokshi delivers a bittersweet conclusion to the Gilded Wolves series. Over three books, Chokshi crafts vivid, diverse characters that grow together as they solve puzzles, mysteries and relationship hurdles in a magical 19th century world based in folklore and history. The Bronzed Beasts is a satisfying end to a powerful series. Chokshi’s lyrical storytelling and realistic, loveable characters are hard to leave behind. Roshani Chokshi is a powerhouse in middle grade and young adult literature. It will be exciting to see what she comes up with next!
Finalist: Fast Pitch by Nic Stone
Nic Stone hits a home run with her release of Fast Pitch! Stone’s passion for softball amplifies the authenticity of this middle-grade sports mystery expertly interwoven with history. When a dark family secret threatens middle softball captain, Shenice Lockwood’s, regional championship, she must grapple with the history of racism in baseball in order to lead her team to a historic victory.