New Fiction
Jacob Baynham and The Georgia Review Win National Magazine Award
The Georgia Review was delighted to learn that Jacob Baynham’s essay "Jerry's Dirt," printed in the Fall 2019 issue, has won a National Magazine Award in the Profile Writing category of the 2020 National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media, administered by the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME). The “Ellies” awards ceremony was held virtually on May 28.
Jacob Baynham, a freelance journalist and essayist based in Missoula, Montana, has written about criminal justice for The Christian Science Monitor and about parenting for Outside magazine, and has reported internationally for Newsweek, theSan Francisco Chronicle, Slate, and other publications. “Jerry’s Dirt” chronicles the remarkable life of fiction writer Jerry McGahan, Baynham’s late father-in-law.
UGA Libraries to host book reading for Grady alum Oakley
Author Colleen Oakley will return to her alma mater to read from her latest novel.
The book event will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 23 at the University of Georgia’s Miller Learning Center. Sponsored by UGA’s Libraries, the event is free and open to the public, and a light reception will follow.
Oakley’s latest novel, You Were There Too, is one of O Magazine’s Top 22 Romance Books of 2020, a Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review and a Library Reads January 2020 pick. Oakley will read from the book and sign copies afterward.
Author Tayari Jones to be honored in Athens Feb. 7
The UGA Libraries host award-winning author Tayari Jones Feb. 7 in celebration of the paperback launch of An American Marriage. Jones was a 2018 inductee into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame, but was unable to attend the fall ceremony. The award will be presented at this event, which is co-sponsored by Avid Bookshop.
The program is from 7-9 p.m. at the Foundry Ballroom (295 E. Dougherty Street, Athens, GA 30606). Tickets are $22 and include a paperback copy of either An American Marriage or Silver Sparrow. Books will be distributed upon check-in to the event.
An American Marriage was selected for the The New York Times' and The Washington Post's Most Notable of 2018 lists and was named 2018 Book of the Year by Apple Books. TIME Magazine selected it as the 2018 Best Fiction of the Year
University of Georgia Press Announces Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction Winner
Kirsten Lunstrum has been named this year's winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, and her collection of short stories will be published by the University of Georgia Press. Lunstrum’s What We Do with the Wreckage will be available from the UGA Press in fall 2018.
The competition seeks to encourage writers of excellent short stories, while bringing award-winning work to a wider audience by offering publication of a book-length collection and a $1,000 prize. The Flannery O’Connor Award has helped launch the literary careers of such previous winners as Ha Jin, Antonya Nelson, Rita Ciresi and Mary Hood.