Southern lit award recognizes Macon author, Mercer professor

Every two years, one Georgia writer receives the Townsend Award for an extraordinary work of fiction. 

The award, managed by the Atlanta Writers Club in partnership with the Georgia Writers Museum, was created in honor of magazine mogul Jim Townsend. This year, it will be presented April 16 at the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in Atlanta.

The suit-and-tie event will include a cocktail party before the award ceremony, which will recognize all 10 finalists and their work.

Chip Bell, one of the event’s organizers, said awards like the Townsend are especially important when taking a look at student reading scores and how many adults read for leisure.

“It’s primarily a way to recognize literary greatness,” he said. “We’re trying, this ties back some ways into literary excellence within the study, to encourage people to read.”

Mercer University English professor Gordon Johnston is among 10 finalists for the award. His book is titled “Seven Islands of the Ocmulgee: River Stories.”

The collection of short stories centers around the Ocmulgee River and was inspired by Johnston’s familiarity with the river’s history and geography.

The stories came to him as “responses to the river,” accumulated over his many trips.

“The river is a presence,” he said. “The book is about how it kind of figures into the lives of these people.” 

The book is Johnston’s first work of fiction. He’s written other poetry books and co-authored a guide to the Ocmulgee Mounds National Monument.

The Ocmulgee gives many people life in Macon, he said, and his book is a testament to the idea that rivers and bodies of water everywhere are integral to people and cultures.

“I’m a big believer in putting down roots where you are,” he said. “Most Americans don’t have a very deep sense of the landscape they live in.” 

The same places that inspired his book also inform his teachings. He takes classes into nature and tries to develop a shared sense of the landscape. 

Johnston does not consider himself a traditional professor, but “more of a writer who teaches,”  he said. 

Johnston’s classes have a strong connection to nature, like “Writing the American Wild” or his backpacking course. 

“A book, one person writes it, but there’s a lot of tributaries,” he said. “In my writing, there have been a lot of people who have served as tributaries.”

Tickets for the event can be purchased at the Atlanta Writers Club website.

Editor’s note: Gordon Johnston is the father of Macon Melody Sports Editor Micah Johnston.