Georgia Author of the Year Awards at KSU to Honor State's Literary Excellence

Kennesaw State University (KSU) will host the 44th annual Georgia Author of the Year Awards (GAYA) dinner and awards ceremony on June 7th in Room 400 of the KSU Center. The dinner begins at 6 PM, and the awards program starts at 7:30 PM. Both events are open to the public, but reservations are required for dinner. Sponsored by the Georgia Writers Association and KSU's College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the event honors Georgia authors for books published during 2007. The Georgia Author of the Year Awards recognizes and acknowledges Georgia's wealth of outstanding writers, and celebrates the state's rich literary heritage.

All Georgia-resident authors who have been published during 2007 are eligible for the awards, whether traditionally or independently published. There are 79 nominations this year in award categories including fiction, first novel, creative non-fiction, history, essay, biography, memoir, poetry, children's picture books, children's mid-reader, and young adult literature.

The awards were created in 1964 by the founders of the Dixie Council of Authors and Journalists, later becoming the Council of Authors and Journalists. The Georgia Writers Association assumed responsibility for the Georgia Author of the Year Awards in the 1990s under the directorship of Geri Taran. The Georgia Writers Association is now sponsored by and housed on the Kennesaw State University campus, under the executive directorship of Dr. Ralph T. Wilson. The Georgia Author of the Year Awards remains the oldest literary awards in the southeastern United States.

For maps and directions to the KSU Center, please visit www.kennesaw.edu/about/maps.shtml. More information about the Georgia Author of the Year Awards and the Georgia Writers Association is available online at www.georgiawriters.org. A list of the 43rd annual Georgia Author of the Year Awards is available at www.georgiawriters.org/content/view/28/31. A list of nominees for the 44th annual Georgia Author of the Year Awards is available at www.georgiawriters.org/content/view/31/40.