Anthony C. Winkler Wins 2014 Townsend Prize for God Carlos!

Congratulations to Anthony C. Winkler, who has received the 2014 Townsend Prize for his novel God Carlos!

The prize, awarded biannually to a Georgia-based fiction author, is presented by The Chattahoochee Review (the literary journal of Georgia Perimeter College) and the Georgia Center for the Book. Past winners include Alice Walker (for The Color Purple), Ha Jin (for The Bridegroom: Stories), and Kathryn Stockett (for The Help). Jesmyn Ward (Where the Line Bleeds; Salvage the Bones; Men We Reaped) was the 2014 keynote speaker.

About God Carlos:

God Carlos transports us to a voyage aboard the Santa Inez, a Spanish sailing vessel bound for the newly discovered West Indies with a fortune-seeking band of ragtag sailors. She is an unusual explorer for her day, carrying no provisions for the settlers, no seed for planting crops, manned by vain, arrogant men looking for gold in Jamaica.

Expecting to make a landfall in paradise after over a month at sea, the crew of the Santa Inez instead find themselves in the middle of a timid, innocent people—the Arawaks—who walk around stark naked without embarrassment and who venerate their own customs and worship their own gods and creeds. The European newcomers do not find gold, only the merciless climate that nourishes diseases that slaughter them. The Arawaks’ belief that the European arrivals were from heaven further complicates this impossible entanglement of culture, custom, and beliefs, ultimately leading to mutual doom.

Congratulations, Anthony!

Posted: Apr 25, 2014

Category: News | Tags: Alice Walker, Anthony C. Winkler, award, Georgia, God Carlos, Ha Jin, Kathryn Stockett, Townsend Prize