Thomas Mullen takes the 2012 Townsend Prize

Thomas Mullen has won the 2012 Townsend Prize for fiction for his second novel, The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers. The Townsend Prize is awarded every other year to the Georgia writer judged to have produced the best work of fiction or short stories in the previous two years. It was created in 1981 in honor of Jim Townsend, founding editor of Atlanta magazine.

The versatile Mullen is a Further Reading favorite. Danny recommended The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers just last week, and I gave Mullen's latest, The Revisionists, similar treatment back in March. All three of Mullen's novels are part of GCPL's collection, including his highly regarded debut, The Last Town on Earth, about the 1918 influenza epidemic and a quarantined town in Washington state torn between mercy and self-preservation.

If Mullen's marvelously imaginative novels aren't your cup of tea, you can find many other Townsend Prize winners at your local GCPL branch. Here's the complete list:

• Thomas Mullen, The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers (2012)
• Kathryn Stockett, The Help (2010)
• Renee Dodd, A Cabinet of Wonders (2008)
• Judson Mitcham, Sabbath Creek (2006)
• Terry Kay, The Valley of Light (2004)
• Ha Jin, The Bridegroom: Stories (2002)
• James Kilgo, Daughter of My People (2000)
• Judson Mitcham, The Sweet Everlasting (1998)
• JoAllen Bradham, Some Personal Papers (1996)
• Pam Durban, The Laughing Place (1994)
• Ferrol Sams, When All the World Was Young (1991)
• Charlie Smith, The Lives of the Dead (1990)
• Sara Flanigan, Alice (1989)
• Mary Hood, And Venus Is Blue (1986)
• Philip Lee Williams, The Heart of a Distant Forest (1986)
• Alice Walker, The Color Purple (1984)
• Celestine Sibley, Children, My Children (1982)