The 2005 Lillian Smith Books Awards were presented Oct. 15 at UGA. Since 1968, the Lillian Smith Books Awards have honored well-crafted books that contribute to a better understanding of human rights and other social issues. They are co-sponsored by the Southern Regional Council and the UGA Libraries. Smith was one of the most outspoken writers of the mid-20th century and addressed issues of social, and especially racial, injustice. A panel of jurors selects the winners each year.
The 2005 winners are: Frye Gaillard for Cradle of Freedom: Alabama and the Movement that Changed America; Stephanie M.H. Camp for Closer to Freedom: Enslaved Women’s Everyday Resistance in the Plantation South; and Tayari Jones for Leaving Atlanta and The Untelling.
For more than 80 years the Southern Regional Council has worked to advance the principles of racial fairness and unity. In 2004, the UGA Libraries joined the council in partnership to sponsor the book awards.
