Ray Atkins, June 20, 7-8:30 p.m., Hill Freeman Library & Spruill Learning Center
Ray Atkins of Rome, Georgia is an English instructor at Georgia Northwestern Technical College who lives on the banks of the Etowah River. Atkins has published five books, including his most recent and his first creative non-fiction book entitled “South of the Etowah,” released in 2016. Atkins has earned a number of honors for his works, including Georgia Author of the Year for “The Front Porch Prophet” in 2008 and the Sam Award for Fiction, along with the 2014 Georgia Author of the Year for Fiction for “Camp Redemption.” “Sweetwater Blues,” his fourth novel, was a Townsend Prize nominee.