The Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Georgia Council for the Arts announced a new book celebrating Georgia artists – Inspired Georgia. Inspired Georgia is a unique collection of Georgia’s contemporary poets and photographers that engage the history and culture of the state, while serving as a document of some of the best and most powerful pieces penned by Georgia poets and images shot by Georgia photographers in recent years.

“Inspired Georgia is a tribute to the ecology, terrain, and culture of Georgia that draws in, nurtures and fuels artistry and intellect. It is an opportunity to showcase the remarkable artists that, by birth or by choice, have found their muse in Georgia.” said Karen Paty, executive director of Georgia Council for the Arts. “An important part of our mission as the state arts agency is to advance awareness of the exceptional work produced by Georgia artists. We see this project in perfect alignment with that goal.”

Inspired Georgia is unique in that it accepts the artist’s identity as a Georgian as its launching point, without asking the artist to use that identity to document the state. The collection is presented as parallel collections that overlap and intertwine the visions and voices of 85 exceptional Georgia artists. The objective of the format is that the poetry and photography do not attempt to explain one another but rather to begin a conversation with one another and invite the reader to seek a deeper understanding of the imagery provided by each and their connection to one another. A landscape portfolio by photographer Diane Kirkland is placed at the center of the book to root readers in Georgia as a sense of place.

“The poems were chosen from published collections, and the photographers submitted work without having seen the poetry – neither are derivative of the other,” said Georgia’s Poet Laureate Judson Mitcham. “Georgia is rich in poets and photographers and I was humbled and exhilarated by the work I read and the images I saw, as well as increasingly frustrated that we could not include every worthy poet and photographer.”

Inspired Georgia is a co-publication with Georgia Council for the Arts, Georgia Poet Laureate Judson Mitcham, University of Georgia Press, Atlanta Celebrates Photography, Georgia Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts. The book can be preordered now through University of Georgia Press. The book will be available to the public following an official launch event at the AJC Decatur Book Festival held on Labor Day weekend in Atlanta. To find out more about Inspire Georgia and to preorder a copy, visit UGApress.org or gaarts.org.