New York, NY -- Poets & Writers, the nation’s largest nonprofit organization serving creative writers, invites Kansas writers to apply for the 2011 Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award. Each year, Poets & Writers invites fiction writers and poets in a selected state to apply for this award. This year, writers who are residents of Kansas and have never published a book, or have published only one full-length book of fiction or poetry are eligible. The winning poet and fiction writer will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City to meet with top literary professionals, including editors, agents, publishers, and prominent writers. Winners will also give a public reading in New York. Judges for 2011 are Rigoberto González for poetry and Joan Silber for fiction.
To date, 80 writers from 32 states have received the Writers Exchange Award. As a direct result, many past winners—notably Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Secret Life of Bees—have had their books published, received awards and fellowships, secured teaching positions, and laid the groundwork for their professional lives as writers.
Guidelines and application forms are available on the Poets & Writers Web site: http://www.pw.org/files/WEXApplication10.pdf. Completed applications and manuscripts must be postmarked by December 1, 2010.
ABOUT THE WRITERS EXCHANGE AWARD
Established in 1984, the Writers Exchange Award provides promising writers significant opportunities for professional advancement. Each year writers from a new state are invited to submit their work according to announced contest guidelines. Outside judges select one poet and one fiction writer for this prize. The Writers Exchange Award is supported by Hachette Book Group USA, in honor of Maureen Egen, for whom the award is named.
ABOUT POETS & WRITERS
Poets & Writers is the nation’s largest nonprofit organization serving creative writers. It is respected and trusted as the primary source of information, support, and guidance for poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers.
Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the organization’s mission is to foster the professional development of poets and writers, to promote communication throughout the literary community, and to help create an environment in which literature can be appreciated by the widest possible public.
P&W accomplishes this by publishing Poets & Writers Magazine, producing a Web site (pw.org), providing publishing information, sponsoring several awards for authors, and paying fees to writers participating in public literary events through the Readings/Workshops Program. P&W introduces writers to one another and connects them to audiences, making today’s writing visible and accessible in major cities and small towns across the country. In addition to its national office in New York City, P&W maintains a branch office in Los Angeles.