Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award

MARYLAND SELECTED FOR 2012 WRITERS EXCHANGE AWARD
Poets & Writers has selected Maryland for the 2012 Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award. Each year since 1984, Poets & Writers has invited writers from a selected state to apply for the award. Read more in the press release. The deadline for Maryland writers to apply was December 1, 2011. For updates, please sign up for P&W's biweekly e-newsletter.

TWO KANSANS WIN 2011 WRITERS EXCHANGE AWARD
Poet José Faus of Overland Park, Kansas, and fiction writer Sanda Moore Coleman, of Wichita, Kansas, are the recipients of the 2011 Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award. Judges for this year’s prize were poet Rigoberto González and fiction writer Joan Silber. In poetry, the first runner-up was Michael U. Obenieta from Topeka, and the second runner-up was Pat Daneman from Lenexa. In fiction, the first runner-up was Jean Grant from Lawrence, and the second runner-up was Patricia Lawson from Kansas City. 

Read biographies of this year's winners and excerpts of their winning manuscripts. 

ABOUT THE WRITERS EXCHANGE AWARD
Established in 1984, the Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award introduces emerging writers to the New York literary community and provides them with a network for professional advancement. Each year writers from a single state are invited to apply. To be eligible, applicants must have no more than one published book. Submissions are reviewed and winners selected by outside judges. The winners receive an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City to meet with top literary professionals, including editors, agents, publishers, and prominent writers, and to give a public reading.

To date, more than eighty writers from thirty-two states have participated. They have included Sue Monk Kidd (The Secret Life of Bees), David Mura (Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei), Fae Myenne Ng (Bone), and Mona Simpson (Anywhere But Here, My Hollywood), among many others. Read Sue Monk Kidd's essay about how winning the award led to the completion and publication of The Secret Life of Bees.

The Writers Exchange Award is supported by a generous contribution from Hachette Book Group USA, in honor of Maureen Egen, for whom the award is named.

PAST WRITERS EXCHANGE AWARD WINNERS

• Paige Ackerson-Kiely, Vermont
• Constance Alexander, Kentucky
• Nolde Alexius, Louisiana
• Doug Anderson, Massachusetts
• Sandra Beasley, Washington, D.C.
• Allison Benis, California
• Chana Bloch, California
• Magda Bogin, New York
• Anthony C. Brusate, Kentucky
• B. J. Buckley, Montana
• Claudia Burbank, New Jersey
• John Caddy, Minnesota
• John Campbell, Oregon
• Karen Chamberlain, Utah
• Michael Chitwood, North Carolina
• Carolyn Coman, Massachusetts
• Daniel Degnan, New Jersey
• Janet Desaulniers, Illinois
• Denise Duhamel, Pennsylvania
• Kim Edwards, Ohio
• John Engman, Minnesota
• Blas Falconer, Tennessee
• Roger Fanning, Washington
• Sascha Feinstein, Indiana
• David Galef, Mississippi
• Dorothy Gannon, Vermont
• Elizabeth Graver, Massachusetts
• Kate Green, Minnesota
• Jean Hanson, Wyoming
• Charlotte Holmes, Pennsylvania
• Matthew Kailey, Colorado
• Laura Kasischke, Michigan
• Sue Monk Kidd, South Carolina
• Miriam Kuznets, Texas
• Mary La Chapelle, Minnesota
• Robert Lacy, Minnesota
• Dylan Landis, California
• Jeanne Leiby, Florida
• Steven L'Italien, Arizona
• Quitman Marshall, South Carolina
• Deirdra McAfee, Virgina
• Shena McAuliffe, Missouri
• Jeanne McDonald, Tennessee
• Jim Moore, Minnesota
• Lee Ann Mortenson, Utah
• Delisa Mulkey, Georgia
• David Mura, Minnesota
• Patrick Murtagh, Montana
• Rhonda Nelson, Florida
• Fae Myenne Ng, California
• Elizabeth Oness, Wisconsin
• David Peterman, Ohio
• Paul Pfeiffer, Indiana
• C. L. Rawlins, Wyoming
• David Reynolds, Michigan
• Brad Richard, Louisiana
• Andrés Rodriguez, Missouri
• Ruth Roston, Minnesota
• Angela Rydell, Wisconsin
• Diza Sauers, Arizona
• Nancy Schoenberger, New York
• Rebecca Seiferle, New Mexico
• Barbara Selfridge, California
• David Dean Shavit, Illinois
• Pamela Shephard, New Mexico
• Aleda Shirley, Mississippi
• Mona Simpson, New York
• Gregory Blake Smith, Minnesota
• Matthew Stadler, Washington
• Norman Stock, New York
• Susan Straight, California
• Craig Taylor, California
• Willett Thomas, Washington, D.C.
• Reetika Vaziriani, Virginia
• Jane Wampler, Colorado
• Lauren K. Watel, Georgia
• David Weaver, North Carolina
• Susan Welch, Minnesota
• Lidia Yuknavitch, Oregon