New York, NY—October 4, 2021—Poets & Writers, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization serving creative writers, invites writers from the state of Nebraska to apply for the 2022 Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award.
Each year, Poets & Writers invites poets and fiction writers from a selected state to apply for the award. This year, that state is Nebraska.
The prestigious award, which aims to provide promising writers a network for professional advancement, has helped to launch the careers of Sue Monk Kidd (The Invention of Wings, The Secret Life of Bees), Lidia Yuknavitch (The Book of Joan, The Chronology of Water), Bryn Chancellor (Sycamore: A Novel), David Mura (Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei) and others. Since Poets & Writers launched the Writers Exchange in 1984, one-hundred-and-eight writers from forty-two states and the District of Columbia have participated.
One winner in each category will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City to meet with top literary professionals, including editors, agents, publishers, and prominent writers. While in New York, winners will also give a reading hosted by Poets & Writers. In addition, each winner is invited to spend a month at the Jentel Artist Residency Program in Banner, Wyoming. To be eligible, writers must be residents of Nebraska (currently and for at least the past two years), and must have published no more than one full-length book in the genre in which they are applying.
Download the guidelines and application form here. Entries must be postmarked by March 1, 2022.
About the Judges
Ru Freeman is an award-winning Sri Lankan and American writer, poet, and activist whose work appears internationally in English and in translation. She is the author of the forthcoming short-story collection, Sleeping Alone (Graywolf, 2022), and the essay collection, Bon Courage (Etruscan, 2023), and the novels, Disobedient Girl (Atria/Simon & Schuster, 2009) and On Sal Mal Lane (Graywolf, 2013), a New York Times Editor's Choice Book. She is the editor of the anthology, Extraordinary Rendition: (American) Writers on Palestine (Olive Branch Press, 2015) and Indivisible: Global Leaders on Shared Security (Olive Branch Press, 2018). She teaches creative writing in the US and abroad, and is the director of the Artists Network at Narrative 4. (Photo Credit: Brenda Carpenter)
Sandra Lim is the author of three poetry collections: most recently The Curious Thing (W.W. Norton, 2021), The Wilderness (W.W. Norton, 2014), which won the Barnard Women Poets Prize, and Loveliest Grotesque (Kore Press, 2006). She has received the Levis Reading Prize, a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She teaches creative writing at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and lives in Cambridge, MA. (Photo Credit: Young Suh)
About Poets & Writers
Founded in 1970, Poets & Writers marked its 50th Anniversary in 2020. It is respected and trusted as the primary source of information, support, and guidance for poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers. As we begin our sixth decade, our vision is that Poets & Writers will empower writers and strengthen literary communities throughout the United States. Our 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. We are guided by our core values: service, inclusivity, integrity, and excellence. Poets & Writers is committed to becoming an anti-racist organization. Learn more at pw.org.