New York, NY—August 6, 2018—Poets & Writers, the nation's largest nonprofit organization serving creative writers, invites writers from the state of West Virginia to apply for the 2019 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 West Virginia.
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-one writers from thirty-nine 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 West Virginia (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. The deadline has now been extended. Entries must be postmarked by January 14, 2019.
About Poets & Writers
Founded in 1970, Poets & Writers' work is rooted in the belief that literature is vital to sustaining a vibrant culture. We focus on nurturing literature's source: creative writers. 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. Learn more at pw.org.
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