Maine Writers

Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award
Application Deadline is January 9, 2017

Prize Includes All-Expenses-Paid Trip to New York City, Meetings With Literary Professionals

New York, NY — Poets & Writers invites writers from the state of Maine to apply for the 2017 Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award.

Each year, Poets & Writers considers applications for the award from writers in a selected state. This year, that state is Maine. The judges are Tania James for fiction and Cynthia Cruz for poetry.

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 Secret Life of Bees), Elaine Beale (Another Life Altogether), Sandra Beasley (Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl), David Mura (Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei), Fae Myenne Ng (Bone), Mona Simpson (My Hollywood), and others.

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 Maine (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 by CLICKING HERE. Postmark entries by January 9, 2017.

About the Judges
Tania James is the author of three works of fiction, most recently the novel The Tusk That Did the Damage (Knopf). It was named a New York Times Editor’s Choice, a Best Book of 2015 by the San Francisco Chronicle and NPR, and was a finalist for the International Dylan Thomas Prize. She is an associate professor at George Mason University’s Creative Writing Program, and lives in Washington DC.

Cynthia Cruz is the author of four collections of poetry, including three with Four Way Books: The Glimmering Room (2012), Wunderkammer (2014), and How the End Begins (2016). Cruz has received fellowships from Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony as well as a Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University. She has an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College in writing and an MFA in Art Criticism & Writing from the School of Visual Arts. Cruz is currently pursuing a PhD in German Studies at Rutgers University. She teaches at Sarah Lawrence College.

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.