Poets & Writers Announces the Publication of Books by Two Former Writers Exchange Award Winners

July 23, 2008 – Poets & Writers, the nation’s largest nonprofit organization serving creative writers, is pleased to announce that Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of Random House, will publish Another Life Altogether by former Writers Exchange Award winner, Elaine Beale. Beale, a writer from Oakland, California, was selected as the winner of the 2007 California Writers Exchange contest in the fiction category. She traveled to New York City in May of 2007 to meet with top literary professionals, including agents, editors, publishers, and writers. It was on that trip to New York that Beale met both the publisher of her book and the agent who will represent her.

Poets & Writers also congratulates 2004 California Writers Exchange Award winner, Allison Benis White, on receiving the Cleveland State University First Book Prize for her book, Self-Portrait with Crayon. White’s book is scheduled to be published by the Cleveland State University Poetry Center in April 2009.

Established in 1984, the Writers Exchange is a unique program that provides writers with significant opportunities for professional advancement. Each year, a new state is chosen to participate in the program and writers from that state are invited to submit their work according to announced contest guidelines. Outside judges choose one poet and one fiction writer for this prize. The award is named for Maureen Egen, retired Deputy Chairman and Publisher, Hachette Book Group USA. A special grant from the James Irvine Foundation has enabled P&W to offer the Writers Exchange to two writers from California every three years.

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