Formac Launches Write to Win! Literary Contest and Publishing 101 Sessions
Formac Publishing has launched Write to Win! a competition for Atlantic Canadian writers of literary fiction and non-fiction.
In addition to a publication offer and $1,500 cash prize, submissions are read by some of Nova Scotia’s finest authors, George Elliott Clarke, Sheree Fitch and Wanda Lauren Taylor.
Alongside the competition local universities are hosting a series of Publishing 101 sessions to help make the journey more understandable. Write to Win! serves as an easy and targeted way to guarantee a completed manuscript is read and considered by a publisher, while Publishing 101 sessions answer any questions that come up along the road to submission.
Formac Publishing looked at Canadian authors of YA novels and noticed a narrow demographic: young writers. A fresh voice is found in their writing that cannot be easily mimicked by the older generation of novelists. Youthful readers look for a voice akin to their own and with fast-changing colloquialisms and culture, young writers have a familiar ease to their style for their similarly aged readers.
Despite having diverse and genuine experiences to write about, many aspiring authors feel intimidated by publishing. Unfamiliarity leads them to seek out acquisition editors for details on the process before feeling comfortable enough to consider submitting their works.
Judge Wanda Lauren Taylor has plans to visit local universities and share her insights with creative writing groups, English societies and others with interest in order to counteract this phenomenon. These hour-long sessions will give attendees the answers to their questions about how to go from an idea to a published book.
The aim is for anyone ages 18 to 30 from various disciplines and walks of life to attend the sessions and submit their works. Confirmed sessions are scheduled at Saint Mary’s University on March 28, 7:00-8:00 pm in Atrium 101, and at Dalhousie University, March 29, 4:00-5:30 pm in C240 of the Life Sciences Centre (LSC).
For more details visit formac.ca/writetowin or email writetowin@formac.ca.
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