Erika Dreifus

If you’re a U.S. citizen, 18 years of age or older, you’re eligible to go to the website for the new James Patterson PageTurner Awards, “intended to celebrate the people, companies, schools and other institutions who find original and effective ways to spread the excitement of books and reading,” and nominate any person or institution (including yourself or your own organization).

The total cash prize of $75,000 will be divided as follows:
1) $25,000 “to a person, company, or institution that presents books to the public in an exciting and original way”
2) $25,000 “to an elementary school, middle school, or high school that inculcates the joy of reading for pleasure in its students” (James Patterson will also visit the winning school for a day of reading, signing, and talking about books.)
3) $25,000 presented in $1,000 merit awards to individuals and institutions “who have made notable contributions to promoting the excitement of books.”

In honor of the two $25,000 winners, First Book (a national nonprofit organization) will donate 1,000 books to programs that serve disadvantaged children in cities of the winners’ choice.

Interested? Find out more at the website.

As promised in a previous post, our September Practicing Writer newsletter went out to subscribers late last week. There’s an important correction to note: our Submission Alerts!!! section includes a notice about Sarabande Press’s September Open Submission season but does not include THIS essential information: “Because of the volume of manuscripts currently on hand, we regret that the open submission period for 2005 is closed.” Visit the Sarabande Press site to read more about this. Apologies again to our subscribers for any confusion, and thanks again to the subscriber who wrote to alert me to the change in Sarabande’s policy.

And to receive each issue of our newsletter right in your e-mailbox, subscribe (it’s free!) at our website. You’ll also find the current issue posted here.

Back in June’s issue of our Practicing Writer newsletter, we noted calls for submissions for two Cup of Comfort anthologies. Since then submission deadlines for both projects have been extended. So if you’d like to submit essays to A Cup of Comfort for Expectant Mothers or A Cup of Comfort for Parents of Children with Autism, you’ve now got some more time to do so. The new deadlines are October 1 and November 15, respectively. For submission guidelines and terms (including pay rates), visit the website.

If you’re a practicing writer, chances are you’re also a practicing reader (you should be, anyway!). And you may very well have lots of books around your home and/or office. Maybe you’re ready to part with some of them. Especially if it’s for a good cause.

This week I heard about a public library in Ohio that needs books. Read about it here.

For my part, I hauled some paperbacks to the used book counter at a local bookstore this afternoon, earning enough money (I hope) from the sale to pay the postage on the hardcovers I’m sending to Ohio on Monday….