Three UNM Press authors were recently chosen as finalists for the Women Writing the West's Willa Award. In the fiction category UNM Press finalists include both Sharon Niederman, author of the novel of generations set in New Mexico, Return to Abo, and Paula Paul, author of Crazy Quilt, a story of a woman's reawakening after breast cancer.
In the poetry category, Albuquerque naturalist and artist Mary Beath was selected as a finalist for her book Refuge of Whirling Light, which also won a Wrangler Award from the Western Heritage Association.
The Willa Awards annually recognize outstanding literature featuring women's stories set in the West. This year's honorees will receive their awards at a formal ceremony at the twelfth-annual Women Writing the West conference in Colorado Springs, October 21. UNM Press editor Clark Whitehorn will be among panelists discussing publishing at the conference.
For more information or to schedule an interview with the Willa finalists, please contact Amanda Sutton, UNM Press, at 505-277-0655 or asutton@unm.edu. Images of authors and their books are available upon request.