Writers of the Future Announced to Librarians as the Best Selling Short Stories Novel of the Year

CHICAGO, July 9 /PRNewswire/ — An anthology of speculative fiction by new writers now in its 25th year of publication heralds a solution to one of the biggest challenges for librarians today — finding short fiction to attract young male readers — according to book executives attending the 2009 American Library Association Convention in Chicago.

Galaxy Press Senior Vice President of Sales, Kim Catalano, and Vice President of Sales, Juliet Wills, jointly announced to attendees that L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume XXIV is the latest installment of the best-selling anthology series of speculative fiction from new writers.

“Librarians historically have been frustrated at not finding fiction–short stories specifically–that will interest the young male reader,” said Catalano. “When they saw what Writers of the Future had to offer, they immediately became very excited.”

According to Galaxy Press’ Wills, librarians have been uniformly enthusiastic, in part she says, because some of the librarians had entered the Writers of the Future Contest on which the anthology is based.

The Writers of the Future program already has been recognized by the library industry’s key publication, Library Journal. The magazine’s publisher recently attended the Contest’s awards ceremony and presented a plaque to L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contests in “recognition of discovering, fostering and nurturing writers and illustrators of speculative fiction and successfully infusing new talent into the fields of literary and visual arts.”

The Writers of the Future contest, initiated by L. Ron Hubbard in 1983 and later followed by the creation of its companion Illustrators of the Future contest, (see www.writersofthefuture.com) provides a means for the aspiring writer and illustrator to have a chance for their works to be seen and acknowledged, according to contest director Joni Labaqui.

“These programs have proven themselves as the definitive contests for discovering the hottest new talent in both writing and illustrating,” Labaqui said. To date, the Writers of the Future Contest has produced over 500 winners over its 24-year history, many of whom have gone on to become top bestselling authors and highly successful illustrators with appearances of New York Times best-seller lists and has seen distribution of the series increase from traditional retail outlets to airports and Walmart stores.

SOURCE Galaxy Press