International Women Writers Magazine Launches Literary Journal

RALEIGH, N.C. - Aug. 29, 2013 - PRLog -- Raleigh, North Carolina, USA - The international women writers magazine, Women Writers, Women Books launched a sister publication, the literary journal, When Women Waken in the spring of 2013.

When Women Waken's first issue was published on May 31, 2013, online at http://www.whenwomenwaken.org with contributors from several continents. The issue was well received by women writers, who praised its appearance and the content. One woman poet wrote, "When Women Waken looks lovely, and what a stunning name." The spring issue did not have a particular theme.

On August 31, 2013, the second issue of When Women Waken will be published, the Summer 2013 issue. This issue has a general theme of "home".

"Several writers responding to the theme announcement on Twitter saying it was too  stereotypical," said editor Anora McGaha. "However, the choice of theme was not to focus on domesticity, but instead to allow both abstract and concrete expressions of belonging, national and cultural affiliation in addition to reflections on what home is and means."

Women Writers, Women Books also announces the creation of a new category of content, personal narratives, under the name Our Stories. http://www.booksbywomen.org/ourstories As the editorial team reviewed over 125 submissions from almost 100 writers and artists, they discovered the personal narratives did not fit as well in the literary journal, so a new site was created for the most developed and interesting of these.

Submissions came from around the world through the extended women writers network on Twitter. @WomenWriters is followed by over 13,500 primarily women writers, and requests for submissions are announced and retweeted for extended reach.  Women submitted from the following locations: India; Perth, Melbourne, Victoria and Sydney Australia; South Africa; Kenya; England; Ireland; Scotland; Canada; and many from North Carolina, as well as other states in America. Submissions included photographs, paintings, sketches, sculptures, poems, non-fiction and fiction prose.

The assistant managing editor for this second issue was Rachel C. Lewis, a student at Elon University who worked with Women Writers, Women Books for a six month period. Lewis discovered the magazine online and learned about the internship through the magazine's first intern, Victoria Shockley, a North Carolina State University student.

"Rachel Lewis demonstrated remarkable initiative in inviting guest writers for the magazine; and impressive insight in selecting the submissions for the journal," said founding editor Anora McGaha. "She's been great to work with," added Barbara Bos, who contributes time and inspiration on Twitter channel programming as well as guest writer outreach. Writer Barbara Bos began volunteering with Women Writers, Women Books in the spring of 2013 having connected with the site through Twitter in 2011, and writing a guest essay.

Women Writers, Women Books has had as guest writers such notable authors as Hazel Edwards an award winning and highly popular author in Australia; and Beryl Kingston who has published at least 23 books and has been writing for 75 years; Joanne Harris, the author of Chocolat which was made into an Oscar nominated film; Judith Kinghorn, author of The Lost Summer and other novels; and Qaisra Shahraz, a Pakistani born English author whose works have been translated in many languages and are best sellers in Indonesia and other South Asian nations; . Over 100 writers have published essays on the online magazine.

The magazine welcomes sponsors to support its operations and offers special services in appreciation for the support, the most important of which may be the service of single or multiple daily announcements on their Twitter channel. Women Writers' tweets can get extensive coverage through frequent retweeting by followers.

The site sponsorship is the biggest sponsorship. The first site sponsor is Qaisra Shahraz who appreciated the three times daily announcements on Twitter, the 75 - 80% US reach, as well as the other services offered to site sponsors. Her two month sponsorship begins September 15th, 2013 in time for the release of her latest novel, Revolt.

For more information about Women Writers, Women Books, visit http://www.booksbywomen.org or email editor@booksbywomen.org.