The 2018 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Awards were presented last week at a ceremony in New York City. The 2018 award winners are Chelsea Bieker (fiction/nonfiction), Lisa Chen (nonfiction), Lydia Conklin (fiction), Gabriela Garcia (fiction), Karen Outen (fiction/nonfiction) and Alison C. Rollins (poetry). Each received $30,000. The Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Awards are given to writers of fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction; since the program--created by novelist Rona Jaffe--began in 1995, the foundation has awarded more than $2.5 million to emergent women writers. Pictured: (front, l.-r.) Lisa Chen and Alison C. Rollins (back, l.-r.) Lydia Conklin, Karen Outen, Tayari Jones (guest speaker), Gabriela Garcia and Chelsea Bieker (photo: Star Black)
