Tyrus Books, launched by Ben LeRoy and Alison Janssen with three releases last month, may be a small Midwestern literary press, but the founders hope to have an impact on the literary landscape in the Deep South as well. <snip> ...the press is sponsoring a short story competition, the DELTA YOUTH Writing Contest, open to high school students in the Mississippi Delta, an economically-impoverished area with an estimated 60% adult literacy rate. Authors of the top short stories (2,500 words or less) will be invited to take part in the Guild’s 2010 writers conference next summer. The top author seeking a degree in the literary arts will also receive a $1,000 college scholarship.
In addition, next spring, Tyrus is releasing 10 fiction titles, including Delta Blues, a short story collection, to be released with a 10,000-copy print in April. Delta Blues, edited by Carolyn Haines, features fiction by James Lee Burke, John Grisham, Charlaine Harris, Ace Atkins, and other writers, plus a foreword by actor Morgan Freeman... <snip>
