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Baby Hearts Press is excited to announce that we are hosting our inaugural Literary Awards Competition in the categories of Memoir Writing and Children’s Books for previously unpublished manuscripts. The top prize for the 1st Place winner of each contest will be $100 plus the opportunity to work with Baby Hearts Press in consideration of having the book published by the publishing company. The 2nd place prize is $50 and 3rd place will be $25. For more details on the rules and guidelines, visit our website.
Baby Hearts Press is dedicated to providing resources for the congenital heart defect community and has done so since 1997 when Anna Jaworski first wrote and published Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome: A Handbook for Parents. Shortly after that book was written, it was reviewed by Library Journal and orders for the book started appearing from all over the world. The book was then featured in a special cardiology review section of Library Journal a couple of years after that and the book demonstrated a need for books specifically for the congenital heart defect community.
In 1999 Baby Hearts Press published The Heart of a Mother — stories by women affected by congenital heart defect from around the world. The book had over 60 contributors and some of the women have gone on to have additional works published in other books and magazines. It was the first time a book like this had been published for the CHD community.
Baby Hearts Press also published its first children’s book. My Brother Needs an Operation is a story based on the life of Joseph Jaworski, big brother to Alexander. Alex and Joey show what life is like when a big brother is left behind while a little brother has to have surgery. Lovable K.C., their toy poodle, is Joey’s constant companion and she is also affected by the changes that occur due to Alex’s hospitalization. The book has become a staple in many heart families’ homes when they have to leave children behind because one of the children needs an operation.
The Heart of a Father: Essays by Men Affected by Congenital Heart Defects is the companion book to The Heart of a Mother and many of the contributors to the book were the husbands of women who had contributed to the mothers’ book so readers were treated to seeing what had happened to the children they had read about almost a decade later. Many of the stories present a picture of hope since most of the children written about in The Heart of a Mother were not expected to survive to adulthood.
Baby Hearts Press is ready to discover some new authors! Will you be one of them? The deadline for the manuscript contest is midnight December 8, 2018, Central Time (USA).
The Voice of the Congenital Heart Defect Community 