Wilkes University's Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing and Etruscan Press Partner with United Airlines to Bring Books to the Clouds

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WILKES-BARRE, PA (05/17/2018) Contact information: Gabrielle D'Amico, director of communications, gabrielle.damico@wilkes.edu, 570-408-4510

The Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Wilkes University and Etruscan Press have partnered with United Airlines to bring books to the clouds with Books on the Fly. Etruscan Press is a partner of the Maslow Family Graduate Creative Writing Program at Wilkes University, where the press is housed.

The program is an outreach partnership at Boston Logan International Airport that allows United customers to select books before cross-country flights. Etruscan Press and the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Wilkes University are the first outside partners to supply books for the program. The donated books are published by creative writing faculty and Etruscan authors. Each book comes with a special bookmark that features QR codes leading readers to more information about Etruscan and the Maslow creative writing program.

"This innovative partnership provides a wonderful opportunity to share the talents of the Maslow Family program's faculty, alumni and publishing partners with a new literary audience," says Dr. Bonnie Culver, co-founder and program director.

Books on the Fly was started by two United Airlines employees who saw books piling up in the employee break room and didn't want them to go unread. They created a "miniature library" of about 40 books to hand out to customers before long-distance flights. Customers usually end up taking a book to read and leaving one that they have finished for others to enjoy.

About Wilkes University:

Wilkes University is an independent institution of higher education dedicated to academic and intellectual excellence through mentoring in the liberal arts, sciences and professional programs. Founded in 1933, the university is on a mission to create one of the great small universities, offering all of the programs, activities and opportunities of a large, research university in the intimate, caring and mentoring environment of a small, liberal arts college, at a cost that is increasingly competitive with public universities. The Economist named Wilkes 25th in the nation for the value of its education for graduates. In addition to 43 bachelor's degree programs, Wilkes offers 25 master's degree programs and five doctoral/terminal degree programs, including the doctor of philosophy in nursing, doctor of nursing practice, doctor of education, doctor of pharmacy, and master of fine arts in creative writing. Learn more at www.wilkes.edu.

About Etruscan Press:

Housed at Wilkes University and partnering with Youngstown State University, Etruscan is a non-profit literary press working to produce and promote books that nurture the dialogue among genres, cultures, and voices. Etruscan publishes books of poems, novels, short stories, creative non-fiction, criticism, translation, and anthologies.

Etruscan was one of five finalists for the 2015 AWP Small Press Publisher Award. Three works from Etruscan's collection of poetry were named finalists for the National Book Award and another was named to the Longlist (the NBA's "Top Ten" in poetry). Other titles are recipients of the Poetry Society of America's "First Book Award," the Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Award, and PEN Oakland's "Josephine Miles Award." Three poems published by Etruscan were selected for Best American Poetry. Most recently, titles published by Etruscan Press were awarded the Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Prize, nominated for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in Poetry, the Poet's Prize, named a finalist for the Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Award, Housatonic Book Award, Helen Smith Memorial Prize for Best Book of Poetry, and longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay.

In addition to support from Wilkes University and Youngstown State University, Etruscan is proud to have received grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Oristaglio Foundation, the Andrews Foundation, The Wean Foundation, the Rayen Foundation, the Drs. Brothers & Murphy Endowment, and the Ohio Arts Council.