When the Douglas County Special Olympics came to New Manchester High School on March 29, one athlete won a literary treat from Douglasville Poet Laureate, Alice Shapiro: a copy of her new poetry release, Saltian. The collection, which will be published April 10 by unbound CONTENT, was
signed by each of the nearly 250 competing athletes and auctioned off during the closing ceremonies of the games.

For Alice Shapiro, the donation is an opportunity to give back to Douglas County, while engaging local interest in poetry and the written word. “I love interactive fun projects that get kids and adults excited about poetry,” remarks Shapiro, “especially if it helps my amazing community.”

In Saltian, award-winning writer Alice Shapiro embarks on an adventure: to discover how collaborative editing might alter her manuscript. After assembling an editorial board, the publisher sent the poems to the board for critique and then posted the poems and the critiques online for reader feedback. Alice then took the critique and the reader comments and revisited each poem, reserving the author's right to emend the work by her own decision. This book presents the final version of the collection along with an appendix of each original poem, the editorial board critiques, and the reader comments. The work can be read solely as a collection of final poems, taught as a poetry study in revision, or experienced cumulatively as a unique look at craft and process. It is a one-of-a-kind collaboration meant for readers, writers, and anyone interested in the art of creativity.

Alice Shapiro is currently serving as Poet Laureate of Douglasville. Saltian, her third collection of poems, will be released in April. Her first book, Cracked, received Georgia Author of the Year nomination and also a Pushcart Prize nomination. Shapiro is also winner of the Bill C. Davis Drama Award and her play "Four Voices" was performed in New York and at The Turner Cassity Literary Festival in 2011. She is currently writing a musical.

For more information, please contact Annmarie Lockhart, publisher:
annmarie@unboundcontent.com.