International Writing Award Honours Sleep Before Evening

Sleep Before Evening, a fast paced coming of age novel by Magdalena Ball, has been named as a Finalist in the Regional Fiction category of the 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. The heart-wrenching novel, released last July by BeWrite Books, tells the story of the teenager's struggle against a self-centred artist mother, a succession of drive-by stepfathers, her desperate escape into a nightmare of drugs and degradation. Set in and about New York, the gritty tale unfolds with the same cool detachment that motivates the central character to peel back the layers of her life and expose the painful scalding within. There are lonely vigils in city parks and subway journeys to oblivion. In the city she meets Miles, a hip musician busking the streets and playing seedy venues with a rock band. Her new, exciting, dissolute world challenges Marianne's preconceptions about art and life. Here, in contrast to her prescribed upbringing, she finds anarchic squalor, home grown music and poetry, substance abuse, sex and crushing disappointment and fear; but above all, exhilarating personal freedom. Addictions - of all kinds - and the redemptive power of art and music, love, loss and beauty are all explored in a young girl's difficult journey from sleep to awakening.

The Next Generation Indie Book Awards were established to recognize and honour the most exceptional independently published books for the year and is presented by the Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group in cooperation with Marilyn Allen of Allen O'Shea Literary Agency. Additionally, Sleep Before Evening will be listed as a Finalist in the 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards catalogue which will be distributed at Book Expo America in Los Angeles.

In addition to her novel, Magdalena Ball is the author of a book of nonfiction, and a book of poetry. Her fiction, nonfiction and poetry has appeared in a wide range of magazines, anthologies and review journals, and she has won numerous other awards for her work. She has been a guest on radio stations worldwide, and remains available for additional appearances.

Magdalena Ball may be reached at here. Complete information on Sleep Before Evening can be obtained here.

Information on Magdalena Ball, including publications, awards, and recent appearances can be found in downloadable media kits in the media room at http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/images/MediaRoom.htm