Alma García says she has always wanted to be writer. “I was one of those peculiar seven-year-olds who, when asked, ‘What are you doing?’ I would frequently answer, Oh, just writing a book.”

Now, as the 37-year-old winner of a national award that will allow her to finish her first novel, she says. “When I’m feeling grandiose, I like to think of myself as the literary love child of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Flannery O’Connor. And my admiration of Sandra Cisneros goes without saying.”

As a recipient of the 2007 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Awards, her longtime dream is one step closer to becoming a reality. “At first, I was astonished when I found out I was selected because there is no application process, selection is by secret nomination. As for how I felt about winning, astonishment applies once again, as well as dumbfounded elation,” says García.

Established in 1995 by author Rona Jaffe, who passed in 2005 and had written 16 books, including the best-selling novel The Best of Everything, the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Awards is the only national literary awards program established exclusively to encourage and support women writers.

Each of the six winners receives an award of $25,000; and having just celebrated its thirteenth year, the program has awarded more than $750,000 to 86 women writers. Past winners who have gone on to complete books and receive wider recognition include Lan Samantha Chang, author of Inheritance (W.W. Norton & Company, 2004); ZZ Packer, author of Drinking Coffee Elsewhere (Riverhead Books, 2003); poet Tracy K. Smith, Duende (Graywolf Press, 2007); and Asali Solomon, author of the short-story collection Get Down (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007)

“Rona Jaffe has left an important and meaningful legacy. She felt that women writers face many obstacles in the pursuit of their creative work…” says Beth McCabe, director of the program. “Many recipients will be able to take significant time off from their work to concentrate exclusively on their writing — in some cases, up to two years.”