Following on the heels of its annual Barnes &Noble Writers for Writers awards, P ts &Writers Inc., the national writers' support and assistance organization, is launching a redesigned P ts &Writers magazine with color, a new trim size and new editorial features.

This year playwright Edward Albee, novelist E.L. Doctorow and novelist and critic Susan Sontag were honored at a benefit dinner ceremony in New York City for their lifelong support and advocacy on behalf of writers around the world. The awards were established in 1996 to recognize writers who provide support to the literary community.

Therese Eiben, editor of P&W, said the first issue (January/February) of the newly designed bimonthly will feature the p t Ai and novelists Caryl Phillips and Sherman Alexie. P&W will also include news and trends in publishing, a section called Literary Life with essays by authors on the art of reading (Dan Wakefield examines James Baldwin in the first issue) and, "for fun," a horoscope for writers. P&W has a circulation of 60,000.