The Literary Arts Emergency Fund Awards More Than $3.5 Million to 282 Literary Arts Organizations, Magazines, and Presses Across the U.S. in Historic Relief Effort

September 2020

News

Catgory

The Literary Arts Emergency Fund, launched and administered by the Academy of American Poets, the Community of Literary Magazine & Presses (CLMP), and the National Book Foundation, will be distributing $3,530,000 in emergency funding to 282 nonprofit literary arts organizations, magazines, and presses across the nation that have experienced severe financial losses due to COVID-19. The organizations and publishers to receive support reported $27,635,559 in financial losses to date and are projecting $48,137,391 in financial losses in the year ahead.

Leaders of the three organizations—Jennifer Benka, Mary Gannon, and Lisa Lucas—united to raise funds and establish the Literary Arts Emergency Fund in response to the lack of institutional support for the nonprofit organizations and publishers that sustain literary culture in the U.S. by presenting poets and writers at events and by publishing and distributing thousands of poems, stories, and essays in books, magazines, and through open online archives. They also employ writers as teaching artists who bring literature into classrooms; offer workshops, festivals, and conferences; support the creative practice of poets and writers by providing millions of dollars in grants and fellowships; and honor the achievements of poets and writers, giving their work visibility. Together, these organizations reach more than 75 million readers each year.

The Literary Arts Emergency Fund was made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and applications were open to eligible organizations, magazines, and presses from July 17 to August 7, 2020.

The administering organizations convened three separate grantmaking panels to make recommendations for the final award decisions. The panelists were:

At the Academy of American Poets: Richard Blanco, Ruth Ellen Kocher, and Deborah Paredez

At CLMP: Harold Augenbraum, Nate Marshall, and Elda Rotor

At the National Book Foundation: Ken Chen, Andre Perry, and Keren Taylor

The literary arts organizations, magazines, and presses receiving emergency funding are: 

Arte Publico Press $50,000
Bookmarks $50,000
Cave Canem Foundation, Inc $50,000
Center for the Art of Translation $50,000
Coffee House Press $50,000
Copper Canyon Press $50,000
Feminist Press $50,000
Lambda Literary Foundation $50,000
Small Press Distribution $50,000
The Loft Literary Center $50,000
The Center for Fiction $50,000
Urban Word NYC $50,000
Writers in the Schools $50,000
Youth Speaks $50,000
Alice James Books $25,000
Archipelago Books $25,000
Asian American Writers’ Workshop $25,000
Bellevue Literary Press $25,000
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center $25,000
Brooklyn Book Festival, Inc. $25,000
CantoMundo $25,000
City of Asylum Pittsburgh $25,000
Gemini Ink $25,000
Graywolf Press $25,000
Herstory Writers Workshop Inc. $25,000
Just Buffalo Literary Center, Inc. $25,000
Kundiman, Inc. $25,000
Letras Latinas, the literary initiative at the University
of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies
$25,000
Literary Arts $25,000
McSweeney’s Publishing $25,000
Mizna $25,000
Northwestern University Press $25,000
Nuyorican Poets Cafe Inc. $25,000
Open Letter Books $25,000
Poets & Writers, Inc. $25,000
Red Hen Press $25,000
Center for Black Literature $25,000
Restless Books $25,000
Split This Rock $25,000
The Muse Writers Center $25,000
The PEN/Faulkner Foundation $25,000
Wesleyan University Press $25,000
Woodland Pattern Book Center $25,000
Zoeglossia $25,000
A Gathering of the Tribes $15,000
A Public Space $15,000
African Voices Communications, Inc. $15,000
Aspen Words $15,000
Association of Writers & Writing Programs $15,000
Authors Guild Foundation, Inc. $15,000
Autumn House Press $15,000
Bamboo Ridge Press $15,000
BOA Editions, Ltd. $15,000
Boston Book Festival $15,000
Bowery Arts and Science, Ltd. $15,000
Charis Circle, Inc $15,000
Children’s Book Project $15,000
ConTextos $15,000
Etruscan Press $15,000
Foundation for the Future of Literature and Literacy $15,000
Get Lit! $15,000
In-Na-Po, Indigenous Nations’ Poets $15,000
Inprint $15,000
InsideOut Literary Arts $15,000
Kaya Press $15,000
Kore Press Institute $15,000
Kweli Journal Inc $15,000
Los Angeles Review of Books $15,000
Louisville Story Program $15,000
Mass Poetry $15,000
Miami Book Fair $15,000
Milkweed Editions $15,000
Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop $15,000
O, Miami $15,000
PEN America $15,000
Poets House $15,000
Antenna $15,000
Sarabande Books $15,000
Sibling Rivalry Press $15,000
Simpson Literary Project $15,000
Small Press Traffic $15,000
Southern Word $15,000
Stadler Center for Poetry & Literary Arts at Bucknell University $15,000
Teachers and Writers Collaborative $15,000
Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival $15,000
Texas Book Festival $15,000
The American Literary Translators Association $15,000
Blair Publishing $15,000
The Community of Writers $15,000
The Moth $15,000
The Oxford American Literary Project $15,000
Two Dollar Radio $15,000
University of Pittsburgh Press $15,000
Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation $15,000
American Short Fiction, Inc. $10,000
Aunt Lute Books $10,000
Behind the Book $10,000
Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska for the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln – African Poetry Book Fund
$10,000
Buckeye Book Fair $10,000
California Poets in the Schools $10,000
Carnegie Center for Literacy & Learning $10,000
CavanKerry Press $10,000
Chapter 510 & the Dept of Make Believe $10,000
Chicago Humanities Festival $10,000
City Arts & Lectures $10,000
CityLit Project $10,000
Common Foundation, Inc / The Common $10,000
contratiempo nfp $10,000
Dominican Writers Association Inc $10,000
Driftless Writing Center $10,000
DSTL Arts $10,000
Electric Lit, Inc. $10,000
Virginia Children’s Book Festival $10,000
Every Child a Reader $10,000
Four Way Books $10,000
Get Lit – Words Ignite $10,000
Girls Write Now, Inc. $10,000
Greensboro Literary Organization $10,000
Gulf Coast Journal $10,000
Hanging Loose Press $10,000
Highlights Foundation $10,000
House of SpeakEasy $10,000
Indiana Writers Center $10,000
Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature $10,000
Keep St. Pete Lit $10,000
Kenyon Review $10,000
Libros Schmibros $10,000
Lighthouse Writers Workshop $10,000
Mad Creek Books/The Ohio State University Press $10,000
Mississippi Book Festival $10,000
n+1 foundation $10,000
BOMB Magazine $10,000
Nightboat Books $10,000
Nimrod International Journal of Prose and Poetry $10,000
NY Writers Coalition Inc. $10,000
Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora under The Board of Trustees of Illinois State University $10,000
Omnidawn Publishing, Inc $10,000
Open Books, Ltd. $10,000
Ploughshares $10,000
Poetry Society of America $10,000
RADAR Productions $10,000
Rain Taxi $10,000
San Antonio Book Festival $10,000
Semiotext(e) Limited $10,000
Short Run Seattle $10,000
Siglio Press $10,000
Slice Literary, Inc. $10,000
So Say We All $10,000
SOMOS (Society of the Muse of the Southwest) $10,000
Street Poets Inc $10,000
The Cabin $10,000
The Litquake Foundation $10,000
The Paris Review Foundation, Inc. $10,000
The Podium Foundation / Podium RVA $10,000
The Poetry Project $10,000
The Telling Room $10,000
The Writer’s Center/Poet Lore $10,000
The Writers Grotto $10,000
Transit Books $10,000
Tulsa Literary Coalition and Magic City Books $10,000
Twelve Literary Arts $10,000
Ugly Duckling Presse, Ltd. $10,000
University of Arizona Poetry Center / University of Arizona Foundation $10,000
Wick Poetry Center $10,000
Word Up Community Bookshop / Seven Stories Institute $10,000
 Wordcrafters in Eugene / Writers in the Schools $10,000
Words Without Borders $10,000
The American Poetry Review $10,000
Write Around Portland $10,000
YMCA of Greater Syracuse – The Downtown Writer’s Center $10,000
Young Chicago Authors $10,000
ZYZZYVA $10,000
3 Hole Press $5,000
826 Boston $5,000
826 MSP $5,000
826DC $5,000
Adirondack Center for Writing $5,000
Airlie Press $5,000
Alaska Quarterly Review $5,000
Alternative Field $5,000
Apogee Journal $5,000
Appalachia Book Company $5,000
Backbone Press $5,000
Conjunctions Literary Magazine $5,000
Belladonna Series $5,000
Belt Media Collaborative $5,000
River Styx $5,000
Birds, LLC $5,000
Black Ink Book Festival $5,000
Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska for the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln – Prairie Schooner
$5,000
Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review $5,000
Bright Hill Press, Inc. $5,000
Brink Literacy Project $5,000
Brooklyn Poets, Inc. $5,000
Cambodian American Literary Arts Association $5,000
Catamaran Literary Reader $5,000
CHARM: Voices of Baltimore Youth $5,000
Chicago Poetry Center $5,000
Cleveland State University Poetry Center $5,000
Colorado Review/Center for Literary Publishing $5,000
Creative Nonfiction Foundation $5,000
Cuatrogatos Foundation, Inc. $5,000
Deep Center $5,000
Deep Vellum Publishing $5,000
Epiphany Magazine $5,000
Feminine Empowerment Movement Slam $5,000
Fence Magazine, Inc. $5,000
Fishtrap $5,000
Foglifter Press $5,000
Free Verse Project $5,000
Futurepoem Inc. $5,000
Guernica Magazine $5,000
Hudson Valley Writers Center $5,000
In Full Color $5,000
Indolent Books $5,000
Inside Literature $5,000
Kallisto Gaia Press $5,000
Kansas Authors Club $5,000
LibroMobile Arts Coop $5,000
Literary Cleveland $5,000
Literary Freedom Project $5,000
The Southern Review and LSU Press $5,000
Madison Reading Project $5,000
Makara Center for the Arts $5,000
MAKE Literary Productions, NFP $5,000
Manic D Press $5,000
Missoula Writing Collaborative $5,000
Montana Book Festival $5,000
National Youth Foundation $5,000
Nebraska Writers Collective $5,000
New Letters Magazine $5,000
New Orleans Poetry Festival $5,000
Nomadic Press $5,000
North Dakota State University Press $5,000
Northern Arizona Book Festival $5,000
One Book One New Orleans $5,000
One Story, Inc. $5,000
Pen Parentis $5,000
Perugia Press $5,000
Philippine American Writers and Artists $5,000
Pleiades Magazine / Pleiades Press $5,000
Poetic Research Bureau $5,000
Poetry Flash $5,000
Poetry Society of New York $5,000
Poetry Society of Virginia $5,000
Polyphony Lit $5,000
Room Project $5,000
Ruminate Magazine $5,000
San Francisco Writers Conference and Writing for Change Worldwide $5,000
San Francisco Zine Fest $5,000
Shout Mouse Press, Inc. $5,000
Sinister Wisdom $5,000
Skagit River Festival $5,000
St. Louis Poetry Center $5,000
Stories Matter Foundation $5,000
Sundress Publications $5,000
Switchback Books $5,000
Lost Horse Press $5,000
The Beloit Poetry Journal Foundation Inc. $5,000
The DreamYard Project, Inc. $5,000
The Massachusetts Review $5,000
The Missouri Review $5,000
The National Poetry Series $5,000
The Offing $5,000
The Point Magazine $5,000
The Seventh Wave $5,000
The Threepenny Review $5,000
The Writer’s Garret $5,000
Third World Press Foundation $5,000
Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural $5,000
Triple Canopy $5,000
Tupelo Press, Inc. $5,000
Underground Writing $5,000
Undocupoets $5,000
New York State Writers Institute $5,000
VIDA: Women in Literary Arts $5,000
Rose O’Neill Literary House $5,000
White Pine Press $5,000
Women in Comics Collective International $5,000
Write Now! SF Bay $5,000
YALLFest $5,000
Young, Black & Lit $5,000

 

About the Academy of American Poets

The Academy of American Poets is the nation’s leading champion of poets and poetry with supporters in all fifty states. Founded in 1934, the organization produces Poets.org, the world’s largest publicly funded website for poets and poetry; originated and organizes National Poetry Month; publishes the popular Poem-a-Day series and American Poets magazine; provides award-winning resources to K–12 educators, including the Teach This Poem series; administers the American Poets Prizes; hosts an annual series of poetry readings and special events; and coordinates a national Poetry Coalition working together to promote the value poets bring to our culture. Through its prize program, the organization annually awards more funds to individual poets than any other organization, giving a total of $1,250,000 to more than 200 poets at various stages of their careers. This year, in response to the global health crisis, the Academy joined six other national organizations to launch Artist Relief, a multidisciplinary coalition of arts grantmakers and a consortium of foundations working to provide resources and funding to the country’s individual poets, writers, and artists who are impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In another similar effort, the Academy, along with two other literary arts organizations—the Council of Literary Magazines & Presses and the National Book Foundation—established the Literary Arts Emergency Fund, which will grant emergency relief funding to magazines, presses, and literary arts organizations across the U.S. that have experienced financial losses as a result of the pandemic.

About CLMP

The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) ensures a vibrant, diverse literary landscape by helping mission-driven independent literary magazines and presses thrive. We provide publishers with funding and technical assistance; facilitate peer-to-peer learning and group action; serve as a dependable, essential hub for best practices, resources, and nurturing community support; and build bridges to connect publishers with other groups of literary stakeholders, including readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, educators, presenting organizations, and funders. Along with directly serving 500+ member-publishers located in almost every state in the country, CLMP administers the Lit Mag Adoption program, which provides to educators and students discounted literary magazine subscriptions for use in the classroom; an annual Indie Lit Fair, featuring magazines and presses at the PEN World Voices Festival; the Literary Writers Conference, a two-day professional development event for writers held every December in New York City; and the annual Firecracker Awards for Independently Published Literature, which celebrate magazines and books that make a significant contribution to our literary culture. To learn more about CLMP, visit clmp.org/about.

About the National Book Foundation

The mission of the National Book Foundation, presenter of the National Book Awards, is to celebrate the best literature in America, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in American culture. The Foundation approaches this work from three programmatic angles: Awards & Honors, recognizing exceptional authors, literature, and literary programs; Education & Access initiatives, helping young and adult readers develop a lifelong passion for books; and Public Programs, bringing acclaimed authors to communities nationwide to engage in conversations about books and the power of literature as a tool for understanding our world, cultivating meaningful discourse around the issues of our age. Information on all of the Foundation’s programs can be found online at nationalbook.org.

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