313 Literary Arts Organizations and Publishers Across the U.S. to Receive Funding

New York, NY (April 14, 2022)—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 in 2020, will distribute $4,300,000 in funding to 313 nonprofit literary arts organizations and publishers across the U.S. that have experienced continued financial losses due to COVID-19.

The Literary Arts Emergency Fund was made possible by a grant from the Mellon Foundation.

“These grants remain vital because the impact of the emergency of COVID-19 remains very present in our lives,” said Elizabeth Alexander, President of the Mellon Foundation. “Throughout the United States, readers, writers, poets, students, and teachers rely on our country’s vibrant ecosystem of literary magazines, presses, and organizations—one that reveals the power and the possibility of the literary arts to the broader public. We are proud to continue our support for this emergency fund and look forward to the remarkable poetry and literature it will help cultivate.”

The organizations and publishers to receive support are projecting $18,874,661 in financial losses in the year ahead.

“In some ways, this year was even more challenging than last year for literary organizations and publishers as there were fewer opportunities to receive emergency funding but also increased costs including producing hybrid events,” said Ruth Dickey, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation.

Fewer federal relief funds were available to support arts and culture organizations in 2022 and forgivable loans through the Paycheck Protection Act ended in May 2021. At the same time, the literary arts was already an under-funded field. According to a recent report on “Giving for Writing & Literature” released by Inside Philanthropy:

Philanthropic giving for writing and literature is minuscule relative to other artistic disciplines. From 2014–2018 donors gave $418 million to writing and literature programs in the United States. They gave $6.3 billion to the visual arts; $4 billion to music; $2.4 billion to theater; and $1 billion to dance.

The top 10 literary arts grant recipients from 2014 to 2018 received around $63 million. In contrast, the top 10 theater organizations received a total of $364.95 million.

Yet literary arts organizations and publishers are a critical part of the cultural landscape.

The 313 literary organizations and publishers supported by the Literary Arts Emergency Fund published 11,965 literary works, produced 30,201 events, and reached 210,055,047 audience members last year, and did so with a collective annual budget of $177,857,423.

“When you consider the funding available to other artistic disciplines, the literary arts have incredible reach and impact. With that, and the unique quality of cultural engagement that reading poems and stories provides, which can be personally transformative, the literary arts deserve much more support,” said Jennifer Benka, Executive Director of the Academy of American Poets.

Nonprofit organizations and publishers sustain literary culture in the U.S. by distributing the work of poets and writers and presenting them at events. 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.

“Literary magazines and small presses provide a first home to thousands of emerging writers each year, and they champion the work of poets, short story writers, and literary prose writers throughout their careers. They are essential to the publishing ecosystem,” said Mary Gannon, Executive Director of the Community of Literary Magazines & Presses.

The administering organizations convened three separate grantmaking panels, and disbursements were approved by each organization’s Board. The panelists were:

At the Academy of American Poets: Teri Cross Davis, Alberto Ríos, and Janice Sapigao.

At CLMP: Joseph O. Legaspi, Steph Opitz, and Sara Ortiz.

At the National Book Foundation: Diana Marie Delgado, James G. Thomas, Jr., and Jafreen Uddin.

The literary arts organizations and publishers receiving emergency funding in 2022 are:

1455 ($5,000)

2892 Miles to Go ($5,000)

826 Boston ($5,000)

826 MSP ($5,000)

826 New Orleans ($10,000)

826CHI ($5,000)

826DC ($5,000)

826LA ($5,000)

826michigan ($5,000)

826NYC ($5,000)

Adirondack Center for Writing ($15,000)

Afghan American Artists and Writers Association ($10,000)

African Poetry Book Fund ($10,000)

African Voices Communications ($15,000)

Alabama Writers’ Forum ($15,000)

Alaska Quarterly Review ($15,000)

Alice James Books ($25,000)

Alternative Field ($5,000)

The American Literary Translators Association ($15,000)

American Poetry Review ($10,000)

American Short Fiction ($15,000)

Anaphora Literary Arts ($10,000)

Apogee Journal ($5,000)

Archipelago Books ($25,000)

Arte Publico Press ($50,000)

Artefactus Cultural Project ($15,000)

Asian American Writers’ Workshop ($25,000)

Aspen Words ($10,000)

Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) ($25,000)

Aunt Lute Books ($15,000)

Austin Bat Cave ($25,000)

Autumn House Press ($15,000)

Backbone Press ($5,000)

Balir ($15,000)

Bamboo Ridge Press ($25,000)

Bay Area Book Festival ($25,000)

Bowery Poetry Club ($10,000)

Behind the Book ($15,000)

Bellevue Literary Press ($25,000)

Bellevue Literary Review ($5,000)

Beloit Poetry Journal ($5,000)

Belt Media Collaborative (Belt Magazine) ($5,000)

Beyond Baroque Foundation ($25,000)

Birds, LLC ($10,000)

Black Ink: A Charleston African American Book Festival ($5,000)

Blue Stoop of Culture Trust ($25,000)

BOA Editions, Ltd. ($25,000)

BOMB Magazine ($10,000)

Bookmarks ($10,000)

Boston Book Festival  ($15,000)

Brink Literacy Project (F(r)iction) ($10,000)

Brooklyn Book Festival ($25,000)

Brooklyn Poets ($5,000)

Buckeye Authors Book Fair Committee ($15,000)

Bushwick Book Club ($5,000)

The Cabin Idaho ($10,000)

California Poets in the Schools ($10,000)

Cambodian American Literary Arts Association ($5,000)

CantoMundo ($25,000)

Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning ($15,000)

Cascadia Poetics LAB ($5,000)

Catamaran Literary Reader ($10,000)

CavanKerry Press ($15,000)

Cave Canem Foundation ($50,000)

Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College ($25,000)

The Center for Fiction ($25,000)

Center for the Art of Translation ($50,000)

Centrum ($5,000)

Chapter 510 Ink ($25,000)

CHARM: Voices of Baltimore Youth ($15,000)

Chicago Poetry Center ($5,000)

City of Asylum Pittsburgh ($25,000)

City of Asylum/Detroit ($15,000)

CityLit Project ($15,000)

Coffee House Press ($50,000)

Common Foundation (The Common) ($10,000)

Common Notions Press ($10,000)

Community Literature Initiative ($10,000)

Community of Writers ($15,000)

Community-Word Project ($25,000)

Conjunctions ($5,000)

ConTextos ($10,000)

Contratiempo ($10,000)

Copper Canyon Press ($25,000)

Creative Nonfiction Foundation ($10,000)

Cuatrogatos Foundation ($15,000)

Day Eight ($5,000)

Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation ($10,000)

December Publishing ($5,000)

Deep Center ($5,000)

Deep Vellum ($15,000)

DewMore Baltimore ($10,000)

DreamYard Project ($10,000)

The Drift Magazine ($5,000)

Driftless Writing Center ($5,000)

Dzanc Books ($10,000)

Editora Educación Emergente ($5,000)

Electric Lit ($15,000)

Elizabeth Kostova Foundation ($5,000)

Elk River Arts & Lectures ($5,000)

Epiphany Literary Magazine ($5,000)

Etruscan Press ($10,000)

Eulalia Books ($5,000)

Evergreen Review ($5,000)

Everybody Wins DC ($5,000)

Feminist Press ($25,000)

Fence Magazine ($5,000)

Fishtrap ($10,000)

Foglifter Press ($10,000)

Four Way Books ($15,000)

Free Verse Writing Project ($15,000)

Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University ($15,000)

Futurepoem ($10,000)

A Gathering of the Tribes ($15,000)

Gemini Ink ($25,000)

Georgia Writers Association ($5,000)

Get Lit! Festival ($5,000)

Get Lit – Words Ignite ($10,000)

Girls Write Now ($15,000)

Graywolf Press ($50,000)

Greensboro Literary Organization ($15,000)

GrubStreet ($15,000)

Guernica ($10,000)

Guild Literary Complex ($5,000)

Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts ($15,000)

Hanging Loose Press ($10,000)

The Head and The Hand ($15,000)

Herstory Writers Workshop ($15,000)

House of SpeakEasy Foundation ($10,000)

The Hudson Review ($10,000)

Hypertext Magazine & Studio ($5,000)

Image ($10,000)

In Black Ink ($15,000)

In-Na-Po, Indigenous Nations Poets  ($25,000)

Inprint ($15,000)

International Women’s Writing Guild ($5,000)

Just Buffalo Literary Center ($25,000)

Kaya Press ($25,000)

Kearny Street Workshop ($25,000)

Kenyon Review ($10,000)

Kimbilio ($15,000)

Kore Press Institute ($15,000)

Kundiman ($25,000)

Kweli Journal ($15,000)

Lambda Literary ($50,000)

Letras Latinas at University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies ($15,000)

LibroMobile ($15,000)

Libros El Navegante ($10,000)

Life Journeys Writers Club ($5,000)

Literary Arts ($25,000)

Literary Cleveland ($5,000)

Literary Freedom Project ($10,000)

The Literary Review ($5,000)

Litmus Press ($5,000)

Litquake Foundation ($10,000)

The Loft Literary Center ($15,000)

Lookout Books ($10,000)

Los Angeles Review of Books ($15,000)

Lost Horse Press ($10,000)

Louisville Literary Arts ($5,000)

Louisville Story Program ($10,000)

Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance ($10,000)

MAKE Literary Productions ($10,000)

The Markaz Review ($25,000)

Marsh Hawk Press ($5,000)

Mass Poetry ($15,000)

The Massachusetts Review ($10,000)

McSweeney’s ($25,000)

Miami Book Fair ($15,000)

Milkweed Editions ($15,000)

Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop ($50,000)

Mississippi Book Festival ($15,000)

Missoula Writing Collaborative ($5,000)

Missouri Review ($10,000)

Mizna ($25,000)

Montana Book Festival ($5,000)

The Moth ($25,000)

The Muse Writers Center ($15,000)

n+1  ($5,000)

National Novel Writing Month ($25,000)

The National Poetry Series ($10,000)

National Youth Foundation ($5,000)

Nebraska Writers Collective ($5,000)

New Letters Magazine ($5,000)

New Literary Project ($10,000)

The New Orleans Poetry Festival ($5,000)

Nightboat Books ($15,000)

Nimrod International Journal of Prose and Poetry ($10,000)

Nomadic Press ($15,000)

North Carolina Writers’ Network ($10,000)

North Dakota State University Press ($15,000)

Northern Arizona Book Festival ($5,000)

Northwestern University Press ($25,000)

Nuyorican Poets Cafe ($10,000)

NY Writers Coalition ($5,000)

O, Miami ($15,000)

Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora ($15,000)

The Offing ($5,000)

Omnidawn Publishing ($10,000)

One Book One New Orleans ($5,000)

One Story ($10,000)

Orion Magazine ($15,000)

OutWrite DC ($15,000)

Oxford American Literary Project ($10,000)

Page 15 ($10,000)

Parachute Literary Arts ($5,000)

The Paris Review ($10,000)

Passager Books ($5,000)

PEN American Center ($15,000)

PEN/Faulkner Foundation ($15,000)

Pen Parentis ($5,000)

PenUltimate Press ($10,000)

Philippine American Writers and Artists (PAWA) ($10,000)

Pleiades: Literature in Context ($5,000)

Ploughshares ($10,000)

Podium RVA ($10,000)

Poetry Center San Jose ($5,000)

Poetry Daily ($10,000)

Poetry Flash ($5,000)

The Poetry Project ($15,000)

Prairie Schooner ($5,000)

Poetry Society of America ($15,000)

Poetry Society of New York ($5,000)

Poets & Writers ($50,000)

Poets House ($10,000)

Polyphony Lit ($5,000)

The Porch ($15,000)

Public Poetry ($5,000)

A Public Space ($25,000)

RADAR Productions ($10,000)

Radius of Arab American Writers ($5,000)

Rain Taxi ($15,000)

The RED Bookshelf ($10,000)

Red Hen Press ($25,000)

Restless Books ($25,000)

River Styx ($5,000)

Room Project ($15,000)

Roots. Wounds. Words. ($25,000)

Rose O’Neill Literary House ($5,000)

Ruminate Magazine ($5,000)

Saint Louis Poetry Center ($5,000)

San Antonio Book Festival ($15,000)

San Francisco Writers Conference ($5,000)

Sarabande Books ($15,000)

Seattle Arts & Lectures ($25,000)

Semiotexte Limited ($5,000)

The Seventh Wave Magazine ($5,000)

Shout Mouse Press ($10,000)

Siglio ($15,000)

Sinister Wisdom ($5,000)

Sistories ($5,000)

Skagit River Poetry Foundation ($5,000)

Small Press Distribution ($10,000)

Small Press Traffic ($15,000)

So Say We All ($10,000)

Society of the Muse of the Southwest (SOMOS) ($15,000)

Southern Lit Alliance ($15,000)

Speculative Literature Foundation ($5,000)

Split This Rock ($10,000)

Sundress Publications ($5,000)

Swan Isle Press ($5,000)

Teachers & Writers Collaborative ($25,000)

Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival ($15,000)

Texas Book Festival ($25,000)

Third World Press Foundation ($15,000)

The Threepenny Review ($10,000)

Torrey House Press ($15,000)

Town Hall Seattle ($10,000)

Transit Books ($15,000)

Triple Canopy ($10,000)

Tupelo Press ($15,000)

The Tuxedo Project ($15,000)

Twelve Literary Arts ($15,000)

Two Dollar Radio ($15,000)

Ugly Duckling Presse ($15,000)

Underground Writing ($5,000)

Undocupoets ($5,000)

University of Arizona Poetry Center ($15,000)

University of Pittsburgh Press ($10,000)

Urban Word NYC ($50,000)

Virginia Children’s Book Festival ($5,000)

Voices of our Nations Arts Foundation ($50,000)

Wendy’s Subway ($5,000)

Wesleyan University Press ($25,000)

White Pine Press ($10,000)

Wick Poetry Center ($15,000)

Women in Comics Collective International ($5,000)

Women Writing for (a) Change, Jacksonville ($15,000)

Woodland Pattern Book Center ($25,000)

The Word, A Storytelling Sanctuary ($15,000)

Word Up Community Bookshop ($50,000)

WordPlay Cincy ($15,000)

Words Without Borders ($25,000)

Write Around Portland ($15,000)

Write Now! SF Bay ($10,000)

Write On, Door County ($5,000)

Writers & Books ($15,000)

The Writer’s Center ($10,000)

The Writer’s Garret ($10,000)

Writers in Baltimore Schools ($15,000)

Writers in the Schools ($25,000)

Writers’ League of Texas ($5,000)

The Writers Room ($10,000)

YALLFest Charleston ($15,000)

YMCA of Central New York’s Downtown Writers Center ($15,000)

Young Authors Greenhouse ($5,000)

Young Chicago Authors ($10,000)

Young, Black & Lit ($10,000)

Youth Speaks ($50,000)

Zephyr Press ($5,000)

Zoeglossia ($25,000)

Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation ($50,000)

ZYZZYVA ($15,000)

About the Academy of American Poets

Founded in 1934, the Academy of American Poets is the nation’s leading champion of poets and poetry with supporters in all fifty states. The organization annually awards more funds to individual poets than any other organization through its prize and fellowship program, giving a total of $1.25 million to more than 200 poets at various stages of their careers. The organization also produces Poets.org, the world’s largest publicly funded website for poets and poetry; established and organizes National Poetry Month each April; 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; 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.

About the Community of Literary Magazines & Presses

CLMP ensures a vibrant, diverse literary landscape by helping mission-driven independent literary magazines and presses thrive. Since 1967, CLMP has provided publishers with funding and technical assistance; facilitated peer-to-peer learning and group action; served as a dependable, essential hub for best practices, resources, and nurturing community support; and connected publishers with other groups of literary stakeholders, including readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, educators, presenting organizations, and funders. Along with directly serving 900+ publishers located in almost every state in the country, CLMP administers the Lit Mag Adoption program, which provides educators and students with discounted magazine subscriptions; the annual Indie Lit Fair, in partnership with the PEN World Voices Festival; the $10,000 Constellation Award, given to honor an independent literary press that is led by and/or champions the writing of people of color for excellence in publishing; and the Firecracker Awards for Independently Published Literature, which celebrate magazines and books that make a significant contribution to our literary culture, among other programs.

About the National Book Foundation

The mission of the National Book Foundation 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. The National Book Awards, the National Book Foundation’s signature program, was established in 1950 and is one of the nation’s most prestigious literary prizes and has a stellar record of identifying and rewarding quality writing. Many previous Winners of the National Book Awards are now firmly established in the canon of American literature, including Robert A. Caro, Ralph Ellison, Louise Erdrich, Denis Johnson, Flannery O’Connor, Adrienne Rich, Maurice Sendak, and Jesmyn Ward.

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