September 15, 2020 (New York, NY)—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.
