Amazon Literary Partnership announced more than $1 million in grant funding to 74 literary nonprofits across the U.S. A longtime champion of the written word, Amazon Literary Partnership’s funding supports groups that are working to empower diverse, marginalized, and underrepresented voices, helping writers to create, publish, learn, teach, experiment, and thrive in 2022 and beyond. Included in this year’s cohort are 10 first-time grant recipient organizations.
For the fourth time, the Amazon Literary Partnership has also awarded grants of $140,000 each to the Academy of American Poets and to the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP), to be used to fund dozens of literary organizations supporting poetry groups and literary magazines. The Academy of American Poets and CLMP will announce the recipients of the Poetry Fund and Literary Magazine Fund grants at a later date.
“We’re extremely grateful to work with the Amazon Literary Partnership to support a diverse community of poetry organizations and publishers whose work sparks compassion and helps us imagine new ways forward,” said Jennifer Benka, president and executive director of the Academy of American Poets.
“CLMP is extremely grateful to the Amazon Literary Partnership for providing support to literary magazines, which, like all publishers, continue to face the ongoing challenges of supply chain disruptions and rising production costs, but with fewer resources,” said CLMP Executive Director Mary Gannon. “Essential to the publishing ecosystem, literary magazines have shown resilience and innovation, fueled by their commitment to writers and the transformative power of literature. They deserve all the support they can get.”
Guided by the mission of having a lasting impact on the literary community, the Amazon Literary Partnership grants have supported more than 160 organizations with $15 million in grant funding since 2009. The grants have assisted tens of thousands of writers in telling their stories, amplifying their work, and finding their audiences.
“It’s an honor to support these vital institutions that ceaselessly champion writers and their work,” said Al Woodworth, manager of the Amazon Literary Partnership. “At Amazon, we believe in the power of the written word to expand our thinking, advance our empathy, and change our world. We are grateful for the incredible work that these organizations do for writers and their readers, today and every day.”
The Amazon Literary Partnership 2022 grant recipients, including the Poetry Fund and Literary Magazine Fund recipients, represent 30 states and support more than 20 new organizations that help writers throughout the lifecycle of their publishing career—from youth writing programs and publishing opportunities to residency programs, festivals, and workshops to speaking events and award programs. Organizations like the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Empowering Latino Futures, Hurston/Wright Foundation, Lambda Literary, and Torch Literary Arts are explicitly focused on supporting underrepresented, underserved, and marginalized literary voices.
“I cannot tell you what wonderful feedback we received from the Amazon Writers cohort/participants,” said Angela Flowers, executive director of Writers in the Schools (WITS) for Houston. “The work invigorated my staff members in a challenging year, and the authors who coached and led workshops were so open to mentoring these young creatives. We love this program so very much and appreciate the Amazon Literary Partnership for supporting this essential creative work.”
“We are thrilled to again be awarded funding for The SpeakEasy Bookmobile through the Amazon Literary Partnership and are grateful for the opportunity this award presents to expand this initiative in the year ahead,” said Paul Morris, executive director of House of SpeakEasy. “For the last four years, this grant has provided critical support for our bookmobile operations, allowing us to give away new books regularly in book deserts throughout the five boroughs of New York and in the 18 cities we visited in 2019. During the height of the pandemic, increased funding from Amazon Literary Partnership helped us put free books, book bags, and school supplies into the hands of students and families hardest hit by COVID-19.”
For more than a decade, the Amazon Literary Partnership has been the sole funder of the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 program. “We are so grateful for the generous support of the Amazon Literary Partnership, which allows us to celebrate five authors each year whose debut titles provide a first look at their exceptional talent as fiction writers,” said Ruth Dickey, executive director at the National Book Foundation. “It’s a joy to welcome the 5 Under 35 authors into the National Book Foundation family, champion their debuts, and connect readers everywhere with these wonderful new voices.”
“We are very thankful for the support received from the Amazon Literacy Partnership, as it represents a big step for our organization toward uplifting Latino author voices in literature,” said Kirk Whisler, president of Empowering Latino Futures. “For a long time, we lacked the resources to support in more meaningful ways our community of Latino authors, but now they are thankful for finally seeing their books displayed and being promoted in a directory that represents them.”
2022 Amazon Literary Partnership grants (*denotes new recipients)
- 826 New Orleans* (LA)
- 826 Valencia (CA)
- 826DC (DC)
- 826NYC (NY)
- Academy of American Poets (NY)
- Archipelago Books (NY)
- Art Omi (NY)
- Arte Publico Press* (TX)
- Asian American Writers’ Workshop (NY)
- ASJA, American Society of Journalists and Authors (NY)
- Aspen Words (CO)
- Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) (MD)
- Brooklyn Book Festival (NY)
- Center for the Art of Translation (CA)
- Centrum (WA)
- CHARM: Voices of Baltimore Youth*(MD)
- Chicago Humanities Festival (IL)
- City of Asylum (PA)
- CityLit Project (MD)
- Clarion West (WA)
- Coffee House Press (MN)
- Community of Literary Magazine and Presses (CLMP) (NY)
- Community-Word Project (NY)
- Creative Writing Program, University of Washington (WA)
- Deep Vellum (TX)
- Empowering Latino Futures (CA)
- Georgia Writers Association* (GA)
- Girls Write Now (NY)
- Graywolf Press (MN)
- Hedgebrook (WA)
- Heyday (CA)
- Highlights Foundation, Inc.* (PA)
- House of SpeakEasy Foundation (NY)
- Hub City Press (SC)
- Hugo House (WA)
- Humanities Washington (WA)
- Hurston/Wright Foundation (DC)
- Indiana Writers Center (IN)
- Kundiman (NY)
- Lambda Literary (NY)
- Lighthouse Writers Workshop (CO)
- Literary Freedom Project* (NY)
- LitNet (NY)
- The Loft Literary Center (MN)
- MacDowell (NY)
- Milkweed Editions (MN)
- Narrative 4 (N4) (NY)
- National Book Foundation (NY)
- National Novel Writing Month (CA)
- PEN American (NY)
- Poets & Writers, Inc. (NY)
- Red Hen Press* (CA)
- Restless Books (NY)
- Roots. Wounds. Words (NY)
- Seattle Arts & Lectures (WA)
- Seattle City of Literature (WA)
- Seattle Escribe* (WA)
- Shout Mouse Press (DC)
- The Cabin (ID)
- The Center for Black Literature (NY)
- The Center for Fiction (NY)
- The Moth (NY)
- The Telling Room (ME)
- Torch Literary Arts* (TX)
- Torrey House Press (UT)
- Town Hall Seattle (WA)
- Transit Books (CA)
- Turtle Point Press (NY)
- Ucross Foundation (WY)
- Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation (VONA)* (FL)
- Words Without Borders (NY)
- WriteGirl (CA)
- Writers in the Schools (WITS) for Houston (TX)
- Yaddo (NY)
To learn more about the Amazon Literary Partnership and Amazon in the Community, visit www.amazonliterarypartnership.com
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