Amazon Literary Partnership Announces 2021 Grant Recipients

The Amazon Literary Partnership awards more than $1 million in funding to 80 nonprofits across the country.

Amazon Literary Partnership is committed to supporting writing programs and nonprofit literary organizations that uplift and amplify emerging writers and diversity in storytelling

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 3, 2021-- (NASDAQ: AMZN)— Today, the Amazon Literary Partnership announced more than $1 million in grant funding to 80 nonprofit literary organizations across the U.S. The funding supports groups that are working to empower diverse, marginalized, and underrepresented voices, helping writers to create, publish, learn, teach, experiment, and thrive in 2021 and beyond.

In addition, Amazon Literary Partnership has awarded grants of $140,000 each to the Academy of American Poets and the Community of Literary Presses and Magazines, to be used to fund more than a dozen literary organizations supporting poetry groups and literary magazines. The Academy of American Poets and the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (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 poetry organizations and publishers whose work will be critical to our processing all we've been through in the pandemic and also in envisioning new ways forward,” said Jennifer Benka, president and executive director, Academy of American Poets. “We appreciate the Amazon Literary Partnership program's belief that the work of poets and writers from diverse communities is central to that."

“Literary magazines are essential to the publishing ecosystem, providing fertile ground for diverse voices to thrive,” said CLMP Executive Director Mary Gannon. “CLMP is extremely grateful to the Amazon Literary Partnership for their ongoing financial support of these underserved and uniquely vulnerable publishers, especially during this critical time.”

Guided by the mission of having a lasting impact on the literary community, the Amazon Literary Partnership annual grants have supported more than 150 organizations with $14 million in grant funding since 2009, assisting tens of thousands of writers to tell their stories, amplify their messages, and find their audience. Grant recipients include writing mentorship programs, nonprofit writing centers, residencies, fellowships, after-school classes, literary magazines, internationally acclaimed publishers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and national organizations supporting storytelling and free speech.

“At Amazon, we believe in the power of the written word and the impact writers have on our culture, society, and lives. We are proud to support these vital organizations that champion writers and their work,” said Alexandra Woodworth, manager of the Amazon Literary Partnership. “The list of 2021 Amazon Literary Partnership grant recipients represent a wide range of organizations working tirelessly to ensure that the literary community, and diverse and underrepresented voices, can thrive for generations to come.”

Numerous 2021 grant recipients are explicitly focused on strengthening BIPOC and underrepresented literary voices, including Lambda Literary, Kundiman, Hurston/Wright Foundation, Asian American Writers Workshop, and The Africa Center, among others. "Lambda Literary's Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices ensures the next great chapter in LGBTQ literature gets written by giving emerging queer writers the support and space they deserve,” said Sue Landers, executive director of Lambda Literary. “This past year has indelibly transformed our lives and it is in this spirit of change and growth that we are thrilled to be able to offer our retreat once again, thanks to the support of the Amazon Literary Partnership."

“We are grateful for renewed support from the Amazon Literary Partnership for WriteGirl creative writing and mentoring programs to help us empower more underserved voices in Los Angeles,” said Keren Taylor, executive director, WriteGirl. “At a time when teen girls are struggling with many challenges in education and in their personal lives, it is more important than ever to provide teen girls with caring mentors and a supportive community to help them express their creative ideas and develop their individual voices. Whether it’s online writing workshops with 200 women and girls, or one-on-one video mentoring sessions, we look forward to all the ways this support will help us as we inspire teens to share their voices with the world!”

“The Hurston/Wright Foundation is honored to be recognized for championing Black writers and their work. Amazon's increased support comes at a crucial period of growth in our organization's 30-year history,” said Audrey Hipkins, Hurston/Wright Foundation board chair. “We are excited to be able to expand and strengthen our programming so we can nurture the next generation of Black writers. We are grateful for this continued partnership and the opportunities made possible by Amazon's investment in our work.”

"This has been a year in which we need our stories more than ever to bring us together, guide us, and show us the light, so we're so thankful Amazon Literary Partnership has generously helped us bring so many stories to life this year,” said Grant Faulkner, executive director, National Novel Writing Month. This grant helps create a global neighborhood of writers to embrace their creativity and build a literary community that protects and fortifies us against any crisis. Amazon Literary Partnership has been instrumental in helping thousands of people believe in their story and give it voice."

“Even as the world inches toward recovery, the systemic inequities laid bare by the pandemic demand a reimagination of what we consider a future rooted in economic, racial, and social justice,” said Jafreen Uddin, executive director, Asian American Writers Workshop. “Writers and storytellers have been and will continue to be the emissaries of our times, providing society with the words that put shape to our lived experiences. Our work at the Asian American Writers' Workshop centers the safeguarding and cultivation of our community's imaginations, and we are incredibly grateful to the Amazon Literary Partnership for their continued support that makes this critically necessary work possible."

2021 Amazon Literary Partnership grants

• 826 Valencia (CA)

• 826DC (DC)

• 826NYC (NY)

• A Public Space Literary Projects, Inc (NY)

• Academy of American Poets (NY)

• Archipelago Books (NY)

• Art Omi: Writers (NY)

• Asian American Writers' Workshop (NY)

• ASJA Writers Emergency Assistance Fund (NY)

• Aspen Words (CO)

• Association of Writers & Writing Programs (MD)

• Bay Area Book Festival (CA)

• Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Harter Black Mountain Institute (NV)

• Brooklyn Book Festival (NY)

• Center for Black Literature (NY)

• Center for the Art of Translation (CA)

• Centrum (WA)

• Chatos Inhumanos (NY)

• Chicago Humanities Festival (IL)

• CityLit Project (MD)

• Clarion West (WA)

• Coffee House Press (MN)

• Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (NY)

• Community Word Project (NY)

• Creative Writing Program, University of Washington (WA)

• Damascus Outreach Association (NC)

• Decatur Book Festival (GA)

• Deep Vellum Publishing (TX)

• DSTL Arts (CA)

• Empowering Latino Futures (CA)

• Girls Write Now (NY)

• Graywolf Press (MN)

• Hedgebrook (WA)

• Heyday (CA)

• House of SpeakEasy (NY)

• Hub City Press (SC)

• Hugo House (WA)

• Humanities Washington (WA)

• Indiana Writers Center (IN)

• Kundiman (NY)

• Lambda Literary (NY)

• Lighthouse Writers Workshop (CO)

• LitNet (NY)

• Litquake Foundation (CA)

• The Loft Literary Center (MN)

• MacDowell (NH)

• Milkweed Editions (MN)

• Narrative 4 (NY)

• National Book Foundation (NY)

• National Novel Writing Month (CA)

• PEN America (NY)

• Poets & Writers, Inc. (NY)

• Restless Books (NY)

• Roots. Wounds. Words. (NY)

• Seattle Arts & Lectures (WA)

• Seattle City of Literature (WA)

• Shout Mouse Press (DC)

• Society of the Muse of the Southwest (SOMOS) (NM)

• The American Literary Translators Association (AZ)

• The Cabin (ID)

• The Corporation of Yaddo (NY)

• The Feminist Press (NY)

• The Inner Loop (DC)

• The Center for Fiction (NY)

• The Moth (NY)

• The Africa Center (NY)

• The Telling Room (ME)

• The Tenth Academy (NY)

• The Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow (AR)

• Torrey House Press (UT)

• Town Hall Seattle (WA)

• Transit Books (CA)

• Turtle Point Press (NY)

• Ucross Foundation (WY)

• Washington Center for the Book (WA)

• Words Without Borders (NY)

• WriteGirl (CA)

• Writers in the Schools (TX)

• WRITERS ROOM (PA)

• Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation (DC)

To learn more about the Amazon Literary Partnership and Amazon in the Community visit https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/books-and-authors/amazon-literary-partnership-grant-recipients-2021.

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