Furious Flower Poetry Center Receives Literary Arts Emergency Fund Award of $15,000

The Furious Flower Poetry Center received an award of $15,000 as part of The Literary Arts Emergency Fund administered by the Academy of American Poets, the Community of Literary Magazine & Presses (CLMP), and the National Book Foundation. The fund started in 2020 as a way to fund 313 nonprofit literary arts organizations and publishers that have experienced continued financial losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was made possible by a grant from the Mellon Foundation. 

The Literary Arts Emergency Fund sought to fill a clear void in the financial success and sustainability of literary arts programs and organizations, as the literary arts has been a notoriously under-funded field. Nonprofit organizations and publishers are instrumental in presenting, distributing, and supporting the work of new poets and thus need funding to sustain their contribution to literary society.

Executive Director of the Academy of American Poets, Jennifer Benka was quoted in CLMP's article saying, "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."

Mary Gannon, Executive Director of CLMP added: "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."

“Grants like this are crucial to the survival and success of literary journals. We are so grateful to have the support of the Academy of American Poets, CLMP, and the National Book Foundation: thank you for seeing us and supporting our valuable work”

-Lauren K. Alleyne, Assistant Director of the Furious Flower Poetry Center

This grant will support many events and projects of the Center as well as its literary journal, The Fight & The Fiddle.