Amazon Literary Partnership awards nearly $1 million in grant and sponsorship funding to 93 literary nonprofits nationwide

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


SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- (NASDAQ: AMZN)—Today, Amazon Literary Partnership announced nearly $1 million in grant and sponsorship funding to 93 literary nonprofits across the United States. A longtime champion of the written word, Amazon Literary Partnership’s funding includes support for groups that are working to empower diverse, marginalized, and underrepresented voices, helping writers to create, publish, learn, teach, experiment, and thrive in 2023 and beyond.

Included in this year’s cohort are 14 first-time grant recipients, including Bidoun, Sinister Wisdom, Beloit Poetry Journal, Contratiempo, InsideOut Literary Arts, and We Need Diverse Books. Previous recipients that are receiving grants this year include National Book Foundation, Lambda Literary, Asian American Writers Workshop, WriteGirl, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), Center for Fiction, Graywolf Press, Words Without Borders, and Hurston Wright Foundation.

For the fifth year in a row, Amazon Literary Partnership is working with the Academy of American Poets on the Poetry Fund and with the Community of Literary Magazine and Presses (CLMP) on the Literary Magazine Fund, each awarding more than 15 grants to poetry organizations and literary magazines, respectively.

“Since 2019, the Academy of American Poets has joined forces with Amazon Literary Partnership to support the tireless work of poetry presses and organizations across the nation. The seventeen recipients of the 2023 Poetry Fund speak to the power poetry has at the grassroots level,” said Ricardo Maldonado, president and executive director of the Academy of American Poets. “We’re extremely grateful for the contributions they continue to make in our communities by fostering direct engagement between poetry and its readers, asking us to commit ourselves to more compassionate and engaged futures.”

“CLMP is extremely grateful to Amazon Literary Partnership for providing critical funding to literary magazines, which, like all publishers, continue to face ongoing challenges, but with fewer resources and staff,” 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 to the transformative power of literature.”

Guided by the mission of having a lasting impact on the literary community, Amazon Literary Partnership has provided more than $16 million in funding to 160 organizations since 2009. The grants have assisted tens of thousands of writers in telling their stories, amplifying their work, and finding their audiences.

“It is an honor to support these vital and vibrant institutions that work every day to make sure writers get the support they need—whether that’s in workshops or residency programs, or connecting them with readers through publication, events, and awards programming,” said Al Woodworth, senior manager of 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 to champion writers and their stories.”

Amazon Literary Partnership 2023 grant recipients represent more than 40 states and help writers throughout the lifecycle of their publishing career—from youth writing programs and publishing opportunities to residency programs and festivals, to workshops and award programs. Organizations like the African Voices Communications, Asian American Writers’ Workshop, BIDOUN, Contratiempo, Empowering Latino Futures, Hurston/Wright Foundation, Indigenous Nations Poets (In-Na-Po), Lambda Literary, We Need Diverse Books, and Zoeglassia are explicitly focused on supporting under-represented, underserved, and marginalized literary voices.

“We are so excited that, thanks to ALP's sustained support, we will be welcoming over 95 emerging LGBTQ+ writers to this year's Writers' Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ+ Voices,” said Harper Zacharias, Director of Development and Engagement at Lambda Literary. “It is the only multi-genre residency devoted exclusively to emerging LGBTQ+ writers. We are thrilled to award over $50,000 in scholarships in no small part due to Amazon's commitment to uplifting our work.”

“Amazon Literary Partnership has been such a wonderful supporter over the years,” said Grant Faulkner, Executive Director of NaNoWriMo. “The best way to conceive of that support is through the thousands and thousands of writers Amazon Literary Partnership has helped to believe in their stories, develop their voices, and put their stories into the world—something that's more important than ever given the book-banning efforts we're facing. The progress of our world can be measured in the stories that are told, and we need to encourage and nourish more stories, especially from those who have been marginalized.”

2023 Amazon Literary Partnership grants and sponsorships (*denotes new recipients)

2023 Literary Magazine Fund Recipients, administered by CLMP

2023 Poetry Fund Recipients, administered by the Academy of American Poets

To learn more about Amazon Literary Partnership and Amazon in the Community, visit www.amazonliterarypartnership.com

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