New York, NY (May 22, 2020)— The Poetry Coalition, a network of 25+ poetry organizations coordinated by the Academy of American Poets, is pleased to announce that it has launched the Poetry Coalition Fellowship program, a three-year pilot program that will offer paid fellowship positions to five fellows per year (a total of fifteen fellows) who will each assist a different Poetry Coalition organization for twenty hours per week over the course of a forty-week period. The fellows will also receive professional development opportunities. In consideration of the Covid-19 pandemic, these positions will be remote. 

The five organizations hosting the inaugural Poetry Coalition Fellows beginning this year are CantoMundo, Cave Canem, Kundiman, Mizna, and Split This Rock. 

Applications for the 2020 Poetry Coalition Fellowship program are being accepted from May 22, 2020 through July 15, 2020. The positions will begin on September 15, 2020 and end on June 30, 2021. Interested individuals that are 21 or older are encouraged to apply, including those who are enrolled in or have recently graduated from an MFA program in creative writing. 

To learn more or to apply for a Poetry Coalition Fellowship at any of the 2020 host organizations, visit their websites at the links below: 

CantoMundo: https://www.cantomundo.org/opportunities
Cave Canem: https://cavecanempoets.org/wp-content/uploads/Poetry-Coalition-Fellowship-Program-Job-Description-May-2020.pdf
Kundiman: http://www.kundiman.org/jobs
Mizna: http://mizna.org/mizna-news/fellowship-opportunity/
Split This Rock: https://www.splitthisrock.org/get-involved/job-openings/

The goals of the Poetry Coalition Fellowship program are:

  • to help diversify the leadership of the nonprofit literary field by encouraging more inclusion of individuals from under-represented communities;

  • to develop future literary leaders regardless of educational background; 

  • to introduce the individuals who are interested to nonprofit literary arts management, fundraising, programming, and editorial work, providing experiences that will be useful as they seek jobs and inspiring them to consider working in the literary field; and 

  • to increase the capacity of each host organization by having additional assistance. 

The fellowship program is made possible by the support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

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; 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 Academy 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 launched the #ShelterInPoems initiative, inviting members of the public to select poems of comfort and courage from its online collection to share with others on social media. The initiative culminated in the organization’s first-ever virtual reading, which was watched more than 25,000 times by viewers in more than 40 countries around the world. The Academy is also one of seven national organizations that comprise 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. 

About The Poetry Coalition

The Poetry Coalition is a national alliance of more than 25 organizations dedicated to working together to promote the value poets bring to our culture and the important contribution poetry makes in the lives of people of all ages and backgrounds. Members are nonprofit organizations whose primary mission is to promote poets and poetry, and/or multi-genre literary organizations that serve poets in the disability community and of specific racial, ethnic, or gender identities, backgrounds, or communities. All members present poets at live events. All members present poets at live events. Each March, members present programming across the country on a theme of social importance. The Poetry Coalition is coordinated by the Academy of American Poets and we are grateful to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for its support of this work.