Literature: FY 2006 Grants

Some details of the projects listed below are subject to change, contingent upon prior Endowment approval.

Access to Artistic Excellence | Access to Artistic Excellence II
Literature Fellowships | Panelists

Access to Artistic Excellence

(March 14, 2005 deadline)

Alice James Poetry Cooperative, Inc. (aka Alice James Books)
Farmington, ME
$30,000
To support the publication and promotion, including author tours, of six new titles of poetry. The selected poets will read from their works at venues around the country.

American Poetry Review
Philadelphia, PA
$15,000
To support the publication and promotion of the American Poetry Review. The journal will promote its issues through a direct-mail campaign, special offers to students at writing programs, and Web site visitors.

Aspect, Inc. (aka Zephyr Press)
Brookline, MA
$12,500
To support the publication and promotion of bilingual titles from Polish, Russian, Korean, and Chinese poets. Authors will conduct readings and workshops at high schools and universities across the country.

Bamboo Ridge Press
Honolulu, HI
$7,500
To support the publication and promotion of issues of Bamboo Ridge, a journal by and about the people of Hawaii. The journal also will publish a special issue of short stories by Marvis Hara, describing three generations of Japanese women in Honolulu.

Bard College (on behalf of Words Without Borders)
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
$35,000
To support the continued development, expansion, and promotion of Words Without Borders, an interactive Web site devoted to international literature. The site features works of nonfiction, short stories, poems, and novel excerpts drawn from approximately 30 languages.

Big River Association (on behalf of River Styx)
St. Louis, MO
$5,000
To support the publication and distribution of issues of River Styx, St. Louis's oldest literary magazine. River Styx annually publishes the work of approximately 60 poets and 20 prose writers.

BOA Editions, Ltd.
Rochester, NY
$25,000
To support the production, promotion, and related expenses for new volumes of poetry. Poets scheduled to be published include W.D. Snodgrass, Deena Linett, Steve Kronen, and Richard Garcia.

Center for Religious Humanism (on behalf of Image, A Journal of the Arts & Religion)
Seattle, WA
$17,500
To support the production, promotion, and increased writers fees for issues of Image: A Journal of the Arts & Religion. The journal will increase its national reach through an improved Web site and a direct-mail campaign.

Coffee House Press
Minneapolis, MN
$25,000
To support the publication, promotion, and national distribution of volumes of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Writers scheduled for publication include Quincy Troupe, Sarah Fox, Greg Hewett, Gilbert Sorrentino, and Wang Ping.

College of Charleston (on behalf of Crazyhorse)
Charleston, SC
$5,000
To support the publication and promotion of issues of Crazyhorse. The journal also will conduct a direct-mail campaign to potential subscribers and advertise in such publications as Poets & Writers, The Writers' Chronicle, The New Yorker, and American Poetry Review.

Copper Canyon Press
Port Townsend, WA
$50,000
To support the publication, promotion, and national distribution of books of poetry. Authors will include John Balaban, Mahmoud Darwish, Hayden Carruth, Jim Harrison, Madeline DeFrees, and Lisa Olstein.

Creative Nonfiction Foundation
Pittsburgh, PA
$5,000
To support the publication and promotion, including increased artists's fees, of an issue of Creative Nonfiction. The journal will provide discounted issues for classroom use and expand its Web site to include more in-depth author interviews and podcasts of authors reading their work.

Curators of the University of Missouri at Columbia (on behalf of Missouri Review)
Columbia, MO
$17,500
To support the publication, promotion, and related expenses for issues of The Missouri Review. Each issue contains five to six works of fiction, three to five poetry features, one or two creative nonfiction pieces, an author interview, 12-15 book reviews, and a special feature.

Curbstone Press, Inc.
Willimantic, CT
$20,000
To support the translation, publication, and promotion of contemporary, multicultural poetry and fiction. Curbstone Press will sponsor a reading series through public high schools in underserved areas.

Dalkey Archive Press
Normal, IL
$55,000
To support the publication and promotion of original and reprinted works of fiction and creative nonfiction in translation. The press will publish titles from Belgium, Mexico, Finland, Ireland, Uruguay, Russia, England, France, Portugal, Brazil, Spain, and Romania.

Fiction Collective, Inc. (aka FC2)
Tallahassee, FL
$5,000
To support the publication and promotion of works of fiction. The press will organize group readings for its authors in such cities as New Orleans, New York, and Tallahassee.

Fractured Atlas Productions, Inc. (on behalf of Futurepoem Books)
New York, NY
$5,000
To support publication and promotion of literary titles selected through the press's annual, free, open call for manuscripts. The press will advertise the open reading period to creative writing program discussion lists and literary publications nationwide.

Graywolf Press
St. Paul, MN
$65,000
To support the publication, promotion, and national distribution of volumes of poetry and creative nonfiction. Authors scheduled for publication include Tom Sleigh, Linda Gregg, Stephen Burt, Tess Gallagher, Don Paterson, Harryette Mullen, Martha Collins, Jane Kenyon, and Donald Revell.

Heyday Institute
Berkeley, CA
$10,000
To support the publication and promotion of an anthology of California Native American literature. Heyday will promote the anthology through its Web site, readings, and in its catalogue mailed to 6,500 bookstores, museums, parks, libraries, universities, and individuals.

Johns Hopkins University (on behalf of Johns Hopkins University Press)
Baltimore, MD
$25,000
To support the publication and promotion of books in the press's poetry and fiction series. Established in 1979, the series has published 74 books by writers such as Ellen Akins, Guy Davenport, Steven Dixon, Anthony Hecht, John Hollander, Josephine Jacobsen, and William B. Smith.

Kenyon Review
Gambier, OH
$10,000
To support publication costs and related expenses for issues of The Kenyon Review. The journal will integrate its Web site content with that of the magazine and launch a marketing campaign to promote both the journal and the Web site.

Louisiana State University  (on behalf of Louisiana State University Press)
Shreveport, LA
$20,000
To support the publication, promotion, and national distribution of volumes of poetry. Authors scheduled for publication include James Applewhite, Judith Harris, Christine Garren, Henry Taylor, and Susan Ludvigson.

Milkweed Editions, Inc.
Minneapolis, MN
$40,000
To support the publication and promotion of books by emerging and mid-career writers. Authors scheduled for publication include Tom Crawford, Jim Armstrong, Mary Rose O'Reilley, I. Allan Sealy, and Kathleen Soniat.

National Poetry Series, Inc.
Princeton, NJ
$10,000
To support evaluation fees, promotional expenses, and publication costs for poetry volumes selected from the National Poetry Series Open Competition. Chosen by distinguished poets, the winning manuscripts will be published by HarperCollins Publishers, Verse Press, Coffee House Press, the University of Illinois Press, and Viking Penguin.

Open City, Inc. (aka Open City Magazine & Books)
New York, NY
$5,000
To support the publication and promotion of Open City Magazine, a journal of fiction, poetry, essays, and artwork. Open City also will feature published prose writers and poets in their free monthly reading series in New York City.

Ploughshares, Inc. (Ploughshares)
Boston, MA
$12,500
To support the publication and national distribution of issues of Ploughshares. The winter 2006-07 and spring 2007 issues will feature new work by as many as 70 poets and 12 fiction writers.

Poetry Flash
Berkeley, CA
$7,500
To support the publication and distribution of issues of Poetry Flash, a free tabloid of event listings, readings, workshops, and literary news. Divided geographically, Poetry Flash lists programs throughout California, the Pacific Northwest, and the Southwest.

Poetry in Review Foundation, Inc. (on behalf of Parnassus: Poetry in Review)
New York, NY
$5,000
To support the publication and promotion of a special 30th-anniversary issue of Parnassus: Poetry in Review. The issue will feature translations of poems and critical essays from around the world, with a focus on writers from South America, Europe, and Asia.

Rain Taxi, Inc.
Minneapolis, MN
$5,000
To support the publication, promotion, and national distribution of issues of Rain Taxi Review of Books. Distributed free-of-charge to independent bookstores and other venues, the magazine includes in-depth interviews; prfiles of small, independent, and university presses, essays, and reviews.

Small Press Distribution, Inc.
Berkeley, CA
$40,000
To support a distribution initiative targeting individuals, libraries, and bookstores in all 50 states. Publications from approximately 500 small and independent presses will be included.

Story Line Press, Inc.
Ashland, OR
$15,000
To support the publication and promotion of new anthologies, drama, and books of poetry. The press will publish the anthologies Enopoetica: Poetry Inspired by Wine and Deep Television, an anthology of the work of more than 60 poets including James Cummins, Donald Hall, and Kim Addonizio.

Sun Publishing Company, Inc. (aka The Sun)
Chapel Hill, NC
$5,000
To support free, year-long subscriptions of The Sun to 600 community college libraries throughout the country. The Sun is an advertisement-free monthly magazine of essays, short stories, poems, interviews, and photography.

Teachers & Writers Collaborative, Inc. (T&W)
New York, NY
$60,000
To support the publication and related expenses of Literary Resources: Online and On Paper. Resources include Teachers & Writers magazine and Structure and Surprise: A Guide to Poetic Architecture, edited by Michael Theune and with a forward by Edward Hirsch.

Threepenny Review
Berkeley, CA
$15,000
To support authors's fees and promotional costs for issues of Threepenny Review. Featuring work by established and emerging writers, the proposed issues will be promoted through a direct-mail subscription campaign targeting 100,000 readers, as well as through collaborative literary events with other organizations.

Tupelo Press, Inc.
Dorset, VT
$10,000
To support the publication and promotion of books of poetry. The press will publish the work of artists such as North Korean poet Ko Un, Japanese American poet Shin Yu Pai, and two American-born poets.

Ugly Duckling Presse, Ltd.
Brooklyn, NY
$10,000
To support the publication and promotion of books of poetry. Titles will include a translation of the collected poems of Czech poet Ivan Blatny and The Poem in the Beginning by Macedonian poet Lidija Dimskova.

University of Evansville (on behalf of University of Evansville Press)
Evansville, IN
$7,500
To support the publication and promotion of new anthologies of contemporary poetry. Titles will include Rhyming Poetry, edited by Samuel Maio, and Modern Love Poems, edited by Henry W. Russell.

University of Hawaii at Manoa (on behalf of Manoa)
Honolulu, HI
$15,000
To support publication, promotion, distribution, and related expenses for issues of Manoa: A Pacific Journal of International Writing. Upcoming themes include the literature of place and drama and film by Native American writers in North America.

University of Houston (on behalf of Arte Publico)
Houston, TX
$25,000
To support the publication and promotion of a new translation project that will issue novels from leading U.S. Hispanic authors in both English and Spanish language editions. The press will publish Spanish translations of successful English-language novels, such as Graciela Limon's The Song of the Hummingbird, and simultaneous bilingual editions of a previously unpublished novel by Eduardo Gonzlez Viana.

University of Iowa (on behalf of University of Iowa Press)
Iowa City, IA
$8,000
To support publication costs and related expenses for winning selections from the Iowa Short Fiction Award and John Simmons Short Fiction Award competitions. Launched in 1970, past winners of the awards include Susan M. Dodd, Dan O'Brien, and Marly Swick.

University of Nebraska at Lincoln (on behalf of University of Nebraska Press)
Lincoln, NE
$25,000
To support the publication, promotion, and distribution of books of international literature in translation. Authors scheduled for publication include writers from France, Algeria, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Spain, and Argentina.

University of Wisconsin at Madison (on behalf of University of Wisconsin Press)
Madison, WI
$25,000
To support the publication, promotion, and distribution of works of fiction in translation. Writers scheduled for publication hail from Argentina, Colombia, Holland, Mexico, Israel, Switzerland, Germany, and Poland.

Wake Forest University (on behalf of Wake Forest University Press)
Winston-Salem, NC
$8,000
To support the publication of an anthology of Irish poetry. The anthology will contain the work of poets such as John Deane, Sean Lysaght, and Thomas McCarthy.

Writer's Review, Inc. (aka American Book Review)
Normal, IL
$7,500
To support the publication, promotion, and distribution of issues of American Book Review. The journal will increase honoraria to writers and help launch a subscription drive aimed at libraries.

ZYZZYVA, Inc.
San Francisco, CA
$5,000
To support the publication, promotion, and related costs for issues of Zyzzyva, a magazine featuring the work of West Coast writers. Each issue includes approximately 20 writers, one-third of whom have never been in print.

Access to Artistic Excellence II

(August 15, 2005 deadline)

Academy of American Poets, Inc. (Consortium)
New York, NY
$20,000
To support a consortium project to coordinate National Poetry Month. In partnership with the National Council of Teachers of English, the Academy will sponsor readings, discussions, and outreach programs designed to encourage Americans to make poetry a larger part of their lives.

Adirondack Community College
Queensbury, NY
$7,000
To support readings and workshops by nationally renowned and local writers for students and community members. The college will promote the readings through its Web site and newsletters.

Arizona State University (on behalf of Bilingual Review Press)
Tempe, AZ
$10,000
To support educational and outreach programs that promote the work of Latino poets. Activities will include the expansion of a Web site to foster the exchange of information among poets, literary organizations, and the general public.

Art Sanctuary
Philadelphia, PA
$10,000
To support the 2006-2007 Celebration of Black Writing. The year's programming will include a series of readings, performances, workshops, and discussions targeting African Americans.

Association of Writers & Writing Programs (aka AWP)
Fairfax, VA
$50,000
To support the production, printing, and distribution of The Writer's Chronicle and the AWP Job List, continued development of the AWP Web site, and the 2006 AWP Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. AWP will promote the publications and annual conference through a 200,000-piece direct mail campaign.

Cave Canem Foundation, Inc.
New York, NY
$17,500
To support a writing retreat targeting emerging African American poets. Cave Canem also will present readings across the country to promote its 10th Anniversary Anthology, and a 10th Anniversary Celebration consisting of workshops, panels, and public readings.

Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (aka CLMP)
New York, NY
$32,500
To support new and enhanced services for large, mid-size, and small independent literary publishers. Scheduled services include an interactive Web site, workshops, one-on-one training, and technical assistance publications.

Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (aka CLMP) (Consortium)
New York, NY
$10,000
To support a consortium project to present literary magazine and small press fairs to communities across the country. In partnership with The Kenyon Review, the council will hold events in Pittsburgh, PA; Houston, TX; Columbus, OH; Portland, OR; Hudson, NY; Atlanta, GA; and Denver, CO.

Daily Poetry Association (aka Poetry Daily)
Charlottesville, VA
$10,000
To support the expansion of the online publication Poetry Daily. The journal features a new poem every day of the year, as well as criticism and links to contemporary poetry and poets.

Fishtrap, Inc.
Enterprise, OR
$10,000
To support writing workshops, discussions, and readings for residents of the rural Northwest. The theme for Summer Fishtrap 2006 is "a nation of immigrants."

Fort Lewis College (on behalf of Southwest Writers Institute)
Durango, CO
$10,000
To support a weekend of literary events for residents of the Four Corners. Proposed keynote speakers include Barbara Kingsolver and Louise Erdich.

Gemini Series, Inc. (aka Gemini Ink)
San Antonio, TX
$10,000
To support a series of classes, readings, and special events led by published writers and teachers. The University Without Walls program will offer classes for local writers and community members combining both on-site mentoring and distance learning.

Guild Complex
Chicago, IL
$7,500
To support the development and theatrical performance of new work by emerging and mid-career poets. Guild Complex will debut the work in two performances at a local professional theater space as well as in the artists' home neighborhoods.

Haleakala, Inc. (aka The Kitchen) (Consortium)
New York, NY
$10,000
To support a consortium project of literary performances to showcase small, alternative literary publications and their writers. In partnership with Open City, Inc., The Kitchen will promote the monthly series to its mailing list of 23,000 individuals.

Hill-Stead Museum
Farmington, CT
$10,000
To support the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, featuring summer readings and workshops. Scheduled poets include Jane Hirshfield, Jim Daniels, Li-Young Lee, and Norah Pollard.

Hudson Review, Inc.
New York, NY
$10,000
To support a series of literary presentations in New York City. The Hudson Review will sponsor symposia on such topics as criticism and translation, and a concert featuring songs based on poems by three poets published in the journal.

Hudson Valley Writers' Center, Inc.
Sleepy Hollow, NY
$7,500
To support readings by emerging and established writers. The center will develop outreach committees to seek ways to meet the needs of youth, African Americans, Hispanics, and communities north of Sleepy Hollow.

Humanities Tennessee
Nashville, TN
$10,000
To support The Southern Festival of Books: A Celebration of the Written Word in 2006. With an annual audience of 30,000, the free, three-day festival in downtown Memphis will feature readings and panel sessions by more than 200 authors.

Inprint, Inc.
Houston, TX
$10,000
To support the Inprint Brown Reading Series. Inprint will send brochures to more than 100 print and broadcast media groups and 5,400 households throughout Houston, and place posters and postcards at area bookstores, theaters, cafes, schools, libraries, and universities.

Just Buffalo Literary Center, Inc.
Buffalo, NY
$10,000
To support outreach programs throughout the greater Buffalo area. Proposed programs include World of Voices, which brings international writers to western New York for week-long residencies.

Library Foundation of Hennepin County
Minnetonka, MN
$10,000
To support the 2006-07 Pen Pals Author Lecture Series. Promotion efforts will include print ads, public radio spots, and a mailing to more than 8,000 community members.

Loft, Inc.
Minneapolis, MN
$30,000
To support The Minnesota Program for Writers, which will provide workshops and mentors for emerging writers throughout the state. The program will feature The Mentor Series, which connects nationally recognized writers with local writers through workshops and one-on-one instruction; and Talking Volumes, presenting recent original work by advanced writers to audiences throughout the Upper Midwest.

Log Cabin Literary Center, Inc.
Boise, ID
$15,000
To support The Snake River Writers Series, bringing Idaho writers into remote areas of the state. Authors will appear in pairs to draw out audiences for readings and provide more personal attention during community workshops.

Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance (aka MWPA)
Bath, ME
$15,000
To support a variety of services for professional writers throughout the state. Services include a community Web site, one-on-one mentoring, a regional writing conference, and Maine in Print, an anthology of Maine authors and publishers.

Marygrove College
Detroit, MI
$5,000
To support a day of readings and workshops with a critically renowned African American writer as part of the college's Contemporary American Authors Lecture Series. The program will be promoted through direct mailings to more than 200,000 students and community members.

Minnesota Humanities Commission
St. Paul, MN
$10,000
To support Authors on Tour, a program to send finalists and winners of the Minnesota Book Awards to small and mid-sized towns. Authors who have expressed interest include Charles Baxter, Jane Jeong Trenka, Robert Bly, Kent Meyers, Diane Glancy, and Bill Holm.

Montana Committee for the Humanities (aka MCH)
Missoula, MT
$15,000
To support the Montana Festival of the Book. More than 100 regional authors will read and discuss their work at selected venues, reaching an estimated audience of as many as 5,000.

Naropa University
Boulder, CO
$25,000
To support the development of curricula for high school and college classrooms utilizing recordings from the collections of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. Curricula and downloadable audiofiles will be made available on Naropa's Web site.

Nevada Humanities Committee, Inc. (aka Nevada Humanities)
Reno, NV
$10,000
To support the Vegas Valley Book Festival, an annual multi-day program of readings, panel discussions, and literary presentations for all ages. Proposed guest writers include Jonathan Lethem, Dave Eggers, Michael Chabon, Colson Whitehead, Lorrie Moore, and ZZ Packer.

Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say
Houston, TX
$10,000
To support a variety of literary programming targeted to the Latino community. Activities include monthly readings and the 5th Annual Houston Latino Book and Family Festival.

PEN American Center, Inc. (aka PEN)
New York, NY
$35,000
To support the 3rd Annual PEN World Voices: The New York Festival of International Literature. The five-day festival will feature tributes, forums, conversations, readings, and roundtable discussions in both large-scale and intimate public venues.

PEN Center USA West (aka PEN USA)
Culver City, CA
$20,000
To support writing residencies and workshops for emerging writers. The project will include Emerging Voices, a one-on-one mentorship program, and PEN in the Classroom, providing arts instruction for underserved Southern California high school students.

PEN/Faulkner Foundation
Washington, DC
$15,000
To support a fiction reading series and writers-in-the-schools program. The foundation will distribute to classrooms free copies of books preceding each author visit.

People and Stories Gente y Cuentos, Inc.
Trenton, NJ
$15,000
To support literary discussion groups and writing workshops in English and Spanish for disadvantaged communities in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Targeted settings include transitional housing programs, correctional facilities, rehabilitation programs, women's shelters, and senior facilities.

Poetry Center of Chicago (aka The Poetry Center)
Chicago, IL
$10,000
To support readings featuring nationally renowned writers and Hands on Stanzas, a poets-in-the-schools program. Students of the program receive an anthology of their work, free admission to readings, and opportunities to present their poetry at sites throughout the city.

Poetry Project, Ltd.
New York, NY
$10,000
To support the Monday Night and Wednesday Night Reading and Performance Series. The series will feature live presentations by more than 130 poets and performers.

Poetry Society of America (aka PSA)
New York, NY
$20,000
To support the continuation of Poetry in Motion, a program that places poetry placards in public transportation systems throughout the country. Targeted cities include Kansas City, MO; Milwaukee, WI; Houston, TX; Fort Collins, CO; Fresno, CA; Minneapolis, MN; Philadelphia, PA; New York, NY; and Portland, OR.

Poets & Writers, Inc.
New York, NY
$60,000
To support the publication of Poets & Writers Magazine and the continued development and promotion of Poets & Writers' Web site. The Web site provides links to over 1,000 other Web sites dedicated to helping writers.

Poets & Writers, Inc. (Consortium)
New York, NY
$12,500
To support the consortium project Carried Voices: Writers & Books in the West. In partnership with the YMCA of Billings, the project will bring literary events to Oregon, Washington, Montana, Wyoming, and northern California.

Poets House, Inc.
New York, NY
$40,000
To support Building and Breaking, a series of outreach events to coordinate with a permanent move to a new facility. Poets House will sponsor readings, panel discussions, walking tours, and the 2007 Showcase, an exhibition designed to preserve and display the breadth of poetry in print.

Providence Public Library (aka PPL)
Providence, RI
$7,500
To support six-week writing workshops for teens at inner-city branch libraries. Their work will be displayed alongside the work of published Rhode Island poets on buses throughout the state.

Rattapallax, Inc.
New York, NY
$5,000
To support the development, presentation, and promotion of a DVD featuring poetry and literary films. The DVD will accompany Rattapallax magazine and be released at a literary film festival at the Langston Hughes Community and Cultural Center in Queens, New York.

Richard Hugo House
Seattle, WA
$10,000
To support Project Writing Nation, a series of outreach programs designed to boost writing skills and interaction with literature. Programs include writers residencies, writing workshops in low-income communities, and zine publishing workshops.

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-Camden Campus
Camden, NJ
$7,500
To support the 19th annual Rutgers-Camden Writers' Conference, a day of free readings and writing workshops for residents of Camden and South Jersey. Proposed workshop leaders include Diana Abu-Jaber, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Beth Kephart, and Jhumpa Lahiri.

San Francisco State University
San Francisco, CA
$15,000
To support the cataloging and digitalizing of audiotapes from the Poetry Center's American Poetry Archives. The center will catalog and record detailed contents for the most significant audiotapes dating from 1954 to 1974.

San Jose Center for Poetry & Literature (aka Poetry Center San Jose)
San Jose, CA
$7,500
To support an all-day Festival of Poetry in History Park, San Jose. The festival will include readings, open mic events, a book fair, and a high school poetry contest.

Seattle Arts & Lectures (Consortium)
Seattle, WA
$7,500
To support a consortium project to present poetry readings and on-stage interviews with poets in Portland, OR and Seattle, WA. In partnership with Literary Arts, Inc., the organizations will mail promotional brochures to more than 27,000 individuals, and will run advertisements in local magazines and newspapers.

Texas Book Festival
Austin, TX
$10,000
To support readings and panel discussions by prominent authors participating in the 2006 Texas Book Festival. The festival will feature such writers as Sandra Cisneros, Larry McMurtry, Salman Rushdie, Annie Proulx, T.C. Boyle, Rudolfo Anaya, and Tim O'Brien.

University of Arizona (on behalf of Poetry Center)
Tucson, AZ
$15,000
To support the Visiting Poets and Writers Reading Series. The Poetry Center will present free public readings and lectures, community workshops, school visits, prison/juvenile detention presentations, and   symposia with visiting artists.

University of Mississippi Main Campus (on behalf of Center for the Study of Southern Culture)
University, MS
$5,000
To support the 2007 Oxford Conference for the Book, which includes panel sessions and workshops with authors, editors, agents, librarians, and booksellers. The program will be dedicated to the late Mississippi author Larry Brown.

University of Texas at Dallas (on behalf of American Literary Translators Association)
Richardson, TX
$17,500
To support services to enhance the professional development of literary translators. Activities include an annual conference, the publication of issues of the Translation Review and Annotated Books Received, and continued development of a Web site.

Utah Humanities Council
Salt Lake City, UT
$10,000
To support the 8th annual Great Salt Lake Book Festival. The free, four-day festival will feature readings, writing workshops, poetry slams, and programs for children.

Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy (aka VFH)
Charlottesville, VA
$10,000
To support the 13th annual Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville, Virginia. Over five days, the festival features author readings, lectures, and writing workshops free-of-charge.

Wildlife Conservation Society (Consortium)
Bronx, NY
$40,000
To support a consortium project to curate permanent poetry installations at New York zoos. In collaboration with Poets House, conservation poet Sandra Alcosser will select poems, develop an online database, and work with designers to integrate poetry into wildlife exhibits.

Wisconsin Humanities Council (on behalf of Wisconsin Book Festival)
Madison, WI
$10,000
To support the 2006 Wisconsin Book Festival, now in its fifth year. Over five days, the festival features almost 100 free events, including author readings, lectures, writing workshops, children's activities, and open mic slams.

Woodland Pattern, Inc. (aka Woodland Pattern Book Center)
Milwaukee, WI
$30,000
To support a series of readings, exhibits, and community workshops. Participating writers will include Ron Silliman, Cole Swenson, Lyn Hejinian, John Ashbery, Edwin Torres, and Harryette Mullen.

Writer's Garret
Dallas, TX
$17,500
To support the improvement and expansion of the Writers Community and Mentorship Project, a professional development program for writers. Project participants will study with published writers in workshops, seminars, and classes, as well as through one-on-one mentorships.

Writer's Garret (Consortium)
Dallas, TX
$15,000
To support a consortium project titled The Writer's Studio, a radio show featuring interviews with established authors. Writer's Garret will partner with KERA Public Radio FM, which will broadcast the show.

Writers & Books, Inc.
Rochester, NY
$15,000
To support Literary Learning for a Lifetime, a series of educational and outreach programs. The project will offer readings, writing workshops, and online classes for adults and intergenerational groups.

Writers Room, Inc.
New York, NY
$10,000
To support subsidized work space for emerging writers. The Writers Room is an urban writers' colony in New York City.

Wyoming Arts Council (aka State of Wyoming) (Consortium)
Cheyenne, WY
$7,500
To support the inaugural Equality State Book Festival, a consortium project in Casper, Wyoming. The Council will partner with Casper College to bring authors to the region for readings, a book fair, a children's reading pavilion, a book arts exhibit, and poetry slams.

Young Men's & Young Women's Hebrew Association (aka 92nd Street Y) (on behalf of Unterberg Poetry Center)
New York, NY
$30,000
To support the Unterberg Poetry Center Reading Series. The project will feature readings, performances, literary tributes, and live interviews by established and emerging authors.

Young Men's Christian Association of Billings (aka YMCA)
Billings, MT
$10,000
To support First Thursday: An Exploration of Contemporary Literature, a reading series on the first Thursday of every month. Visiting writers will conduct educational outreach activities, including visits to local schools and tribal colleges.

Literature Fellowships

Literature Fellowships in Prose

The 2006 Literature Fellowships recognize the following writers of fiction and creative nonfiction, encouraging the production of new work by affording these writers the time and means to write. Each literature fellow receives a $20,000 award.

Literature Fellowships for Translation Projects

Aron Aji
Indianapolis, IN
$20,000
To support the translation from Turkish of the novel The Evening of the Very Long Day by Bilge Karasu. Born in Istanbul in 1930, Karasu is the author of 11 book-length works of fiction, including nine novels and two collections of short stories. Published in 1970, The Evening of the Very Long Day revolves around the relationship between two 8th century monks. Through these main characters, Karasu explores the nature of various dualities, including faith and dogma, new and old, custom and law, truth and lie, image and signification, individual and society, east and west, and Byzantium and Rome. With this novel, Karasu achieves a deft synthesis between European genre play and local story-telling traditions, paving the way for an authentically Turkish fiction that exploits the poetic possibilities of the language and narrative.

Aron Aji is professor of English and the Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Butler University. His other translations of Karasu's work include The Garden of the Departed Cats in 2004, winner of the National Translation Award given by the American Literary Translators Association, and Death in Troy in 2002.

Patrick Barron
San Francisco, CA
$20,000
To support the translation from Italian of selected poems by Andrea Zanzotto. Born in a small village in northern Italy in 1921, Zanzotto has become one of the most important living Italian poets. He is a rarity in contemporary Italian literature in that his work spans the political and cultural shifts between the agrarian, pre-World War II Italy to the modernized, industrial nation. His first book, Dietro il paesaggio, published in the 1940s, won him immediate acclaim. While this project will feature selected poetry from every stage of Zanzotto's 50-year career, the translated works from his later years will be most compelling as they have been largely neglected in English translation.

Patrick Barron is an assistant professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and managing editor of ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment. His most recent book-length translation is Italian Environmental Literature: An Anthology, published by Italica Press in 2003.

Rhonda Buchanan
Louisville, KY
$10,000
To support the translation from Spanish of The Secret Gardens of Mogador: Voices of the Earth by the Mexican author Alberto Ruy Sánchez. Born in Mexico City in 1951, Sánchez is currently the director of the renowned editorial house Artes de México. Under Sánchez' direction, Artes has been awarded more than 100 national and international awards for its journal and books. He has published 18 books, including essay collections, poetry and fiction, and has written more than 600 journal and newspaper articles. The Secret Gardens of Mogador is the third novel in a tetralogy that explores the nature of feminine and masculine desire, using as a metaphorical point of departure the four basic elements of air, water, earth, and fire.

Dr. Rhonda Buchanan is a professor of Spanish at the University of Louisville. She has translated Limulus: Visions of the Living Fossil by Brian Nissen and Alberto Ruy Sánchez, and is currently translating the fourth book in Sánchez's Mogador series tentatively titled Dance of the Fire.

Rebecca Fanany
Vermont South, Australia
$10,000
To support the translation from Indonesian of the novel Entanglement and the novella Under the Waning Moon by Ismet Fanany, the translator's husband. Born in West Sumatra in 1952, Ismet Fanany has spent much of his adult life in the west, namely the United States and Australia. Entanglement and Under the Waning Moon, his most critically acclaimed work, focus primarily on the Indonesian experience in the western world. His experiences living in both places have afforded him a unique understanding of the differences between two cultures and the occasional difficulties in their relationship.

Dr. Rebecca Fanany is a professional translator and lecturer in Indonesian at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. She has lived and worked in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore periodically since her first contact with the region in 1981. She has worked in collaboration with her husband on many projects.

George Hochfield
Berkeley, CA
$10,000
To support the translation from Italian of Songbook, a collection of more than 400 poems, by Umberto Saba. Hochfield will collaborate with Leonard Nathan. Born in Trieste in 1883, Saba lived through World War I as a hospitalized soldier deemed unfit for combat and World War II hiding out in both Milan and Florence. While his first book, Poems (1910), received very little notice, his later, comprehensive work Songbook is viewed as a major work in 20th century Italian literature. Begun in 1921, Saba continued to add to this collection until his death in 1957, thus comprising the entirety of his work as a poet. The collection spans his entire life, including his difficult childhood without a father and his military service before and during World War I.

George Hochfield is a retired professor, whose career has featured three full books of translation, including The Officer's Camp by Giampiero Carocci, numerous excerpted translations of novels, various poem translations and two Fullbright Lectureships in Italy.

William Hutchins
Todd, NC
$20,000
To support the translation from Arabic of The Seven Veils of Seth, a novel by Libyan author Ibrahim al-Koni. Born in 1948, al-Koni spent his childhood in the desert as part of the Tuaregs, pastoral nomads who speak Tamasheq, a Berber language written in an ancient alphabet and related to ancient Egyptian. He learned to read and write Arabic when he was 12 and since 1974, has published more than 50 works of literature in Arabic. His fiction blends existential questions with folklore, ancient myths, and vivid descriptions of daily desert and oasis life. Published in Lebanon in 2003, The Seven Veils of Seth is a companion to the author's novel Anubis, scheduled for release by the American University in Cairo Press in the spring 2005.

William Hutchins is a professor in the Philosophy and Religion Department of Appalachian State University. He has translated more than a dozen book-length works of Arabic literature, including al-Koni's Anubis.

James G. Kates
Fitzwilliam, NH
$10,000
To support the translation from Russian of the poetry of Mikhail Aizenberg. Born in Moscow in 1948, Mikhail Aizenberg is a crucial part of the last generation of Russian poets that came to maturity under the regime of the Soviet Union. As a chronicler and interpreter of that generation, Aizenberg has spent a large portion of his career showcasing the works of his contemporaries, but this does not diminish the scope of his own writings as a poet. The collection of poetry will span Aizenberg's early years, through his involvement with the Moscow Conceptualists movement, to his later work, including a very recent manuscript published in 2004 titled Less Than a Meter. In all, Aizenberg has published five books of poetry, two books of prose and been featured in numerous anthologies, journals, and translations.

Recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship in Poetry in 1984, James Kates is also the translator of Self-Portraits and Masks by Isaac Goldemberg and The Score of the Game by Tatiana Shcherbina.

Chana Kronfeld
Berkeley, CA
$20,000
To support the translation from Hebrew of The Selected Works of Dahlia Ravikovitch. Kronfeld will collaborate with Chana Bloch. Born in 1936 in Tel Aviv, Israel, Ravikovitch published her first book of poems, The Love of an Orange, at the age of 23. Her oeuvre to date of ten volumes of poetry and two collections of short stories has won her numerous awards, including the Israel Prize in 1998 (the highest national honor), and been adapted to film, music and dance performances, the theater, and art exhibits throughout Israel. During the political upheaval of the late 1970s, Ravikovitch became the leading voice among anti-war activists. Her later work explores the parallels between the plight of the Palestinians and the suffering of Jews in the Diaspora, particularly the constraints on women. Kronfeld will include in one volume of poems not yet translated into English, revised versions of selected poems, three short stories, detailed footnotes explaining biblical allusions and cultural/historical context, and an introduction tracing Ravikovitch's distinctive style and growth as a poet.

Chana Kronfeld is a professor of Hebrew, Yiddish, and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. Her collaborative translations with Chana Bloch include Yehuda Amichai's award-winning volume Open Closed Open in 2000.

William O'Daly
Auburn, CA
$10,000
To support the translation from Spanish of two volumes of poetry previously not translated into English, The Hands of Day and World's End, by Chilean Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda. Born in Parral, Chile in 1904, Neruda published his first book of poetry in 1922 and went on to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature 1971. While much of Neruda's earlier work has been translated, to understand the full scope and stylistic diversity of his oeuvre, one must also consider his later writings. The Hands of Day and World's End represent Neruda's later work that reconsiders themes he focused on in his earlier years. Issues such as the role of hope in the midst of great disappointment and suffering and the isolationism of writing poetry reappear in these works after he grappled with them in previous volumes.

William O'Daly has translated six of Pablo Neruda's books, including The Book of Questions, The Yellow Heart and The Sea and the Bells. The Hands of Day and World's End would complete O'Daly's translations of eight volumes of poetry from Neruda's late and posthumous work.

Gregory Pardlo, Jr.
Brooklyn, NY
$10,000
To support the translation from Danish of the three most recent books of poetry by Niels Lyngsoe. Born in 1968, Lyngsoe is regarded as one of the most original poets working in Denmark today. Recipient of the Michael Strunge Award in 1997, he has published four volumes of poetry: Mask & Machine (1992), Matter (1996), Force Majeure (1999), and Morpheus (2004). His experimental poetry plays with spacing and the placement of phrases and words on the page. In addition to writing poetry, Lyngsoe teaches at the University of Copenhagen, works as a literary critic for Politiken, and produces poetry programming for the national radio, Danmarks Radio.

Gregory Pardlo received an MFA in Poetry from New York University and currently teaches at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn. His translations include a collection of Lyngsoe's poems titled Pencil of Rays and Spiked Mace (BookThug, 2004).

Mark Schafer
Cambridge, MA
$20,000
To support the translation from Spanish of a book-length selection of poetry by Mexican poet David Huerta. Born in 1949, Huerta has published 17 volumes of poetry, though only a dozen of his poems and fragments of poems have been published in English. A central figure in the neobaroque and postmodern language poetry movements of Mexico and Latin America, Huerta has won numerous grants and awards, including the Diana Moreno Toscano Prize (1972), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1978-79), and the Carlos Pellicer Prize (1990). Poems for the anthology will be selected from 10 of his books, including his first collection, Jardin de la Luz (1972), his latest collection, La Olla (2003), and his groundbreaking epic poem Incurable (1987).

Recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellowship in 1993, Mark Schafer has translated book-length works by Gloria Gervitz, Jesús Gardea, Alberto Ruy Sánchez, Eduardo Galeano, and Virgilio Piñera. Schafer's translations of 12 of Huerta's poems appeared in Copper Canyon Press's anthology Reversible Monuments: Contemporary Mexican Poetry (2002).

Timothy Sergay
Worthington, OH
$20,000
To support the translation from Russian of the novel A Gloom is Cast Upon the Ancient Steps by Aleksandr Chudakov. Born in Soviet Northern Kazakhstan in 1938, Chudakov has published more than 200 articles on classical Russian authors of the 19th century and the history of Russian philology, as well as five books. His only novel, A Gloom is Cast Upon the Ancient Steps, was published in 2000 and was short-listed for the 2001 Russian Booker Prize. Set in a fictional town in Northern Kazakhstan inhabited by political exiles during Soviet rule, the novel describes the struggle of life and culture under Stalinist Russia, but it also affirms the vitality of the people and nation through their survival.

Timothy Sergay is the former recipient of a PEN Translation Fund award for his work with Chudakov. His translations have been featured in numerous magazines and collections, including the first chapter of Chudakov's A Gloom is Cast Upon the Ancient Steps, published in 2004 in Words Without Borders: The Online Magazine for International Literature.

Anne W. Twitty
Brooklyn, NY
$20,000
To support the translation from Spanish of the novel Ursula's Dream by the Argentine author María Negroni. Negroni has published 11 volumes of poetry, five collections of critical essays on topics such as the Gothic Imagination and Latin American Women Poets, and one novel. She was awarded the Octavio Paz Fellowship for Poetry in 2001, and has also received two National Book Awards in Argentina – one for her volume of poetry El viaje de la noche in 1997 and the other for her essay collection Ciudad Gótica in 1998. Published by Seix Barral in Buenos Aires in 1998, Ursula's Dream highlights Negroni's concern for challenging the distinction between dream and various forms of reality, all the while questioning the traditions of the epic genre. The translation has already been accepted for publication from the University of Nebraska Press and their distinguished Latin American Women Writers series.

Anne Twitty has translated works from such Hispanic writers and artists as Torres-García, Cecilia Vicuña and Magali Alabau. She has translated two other works of Negroni's, including Night Journey in 2002 and Islandia in 2001.

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