New York, NY (May 3, 2022)— The Poetry Coalition, a network of 25+ poetry organizations coordinated by the Academy of American Poets, is pleased to announce the 2022–2023 Poetry Coalition Fellowships, which are paid fellowship positions for five individuals 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.

The five organizations hosting Poetry Coalition Fellows this year are Letras Latinas, Mass Poetry, Urban Word, Woodland Pattern, and Youth Speaks. 

Applications for the 2022 Poetry Coalition Fellowship program are being accepted from May 3, 2022 through July 3, 2022. The positions will begin on September 5, 2022 and end on June 30, 2023. 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 2022 host organizations, visit their websites at the links below: 

Letras Latinas: http://letraslatinasblog.blogspot.com/2022/04/poetry-coalition-pilot-fellowship.html 

Mass Poetry: https://masspoetry.org/get-involved/ 

Urban Word: https://www.urbanword.org/become-a-mentor/ 

Woodland Pattern: https://woodlandpattern.org/opportunities

Youth Speaks: https://youthspeaks.org/careers/ 

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 Mellon Foundation.

About the Academy of American Poets 

Founded in 1934, the Academy of American Poets is the nation’s leading champion of poets and poetry with supporters in all fifty states. The organization annually awards more funds to individual poets than any other organization through its prize program, giving a total of $1.25 million to more than 200 poets at various stages of their careers. The organization also produces Poets.org, the world’s largest publicly funded website for poets and poetry; established and organizes National Poetry Month each April; 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; hosts an annual series of poetry readings and special events; and coordinates a national Poetry Coalition working to promote the value poets bring to our culture.

About the Mellon Foundation

The Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. Learn more at mellon.org.

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 Mellon Foundation for its support of this work.