Posted By: Katy Carr, 21 November 2011
America's Largest Not-For-Profit Literature Organisation
Earlier this year I took part in some training, part of which involved being paired up with an organisation in New York. Michael Royce from The New York Foundation For The Arts set us all up with relevant partner organisations and then sat in, invisible but omniscient, on our first Skype calls.
So the first time that I met Bonnie from Poets & Writers was through the pixellated screen of our laptop, with the occasional cough coming through from the invisible man on the third connection. Myself and Bonnie were both a little nervous, especially as we had no particular brief other than to talk and to try to find ways in which we could beneficially work together.
However after a few minutes I soon realised that I had been particularly lucky in having been paired with this organisation. As Bonnie outlined all the work Poets & Writers do; their wide scope, community expertise and all the services they run for writers, I saw all kinds of useful possibilities opening out.
As Bonnie outlined in that first chat, Poets & Writers was founded in 1970, and is America's largest non-profit literary organisation. It serves poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers, with offices in New York City and Los Angeles.
Importantly, many of the services that they offer writers in America are open to writers from across the world; including grants (Poets and Writers manage and distribute a large amount of funding for literary events in America).
It’s been interesting to learn about the different ways funding works. Here, writers can apply for grants individually through the Arts Council or other bodies or trusts. In America it works differently – writers can pitch their ideas to literary organisations first, then get those organisations to apply for the funding. So if you’re interested in working in America, please do bear this in mind.
Poets and Writers are in fact very keen to establish links with writers through our network. So if you’re interested, why not have a browse of their website where you’ll find out about what they have to offer. You can:
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Sign up for newsletters for prompts to encourage your writing or subscribe to the Poets & Writers magazine
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Get funded for events in America (by initiating readings or workshops at American organisations that may want to host your event and asking that organisation to apply to P&W on your behalf)
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Upload your details into their database of artists
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Network and chat in their virtual writers room – the Speakeasy Message Forum
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Browse their many writers’ resources and find news of competitions, submissions, requests and exchanges.
We are enthusiastically continuing our relationship with Poets & Writers, and if you’re a writer or in the world of literature development then I heartily recommend that you start getting to know them too.
http://www.pw.org
Many thanks to the Train to Captivate programme, the New York Foundation For The Arts and Arts Council England for facilitating this partnership.
