We are the nation's largest nonprofit literary organization serving poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers. Our national office is located in New York City. Our California branch office is based in Los Angeles.
Poets & Writers Magazine is our organization's flagship publication and the leading journal of its kind. Along with essays on the literary life and interviews with writers, the magazine publishes articles with practical applications for both emerging and established authors. In addition, it provides the most comprehensive listing of literary grants and awards, deadlines, and prize winners available in print.
Poets & Writers Online includes a searchable database of over 7,500 writers; advice on topics such as copyright, publishing, and finding a writers conference; along with links to over 1,500 Web sites of interest to writers. Another popular feature is the Speakeasy Message Forum, which serves as a central meeting place and community center for writers. Visit us at www.pw.org!
Each year, through our Readings/Workshops Program, we sponsor more than 1,700 literary events throughout New York and California, as well as in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, New Orleans, Seattle, Tucson, and Washington, D.C. We make matching grants to a variety of organizations—from grassroots to nationally acclaimed presenters and distributes more than $200,000 annually to some 750 writers.
Our Information Services department offers publishing advice to writers and maintains a directory of writers, an online database of more than 7,500 authors, including contact information and publication credits. The directory makes it easier for writers to stay in touch with one another and for reading series coordinators, editors, and agents to find writers.
The Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award introduces emerging writers from a different state each year to the New York City literary community. Each year two writers from one state are selected to receive the award, which includes an all-expenses-paid, week-long trip to New York City to meet with literary agents, editors, publishers and writers. Begun in 1984, the prize has been awarded to 74 writers from 29 states.
The Jackson Poetry Prize honors an American poet of exceptional talent who has published at least one book of recognized literary merit but has not yet received major national acclaim. After the Lannan Foundation's Literary Fellowships, the Jackson Poetry Prize of $50,000 will be the largest award for an early to mid-career poet.
As a co-founder of the Literary Network, we continue to champion the cause of freedom of expression and advocates on behalf of writers for public funding of literature and the arts.
The Friends of Poets & Writers is a generous group of donors who provide financial support for our programs. The Friends are writers, readers, and others who wish to support contemporary writers and literature. To thank them for their support, Friends receive special benefits. For more information, visit the Friends online.