US EditionThe new $50M Literary Arts Fund will support independent publishers and nonprofits
The fund addresses chronic underfunding as literary arts received less than 2% of U.S. arts grants in 2023, distributing $50 million to support independent literary nonprofits.
- On October 28, 2025, a coalition of seven charitable foundations announced the Literary Arts Fund to distribute at least $50 million over the next five years, with applications opening Nov. 10.
- Organizers pointed to chronic shortages that left independent publishers and nonprofits scrambling amid federal funding cuts, while a Candid-based study found literary arts received 1.9% of approximately $5 billion in arts grants in 2023.
- Among the backers are several philanthropic foundations supporting the project, with Jennifer Benka set to oversee the fund's implementation.
- Organizers said the fund will support fellowships, residencies, book events, translations, and small publishers, with Ann Patchett calling it `a cause for celebration`.
- Mellon president Elizabeth Alexander said the goal was `not piecemeal` and urged American philanthropy to counter commercial publishing pressures by strengthening long-term infrastructure.
19 Articles
19 Articles
Associated Press News
The new $50M Literary Arts Fund will support independent publishers and nonprofits
A coalition of seven charitable foundations has established a Literary Arts Fund to support independent publishers and nonprofit organizations.
Seven Leading Foundations Launch $50 M. Literary Arts Fund
Seven leading foundations have come together to launch the Literary Arts Fund to distribute $50 million over a five-year span to support nonprofit literary arts across the United States. The Literary Arts Fund will award grants to US-based nonprofits and fiscally sponsored literary organizations and publishers that support contemporary writers across poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction genres, as well as hybrid literary forms. The Fund wi…
Good news! A new fund will distribute $50 million to literary nonprofits.
Several charitable groups—among them the Ford, Hawthornden, Lannan, MacArthur, Mellon, and Poetry foundations—are teaming up to launch the Literary Arts Fund, an effort to give the “essential yet critically underfunded” lit world a much-needed boost. The program, which earmarks funds for the nonprofit literary arts world, will distribute at least $50 million to artists and arts organizations over the next five years. Early fans include heavy-hit…
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