FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
FEBRUARY 8, 2017
Dear Writer,

Reports are that when President Trump presents his budget to Congress he will propose eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

This would be a serious blow to our nation's writers and literary organizations. Put simply, the NEA is the single most important source of institutional support for the nonprofit literary field, which includes independent presses, literary magazines, book festivals, literary centers, service organizations, and reading series. Without NEA support many of these groups would not exist. Each year, the NEA also offers creative writing fellowships to individual writers; since its founding in 1965, the agency has granted over $45 million to more than 3,000 individual writers.

Poets & Writers is one of the many nonprofit literary organizations that count on NEA support. NEA grants helped us launch both Poets & Writers Magazine and pw.org, and make it possible for us to enhance existing programs and develop new ones to serve creative writers.

I'm writing now to ask your help in protecting the NEA by signing up to receive Action Alerts. We'll keep you posted as budget negotiations proceed and alert you when action is needed, whether that be calling your representatives in Congress or writing an op-ed for your local paper.

This effort will be coordinated by the Literary Network (LitNet), which Poets & Writers cofounded in the early 1990s, when the NEA at large, and creative writing fellowships in particular, were threatened with elimination. We won those battles. With your help we will win again.
This is a serious threat. We need all hands on deck. Please sign up to receive Action Alerts from LitNet.

Sincerely,

 
Elliot Figman
Executive Director
Poets & Writers
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