Alice James Books to receive $35,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

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FARMINGTON – National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Mary Anne Carter has approved more than $27 million in grants as part of the NEA’s first major funding announcement for fiscal year 2019. Included in this announcement is an Art Works grant of $35,000 to Alice James Books to support the publication, promotion and distribution of eight books of poetry in 2019. Art Works is the Arts Endowment’s principal grantmaking program. The agency received 1,605 Art Works applications for this round of grantmaking, and will award 972 grants in this category.

“The arts enhance our communities and our lives, and we look forward to seeing these projects take place throughout the country, giving Americans opportunities to learn, to create, to heal, and to celebrate,” said Mary Anne Carter, acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.

“Support from the NEA is fundamental to our efforts to collaborate with literary artists who might otherwise go unheard by producing, promoting, and distributing their work, which often engages the public on important social issues,” said Carey Salerno, Executive Editor and Director at Alice James Books, in response to the announcement. “Alice James provides a platform that elevates these voices and is dedicated to helping its writers have purposeful engagement with the community. “We are grateful for the NEA’s vital partnership in this work.”

This grant will help Alice James Books support the simultaneous print and electronic publication, distribution, and promotion of new works by both established and emerging writers. Scheduled authors include: Kenji C. Liu, Franny Choi, Ilyse Kusnetz, Jane Mead, Jill McDonough, Shira Erlichman, Jeffrey Thomson, and Shimon Adaf as translated by Yael Segalovitz. All books will be promoted via social media outlets, print exposure, and at conferences and readings around the country with the aim to cultivate creativity and artistic engagement in a broad national audience.

For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.

Founded in 1973, Alice James Books is a leading independent press of national reputation dedicated to discovering and publishing exceptional poetry. The press continues to grow its list and is seen as an innovator in the field. AJB is committed to publishing a range of voices, supporting writers’ careers, and publishing women and other writers whose work may otherwise be marginalized. AJB also focuses on collaborating with writers in the publishing process, namely design and production. As they urgently engage with numerous pressing, public issues, many AJB books reach far beyond the “standard audience” for poetry. Since 1994, AJB has been a proud affiliate of the University of Maine at Farmington.

For more information about Alice James Books, please visit: www.alicejamesbooks.org.

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