In Spring 2019 we launched United States of Writing, an initiative to expand our core programs to better serve writers coast to coast, especially writers of color and other historically marginalized groups. With generous support from the Hearst Foundations we took the first steps toward this national initiative with a focus on Detroit, New Orleans, and Houston. For more, see our United States of Writing Blog.
Literary Outreach Coordinators Justin Rogers in Detroit, Kelly Harris in New Orleans, and Lupe Mendez in Houston increased awareness of Poets & Writers’ tools and resources for writers and worked with us to contribute to strong literary communities in their cities.
Lupe Mendez, Justin Rogers, and Kelly Harris visited Poets & Writers' New York offices for a project kick-off in April 2019.
Kelly Harris received her MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University and has received fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center and Cave Canem. Her first poetry collection, Shame on Her, is forthcoming. Her work has appeared in Torch, Caduceus, Valley Voices, and Southern Review, among others, and is included in the anthology Say it Loud: Poems for James Brown. Harris has been an active member of the literary community, participating in a celebration of the National Park Service Centennial with NPS poet laureate Sonia Sanchez, serving as guest poetry editor for Bayou Magazine and as a board member of 826 NOLA. She currently curates programming for the literary festival Words & Music.
Lupe Mendez is a poet, teacher, and activist. His collection Why I Am Like Tequila is forthcoming from Willow Books. He holds an MFA from the University of Texas at El Paso. His poetry has appeared in Luna Luna, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Rabbit Catastrophe Review, Revista Síncope, Pilgrimage, Border Senses, Gigantic Sequence, and Gulf Coast, among others. Mendez is one of the founders of the Librotraficante Movement and of Tintero Projects. He has received fellowships from CantoMundo, Macondo, and the Poetry Incubator hosted by Crescendo Literary and the Poetry Foundation.
Justin Rogers is a Black poet, educator, coach, and editor from Detroit. He is the author of micro-zine Nostalgia as Black Matilda (Rinky Dink Press, 2017) and the chapbook Black, Matilda (Glass Chapbook Series, 2019). His work is published or forthcoming in Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Mobius Magazine, Apiary Magazine, 3Elements Review, Skip-Fiction, Gramma Press, and Public Pool. He is the coordinator of InsideOut’s award winning after school program, Citywide Poets, and an advocate for literacy among inner-city youth and the amplification of Black voices.
USW Project Grants
In 2020, as part of the United States of Writing initiative, Poets & Writers created a new grant opportunity to support writers who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC) writers in Detroit, Houston, and New Orleans. The Readings & Workshops program offered Project Grants of up to $750 to support online literary events that engaged local communities.