A Short History of Poets & Writers
From “saintly little service organization” to largest nonprofit organization for writers:
In 1970, the energetic director of New York’s famed 92nd Street YM-YWHA Poetry Center, Galen Williams, leveraged seed money from the New York State Council on the Arts to launch a new organization for writers that would provide them with fees for giving readings and teaching workshops. Begun in an apartment on the fringe of the theater district, Poets & Writers has grown into the largest nonprofit organization in the country for writers of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction.
In its first decade, in addition to supporting writers and literary events, Poets & Writers became a national clearinghouse of information. By 1973, it had compiled much of its knowledge into A Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers, a photocopied and stapled publication that listed contact information for writers. Subsequent supplements and updates to the Directory began to include literary news, advice to writers, and information on grants and awards. Gradually, this evolved into a 32-page newsletter, Coda, which in turn became the foundation for Poets & Writers Magazine, launched in 1987.
Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, Poets & Writers cultivated new sources of revenue, enabling the organization to expand its programs and publications. Award-winning editorial and design changes elevated Poets & Writers Magazine to new subscription and advertising levels. The organization’s Readings/Workshops program was offered in new regions across the country, connecting writers and audiences in California, Chicago and Detroit, in addition to New York State, where the program began. And the Writers Exchange program, which would introduce writers to the New York literary community, was initiated.
In 1990, P&W opened a satellite office in Berkeley to administer its Readings/Workshops program in California and provide technical assistance to the state’s literary presenters. The office, now located in Los Angeles, continues to play a vital role in knitting together literary communities throughout the state.
Launched in 1996, Poets & Writers Online has become a virtual resource center for thousands of writers, with up-to-date information on grants and awards, literary magazines, presses, jobs, and literary events; an active message forum on topics of interest to writers, and online-only content from Poets & Writers Magazine.
In 2006, Poets & Writers successfully completed its first capital campaign, raising $3 million and establishing an endowment to bring the Readings/Workshops program to six new cities: Atlanta, Houston, New Orleans, Seattle, Tucson, and Washington, D.C.
And in 2007, we introduced the Jackson Poetry Prize, which each year awards $50,000 to a distinguished early to mid-career poet.
Reflecting on Poets & Writers’ 25th anniversary in 1995, E. L. Doctorow described P&W as “a saintly little service organization for writers across the country. It tells them where the jobs are, the reading gigs, the grants, the awards competitions, and it brings them news of each other. Not its least valuable service is the one that comes of all the others – the suggestion of community implicit in this lowliest and most dire of professions.”
Today, no longer little but we hope still “saintly,” Poets & Writers is more committed than ever to providing encouragement, advice, community, and financial support to writers across the country.
