Grant to Be Earmarked for:

Among the new initiatives underwritten by the Amazon Literary Partnership is Language Back, a new series of programming that facilitates language revitalization by supporting Native poets writing in their Indigenous languages.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin (July 20, 2023)--- The Amazon Literary Partnership today announced that Indigenous Nations Poets received a grant to support its program and operations. Indigenous Nations Poets  is among the list of 93 Amazon Literary Partnership Grant Recipients this year. In 2023, the Amazon Literary Partnership awarded nearly $1M in funding to literary nonprofit organizations.

The Amazon Literary Partnership supports writers to help tell their stories and find their readers, empowering writers to create, publish, learn, teach, experiment and thrive. Since 2009, the Amazon Literary Partnership has been committed to uplifting and amplifying the voices of overlooked or marginalized writers by supporting the literary community through grants to writing programs and nonprofit literary organizations, including groups like Indigenous Nations Poets whose mission is to mentor emerging writers, nurture the growth of Indigenous poetic practices, and raise the visibility of all Native Writers past, present, and future. In-Na-Po recognizes the role of poetry in sustaining tribal sovereign nations and Native languages.

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"As the national organization Indigenous Nations Poets continues to create space for Indigenous writers, the funding from Amazon Literary Partnership has allowed us to expand the programming we offer at our annual retreat and virtually throughout the year,” said Kimberly M. Blaeser, PhD, founding Director of Indigenous Nations Poets. “Among the new initiatives underwritten by the Amazon monies is Language Back. Because our retreat Fellows expressed particular enthusiasm for the programming that touched on Indigenous language sovereignty, for the coming year we are creating a series of workshops, panels, and readings aimed at encouraging and facilitating the revitalization of tribal languages through Native language use in poetry. This is the kind of growth made possible by literary partnerships such as that with Amazon, whose own goal it is to help our writers grow their audience.”

“It’s an honor to fund these vital institutions that support writers in all aspects of their writing career,” said Al Woodworth, Manager of the Amazon Literary Partnership. “At Amazon, we believe in the power of the written word to expand our thinking, advance our empathy, and change our world. We are grateful for the incredible work that these organizations do to champion writers and their stories, today and every day.”

About Indigenous Nations Poets

Founded in 2020, In-Na-Po, Indigenous Nations Poets, is a national Indigenous poetry community dedicated to serving Indigenous poets, an historically underrepresented group in the literary arts. We support performances and publication and bring Native poetry and writing activities into tribal communities. We also consult with and support other organizations in their efforts to locate, feature as performers, and publish Indigenous poets, or to disseminate the work of Indigenous poets. In the past two years, we have sponsored the attendance of two dozen Indigenous Fellows from 21 tribal nations at week-long mentoring retreats in Washington DC and Door County Wisconsin, where they have worked with esteemed Indigenous faculty. In-Na-Po programs highlight the importance of poetry in sustaining tribal sovereign nations and Native languages. Since In-Na-Po’s founding, our fellows and faculty have published their work in over 30 journals, including in POETRY, Ecotone, Yellow Medicine Review, and in international publications including in The Poets’ Republic of Scotland. Their books have received numerous awards such as the Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry from the Library of Congress and the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award. Our many partners have included the Library of Congress, Dodge Poetry Fest, Poetry Northwest, Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation, Kenyon Review, and Tippet Rise Art Center.

About The Amazon Literary Partnership

Since 2009, the Amazon Literary Partnership has provided more than $16 million in grant funding to more than 160 literary organizations, assisting many thousands of writers. Among the organizations Amazon has supported over the years include the Asian American Writers Workshop, National Book Foundation, PEN America, Poets & Writers, Graywolf Press, Lambda Literary Foundation, Loft Literary Center, National Novel Writing Month, Words Without Borders, Yaddo, WriteGirl, and many more. Through Amazon’s annual grants, Amazon supports literary centers, writing workshops, residencies, fellowships, literary magazines, independent publishers, and poetry and translation programs. Writers supported by some of these organizations have gone on to become best-selling and award-winning authors.

To learn more about the Amazon Literary Partnership, please visit www.amazonliterarypartnership.com.