CSU announces new Anisfield-Wolf Fellowship

The Cleveland State University Poetry Center and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards are partnering to address the need for diversity and community engagement in the field of literary publishing. The two organizations have created a new writing and publishing fellowship that will allow creative writing post-graduates to develop a comprehensive understanding of the industry while also initiating a literary outreach project in Cleveland.

The Anisfield-Wolf Fellowship in Writing and Publishing, made possible by a $74,300 grant from the Cleveland Foundation, will fund the inaugural two-year fellowship at the CSU Poetry Center, a nationally recognized literary press that publishes innovative poetry, prose, and translations. Fellows will have the opportunity to edit contemporary literature, enhance community engagement opportunities for the Center, mentor MFA students, and assist with daily publishing operations.

“This Fellowship will provide an emerging writer time to work on their first or second book as well as mentorship in editorial, publishing and outreach work,” notes Caryl Pagel, Director of the CSU Poetry Center. “Along with Anisfield-Wolf, we hope to help address the longstanding lack of diversity in U.S. publishing, expand our literary service to the Cleveland community, and help raise our city’s profile as a center for innovative poetry and prose.”

“The U.S. publishing industry is structured so that its members are 89 percent white, according to a 2014 industry-wide survey,” said Karen R. Long, manager of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. “We are delighted to address this inequity with something new under the sun: an editing and writing fellowship housed in the resurgent Cleveland State University Poetry Center. We see this as a new on-ramp that will benefit the literary arts, Cleveland and the individual chosen.”

CSU is currently interviewing candidates for the inaugural fellow, who will begin in the fall of 2018. Additional professional development opportunities for the fellow will include participation in Cleveland Book Week and public readings of their work for the Cleveland literary community.

This fellowship is named for and supported by the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, which honor literature that promotes equity and social justice and are administered through the Cleveland Foundation.

The Cleveland State University Poetry Center, established in 1962, is a national nonprofit independent press under the auspices of the Department of English. It has published nearly 200 collections of contemporary poetry and prose by established and emerging authors, while also serving as a center for engaged learning in creative writing, publishing and literary promotion for CSU students. To learn more, visit www.csupoetrycenter.com.

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