Poetry grants are widely available to aspiring writers across the country, from both the government and from private foundations.
Grant Application Strategies
Poetry grants aren't exactly as common as other private and government grants, so you should expect a great deal of competition. Regardless of the grant you should expect to have a strong portfolio of poetry already. Don't expect to get a grant in order to write poetry for the first time. Most grants require a polished manuscript containing a more than a dozen poems. You should also makes sure that you submit your own original work in any application. Most organizations do not award poetry grants by need. Your financial situation doesn't matter. Poetry grants are usually meant to help a poet make time for poetry, whether they have a job or not. Some poetry fellowships might require a poet to live in residence somewhere.
National Endowment of the Arts Grants
The U.S. National Endowment for the Arts awards $25,000 poetry grants every two years, with new grants awarded during odd-numbered years. In 2009, the Endowment awarded 42 poets with grants.
Private Grants
Named for the late poet Harold Witter Bynner, the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry awards $1,000 to $10,000 grants to poets, poetry translators and other projects related to poetry and poetry education. One of those grants funds an annual fellowship administered by the U.S. Library of Congress and awarded by the country's Poet Laureate. The Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship, named for the late poet, awards $50,000 annually to an American poet for a year of travel and study abroad.
Fellowships
Princeton University awards $62,000 fellowships annually to poets and other creative writers who have published one highly regarded book and are working on a new project. The fellows must live in Princeton during the year of the academic year as fellows-in-residence.
Grant and Publication
The Walt Whitman Award is granted to poets who have never before published a book. Every year this award gives $5,000 to a winning poet, first-book publication, and a one-month residence at the Vermont Studio Center, an artists' colony.
