Press Releases
May 19, 2022
New York (May 19, 2022)—The Authors Guild Foundation, the educational and charitable arm of the Authors Guild, has been approved for a $28,000 Grants for Arts Projects award for general operating costs. The grant will help support the Authors Guild’s Business Bootcamps for Writers program, which provides practical advice, tools and resources to teach emerging and mid-career authors how to succeed as working writers, as well as a redesign of the Authors Guild’s website to improve accessibility. The Authors Guild Foundation’s program is among 1,125 projects totaling more than $26.6 million selected during the second round of Grants for Arts Projects fiscal year 2022 funding.
“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support arts and cultural organizations throughout the nation with these grants, including the Authors Guild, providing opportunities for all of us to live artful lives,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “The arts contribute to our individual well-being, the well-being of our communities, and to our local economies. The arts are also crucial to helping us make sense of our circumstances from different perspectives as we emerge from the pandemic and plan for a shared new normal informed by our examined experience.”
Business Bootcamps for Writers offers approximately 15 free online seminars each calendar year. Interested writers can view as many webinars as they like to gain an understanding of how to make and sustain a living from their craft. The Authors Guild also collaborates with literary organizations such as the Carnegie Center for Literacy & Learning, Las Musas, the Institute of American Indian Arts and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop to develop effective programming that reaches authors of color and others traditionally marginalized by the publishing industry. This program serves to inspire and prepare diverse writers with real-world knowledge to succeed in their artistic work.
“Most aspiring authors have ample opportunities to learn craft through myriad organizations, educational institutions or writing groups. What makes the Authors Guild different is our focus on advocating for and educating published authors about how to build and sustain a long-term career as working writers, journalists or book translators. We are extremely pleased that the NEA once again recognized the value of what we offer writers around the nation, including traditionally underserved communities, by providing crucial support to advance this mission,” said Mary Rasenberger, CEO of the Authors Guild and Authors Guild Foundation.
The Authors Guild’s website serves as a road map, toolbox, and line of support for published writers, journalists and book translators. From a Writers’ Resource Library to information on self-publishing, model book and agency contracts, articles about the writing life, authors’ salaries and a host of other data, the website generate nearly 900,000 page views annually. With a new redesign and organization, authorsguild.org will meet or exceed ADA guidelines, making it easier for writers and other site visitors, including the visually impaired, to access these critical resources.
For more information on the projects included in the Arts Endowment grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.
With more than 12,000 members, the Authors Guild is the nation’s oldest and largest professional organization for published writers. It advocates on behalf of working writers to protect free speech, freedom of expression and authors’ copyrights; fights for fair contracts and authors’ ability to earn a livable wage; and provides a welcoming community for writers and translators of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and journalism. Free programming to teach working writers about the business of writing and public events that highlight the importance of a rich, diverse American literary culture is made possible through the Authors Guild Foundation, the Guild’s educational and charitable arm.
