A Message From the Executive Director
The mission of Poets & Writers is to serve creative writers, and it is a privilege for me and my colleagues to carry out that mission. Our core values—integrity, service, inclusivity, and excellence—ground and energize our work, as does our ongoing commitment to anti-racism.
That is why we recently turned down a $70,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and why this is the first issue of Poets & Writers Magazine in more than twenty-five years that does not carry the NEA’s logo at the bottom of the masthead.
Last spring, Poets & Writers was informed, as were many arts organizations across the United States, that our then-current grant had been “terminated” because it did not align with the new administration’s priorities. But the termination date listed was simply the end date of the grant period, so it turned out to be a termination in name only—and perhaps sowing confusion and worry was the intention. In any case, we took it as a clear indication that future funding was unlikely.
Imagine our surprise, then, when in July, months after NEA grants are typically announced, we were awarded $70,000 for this fiscal year. We had submitted our application well before the 2024 election, seeking support for this magazine and our website—and the very same initiatives that we were told just a few months earlier did not align with the agency’s priorities were somehow now awarded renewed funding.
Like most nonprofit literary arts organizations, each year Poets & Writers must climb a daunting mountain of fund-raising, so we do not turn down money lightly. But we simply could not accept the terms of this year’s grant, for three reasons.
First, under the Trump administration, the agency now requires grantees to certify that their organization does not operate what the administration terms “illegal DEI programs,” even as the administration works to redefine what is legal in this regard. The courts have prohibited the NEA from also requiring grantees to certify that they “do not promote gender ideology” but the agency continues to screen applications to eliminate those that do. It is not clear what criteria they are using—much less what “gender ideology” even means, or what its promotion might entail; however, the attempt to deny the existence of transgender and intersex people is crystal clear. As a mission-driven organization, Poets & Writers holds its values as fundamental to its work—and we cannot agree to terms that run counter to those values.
Second, as the publisher of Poets & Writers Magazine, we also had to consider whether accepting the government’s support at this time would compromise our integrity or independence. After all, the administration has taken unprecedented steps to control the media. It has excluded journalists and outlets from press pools, used its influence to have comedians removed from late-night TV, and demanded an enormous settlement based on a quibble with the editing of an interview during the last election cycle. Authorities even abducted and detained a Tufts University student for writing an op-ed in a student newspaper expressing views about the genocide in Gaza. Meanwhile, books continue to be banned, and teachers and librarians are threatened with prosecution. In this dangerous environment, it doesn’t seem prudent to accept federal support.
Third, and most important, we had to consider the writers we serve and whose work we champion. The literary community that we are proud to be a part of encompasses writers of all identities—including Black, Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous writers; trans and queer writers; immigrant writers; writers of many religions and no religion. Writers whose work explores gender, sexuality, white supremacy, patriarchy, the shameful aspects of our nation’s history, and a wide range of possible futures. When the government has weaponized federal support for the arts to demean, erase, threaten, and intimidate the very people we are here for, we have no choice but to say no to that financial support.
Our immense pride in the NEA emblem that appeared on our masthead for so many years far exceeded the dollar value of the grant it signified. It was an honor to receive support from the NEA because it reflected an investment by our fellow citizens in our mission and in the nation’s artists. It is painful to see that commitment, made a generation ago, corrupted along with so much else.
We fervently hope that someday that emblem will be back in our pages. Regardless, we can promise you this: Poets & Writers will always stand with writers of every background and identity. We will work to democratize access to information about how to get published, lower barriers and expand inclusion, and celebrate a literary community in which many voices are heard and many stories told.
If you’d like to support our work, become a member today at at.pw.org/join or make a contribution at pw.org/donate.
Melissa Ford Gradel, Executive Director
January/February 2026