Academy of American Poets

Academy of American Poets
Name	Academy of American Poets
Formation	1934
Type	Nonprofit
Headquarters	New York City
Leader title	President
Leader name	Elizabeth Kray
Website	Poets.org

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit literary organization founded in 1934 to support poets and foster the appreciation of poetry in the United States. It has influenced American letters through prizes, programs, and archival collections that intersect with institutions such as the Library of Congress, Poetry Society of America, National Endowment for the Arts, Modern Language Association, and university presses. Working with poets, educators, and cultural organizations, the Academy has shaped careers and public awareness across cities from New York City to San Francisco, and regions including New England and the American South.

History

The Academy was established in 1934 amid artistic networks that included figures associated with Harvard University, Columbia University, Princeton University, Yale University, and publications like Poetry (magazine). Early leaders engaged with poets connected to T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, and Marianne Moore, while responding to cultural institutions such as the Works Progress Administration and the Guggenheim Foundation. During mid-century periods the Academy intersected with movements represented by Allen Ginsberg, Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Bishop, Sylvia Plath, Langston Hughes, and Gwendolyn Brooks, collaborating with municipal arts councils in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. In later decades it worked alongside organizations like the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and archives at the New York Public Library to expand programs reaching communities served by libraries, museums, and universities.

Mission and Programs

The Academy’s mission emphasizes support for poets and the public presence of poetry, partnering with entities such as the National Book Foundation, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (for cross-arts programming), the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Smithsonian Institution, Kennedy Center, and regional arts commissions. Its programs involve collaborations with the American Library Association, Poets House, Association of Writers & Writing Programs, and the PEN America network to present readings, symposia, and archival initiatives featuring poets affiliated with Rita Dove, Seamus Heaney, Louise Glück, Billy Collins, and Tracy K. Smith. The Academy has created fellowships, public events, and convenings that bring together representatives from institutions like MOMA, Getty Research Institute, Yale Center for British Art, and literary festivals such as the Brooklyn Book Festival and the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

Awards and Prizes

The Academy administers major prizes that have recognized poets associated with the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, MacArthur Fellows Program, and the Nobel Prize in Literature. Recipients have included laureates such as John Ashbery, Mary Oliver, Howard Nemerov, Adrienne Rich, Derek Walcott, W.S. Merwin, Toni Morrison (for cross-genre recognition), Louise Glück, and Natasha Trethewey. The Academy’s awards connect with presses like Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Knopf, HarperCollins, Copper Canyon Press, and academic series at University of Chicago Press and Oxford University Press, while honoring poets who have been celebrated at venues such as the Carnegie Hall and events including the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Poets.org and Publications

Poets.org, the Academy’s online platform, functions alongside print and digital publications tied to editorial projects and archival collaborations with the Digital Public Library of America, HathiTrust, and university repositories. The site curates poems by authors including Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Allen Ginsberg, Adrienne Rich, Elizabeth Bishop, and contemporary figures like Terrance Hayes and Ocean Vuong, and it features essays, lesson plans, and audio recordings drawn from partnerships with NPR, PBS, BBC Radio, and literary podcasts hosted by The New Yorker and The Paris Review. Special publications have been produced in cooperation with academic journals such as American Poetry Review and anthologies from W.W. Norton & Company.

Education and Outreach

The Academy’s educational initiatives reach classrooms, community centers, and correctional facilities through collaborations with the National Writing Project, Teachers College, Columbia University, Kennedy Center Education, and city school systems in Chicago Public Schools and Los Angeles Unified School District. Programs include student and teacher resources, National Poetry Month activities coordinated with organizations like Poets & Writers and National Council of Teachers of English, and workshops featuring poets who have taught at institutions such as Boston University, Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Stanford University, Rutgers University, and University of Michigan. Outreach further connects to cultural partners like The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Public Library, and regional festivals.

Governance and Funding

The Academy is governed by a board whose members often have affiliations with universities, literary nonprofits, and cultural institutions including Columbia University School of the Arts, New York University, Smith College, and private foundations such as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Carnegie Corporation of New York. Funding sources combine individual donations, institutional grants from entities like the National Endowment for the Humanities, corporate sponsorships, and revenue from publications and events negotiated with vendors and partner presses including Graywolf Press and Beacon Press. Financial oversight adheres to nonprofit practices observed by peer organizations including the Poetry Foundation and Poets House.

Category:Literary societies in the United States