From cookbooks to billboards, poets laureate hope to spread the words with help of $50,000 grants

NEW YORK — (AP) — Twenty-two poets around the country each will be receiving $50,000 grants for projects ranging from a poetry cookbook in Kansas to a billboard campaign in Michigan.

On Tuesday, the Academy of American Poets announced its latest round of gifts through the Poet Laureate Fellowship Program, through which it has given out $6.55 million since 2019, along with more than $440,000 in matching grants.

Among this year's Fellows are: Michigan laureate Nandi Comer, whose billboard project includes excerpts from Michigan poets and a QR code directing readers to the Library of Michigan's website; Kansas laureate Traci Brimhall, who hopes to bring chefs and poets together for a state community cookbook; and Angelika Brewer, poet laureate of Ogden, Utah, who is working on a local archive.

Other Fellows include Maine laureate Julia Bouwsma, Colorado laureate Andrea Gibson and Joseph Rios, laureate of Fresno, California.

The fellowship program was made possible by the Mellon Foundation.

“These exceptional writers share the distinctive responsibility of advancing action, advocacy, and civic transformation in their communities through the power of poetry,” said Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander. “We at Mellon are pleased to provide them with the additional resources needed to carry out this mission, building further appreciation of and engagement with the written word across the United States.”

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