Cave Canem

Founded by Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady in 1996 to remedy the under-representation and isolation of African American poets in the literary landscape, Cave Canem Foundation is a home for the many voices of African American poetry and is committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of African American poets. A 501-c-3 non-profit... literary service organization with administrative and programming headquarters in Brooklyn, NY, Cave Canem has grown from a gathering of 26 poets to become an influential movement with a renowned faculty, high-achieving national fellowship of over 400 and a workshop community of 900. Our operating budget has increased from $20,000 in 1996 to $450,000 in 2015, with significant grant awards from such funders as Lannan Foundation, Whiting Foundation, New York Community Trust, National Endowment for the Arts, and the University of Pittsburgh. Cave Canem enjoys over 20 local, regional and national cultural partnerships, among them the Brooklyn Book Festival, where we are a Programming Partner; the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference, where we are a Literary Partner; and collaborative residencies for fellows at such sites as the Millay Colony for the Arts, the Vermont Studio Center, Community of Writers at Squaw Valley and The Home School. Cave Canems programs and publications enlarge the American literary canon; democratize archives; and expand for students, aspiring poets and readers the notion of whats possible and valuable in a poem. In Cave Canem, poets of color find productive space for writing without fear of censure or the need to defend subject matter or languagean intellectual and physical site where they validate their own and their peers voices and deeply know that s/he is not the only one. Established in 1996, our flagship program is a writing retreat in Greensburg and Pittsburgh, PA, that today annually serves 36 emerging African American poets. Core programs comprise three book prizes delivered in partnership with five prestigious ...Read More