Community of Literary Magazines and Presses

Last updated
Community of Literary Magazines and Presses
Formation1967;57 years ago (1967)
Founders Robie Macauley, Reed Whittemore, Jules Chametzky, George Plimpton, William Phillips
TypeNonprofit literary organization
Headquarters154 Christopher Street, Suite 3C
Location
Region served
Worldwide
ServicesSupports independent literary publishers and fosters literary communities; administers the CLMP Firecracker Awards; distributes the Lord Nose Award
Membership
1,000+ (2024)
Official language
English
Executive Director
Mary Gannon
Budget
$80,500 (1975)
Staff
6
Website www.clmp.org
Formerly called
Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines (1967–1989)
Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (1989–2015)

The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) is an American nonprofit organization of independent literary publishers and magazines, that "channels small sums to little magazines publishing poetry and fiction." [1]

Contents

The mission of the CLMP was described in a 1981 New York Times article as a "service organization,... set up to help ... literary groups.... Such magazines as The Partisan Review,... TriQuarterly and Poetry are helped by the council. The help is not large; it is seldom in excess of $5,000." [2] As of 2024 the CLMP has a membership of more 1,000 organizations/publishers, from "those with budgets of less than $5,000 to those of more than $1 million." [3] The organization also administers the CLMP Firecracker Awards and the Lord Nose Award.

History

CLMP was founded in 1967 by Robie Macauley, Reed Whittemore (The Carleton Miscellany, The New Republic ); Jules Chametzky ( The Massachusetts Review ); George Plimpton ( The Paris Review ); and William Phillips ( The Partisan Review ) as the Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines (CCLM) at the suggestion of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). [4] The original leader of the organization was poet Caroline Kizer. [2]

In 1983, the CCLM received an $80,000 grant, from the MacArthur Foundation and the Atlantic Richfield Foundation, to move its headquarters

...from small, crowded quarters on lower Broadway to 2 Park Avenue, where it will be given office space by Harper's . The new quarters will also provide a home for the council's 14,000-item library of little magazines published in the United States since 1967 and said to be the only collection covering this period. [1]

In 1989, the organization's membership included 437 literary journals" with circulations ranging "from 500 to about 20,000, with an average of about 2,000." [5] That same year, the organization was renamed as the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses. [6]

In 1991, the CLMP moved its headquarters to the Federal Archive Building at 666 Greenwich Street. It stayed at that location until at least late 2008. [7]

In 1993, the CLMP had a membership of "1,100 independent literary magazines and presses." [8]

In 2000, CLMP Online was launched as an online resource providing technical assistance and information services for literary publishers and as an internet center for information about the field for readers, writers, media, and the general public.

In 2009, CLMP had about 350 members, half with a budget of less than $10,000. [9] That year the CLMP helped form the Open Book Alliance, to contest the Google Book Search Settlement, which it believed could allow Google, the Association of American Publishers, and the Authors Guild collectively "to monopolize the access, distribution, and pricing of the largest digital database of books in the world". [10]

In 2011, the organization’s membership was "more than 500 publications and small presses," which was roughly double what it was c. 2001. [11]

In April 2015, the organization took its current name.

Funding; budget; activities

In its initial years, the CCLM received an annual grant from the Literature Panel of the NEA; by 1976 this figure was $400,000. (The CCLM estimated its operating expenses for 1975 as $80,500.) [12]

In 1976, the CCLM received a grant of $439,636 from the Ford Foundation "for a project designed to improve the distribution of small magazines and to increase the awareness of the public to the existence of these publications, which, through the century, have been the breeding ground for many of our most illustrious writers." [13] That same year, however, the Literature Panel of the NEA terminated the $400,000 annual grant to the CCLM, claiming the organization was too "'elitist' and dominated by a few of the largest and most prestigious literary magazines." [4] The NEA funding was later restored; in 1981 the CLMP was receiving a matching grant of $496,830 from the NEA. [2]

In 1983, however, Federal cutbacks reduced NEA funding to $68,500:

In the last two years about half the funds from these direct grants have gone to literary magazines, representing $678,485 in the fiscal year 1981, $519,702 in 1982 and a projected $407,000 in 1983. The 1981 and 1982 grants were made by the [NEA] and the [CCLM] with [NEA] funds. In 1983 the [CCLM] ha[d] no endowment funds for grants. [1]

In 1988, the NEA awarded the CCLM "$50,000 to help develop the marketing and promotion of" literary magazines. [14]

In 1993, the organization disbursed $1.4 million in marketing grants from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund; "individual grants range from $40,000 to $100,000." [8]

Awards

Lord Nose Award

The CLMP administers the Lord Nose Award, "given in recognition of a lifetime of superlative work in literary publishing": [15]

Firecracker Awards

The CLMP Firecracker Awards are presented annually "to celebrate books and magazines that make a significant contribution to our literary culture and the publishers that strive to introduce important voices to readers far and wide." [16] The first Firecracker Alternative Book Awards, or "FABs", were founded in 1996 by John Davis of Koen Book Distribution, [17] and were presented through 2002. After the CLMP agreed to sponsor a revitalized version of the prize, the CLMP Firecracker Awards were launched in 2015. [18] [17]

The awards include five categories: fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, best debut in magazine, and general excellence in magazine. In the book categories, winning presses receive $1,000-2,000, and authors or translators receive $1,000. [16] Magazine winners receive $1,000 each. [16] The winning titles are also showcased in CLMP's national publicity campaigns. [16]

See also

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Literary magazine</span> Periodical devoted to literature

A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters. Literary magazines are often called literary journals, or little magazines, terms intended to contrast them with larger, commercial magazines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maxine Chernoff</span> American poet

Maxine Chernoff is an American novelist, writer, poet, academic and literary magazine editor.

The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreach activities such as National Poetry Month, its website Poets.org, the syndicated series Poem-a-Day, American Poets magazine, readings and events, and poetry resources for K-12 educators. In addition, it sponsors a portfolio of nine major poetry awards, of which the first was a fellowship created in 1946 to support a poet and honor "distinguished achievement," and more than 200 prizes for student poets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiction Collective Two</span> Publisher

Fiction Collective Two (FC2) is an author-run, not-for-profit publisher of avant-garde, experimental fiction supported in part by the University of Utah, the University of Alabama Press, Central Michigan University, Illinois State University, private contributors, arts organizations and foundations, and contest fees.

Charles Alexander is an American poet, publisher, and book artist. He is the director and editor-in-chief of Chax Press. Alexander also served as the Director of the Minnesota Center for the Book Arts from 1993 until 1995, and as book artist there through 1996. Alexander lives in Tucson, AZ with his wife the visual artist Cynthia Miller and his two daughters. In 2006 he received the Arizona Arts Award and in 2021 he received the Lord Nose Award for excellence in independent literary publishing.

<i>The Massachusetts Review</i> American literary journal

The Massachusetts Review is a literary quarterly founded in 1959 by a group of professors from Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. It receives financial support from Five Colleges, Inc., a consortium which includes Amherst College and four other educational institutions in a short geographical radius.

The Word Works is a literary organization based in Washington, DC. Founded in 1974, it has published works by Frannie Lindsay, Fred Marchant, Jay Rogoff, Grace Cavalieri, Donna Denizé, Christopher Bursk, and Enid Shomer and is a member of the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses. The Word Works features contemporary poetry and literature, often written by emerging poets. The Word Works titles have been reviewed by Publishers Weekly, The Rumpus, The Common, Lambda Literary, Kirkus, and other venues; and distributed by Small Press Distribution, Ingram Content Group, Baker & Taylor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice James Books</span> American non-profit poetry press located in Farmington, Maine

Alice James Books is an American non-profit poetry press located in New Gloucester, Maine.

Sarabande Books is an American not-for-profit literary press founded in 1994. It is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, with an office in New York City. Sarabande publishes contemporary poetry and nonfiction. Sarabande is a literary press whose books have earned reviews in the New York Times.

BOA Editions, Ltd. is an American independent, non-profit literary publishing company located in Rochester, New York, founded in 1976 by the late poet, editor and translator, A. Poulin, Jr., and publishing poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.

Anhinga Press is an American, independent, literary press located in Tallahassee, Fla. The press began in 1972 as an outgrowth of the Apalachee Poetry Center, a non-profit organization promoting the reading and understanding of poetry. In 1976, founder and poet, Van Brock, expanded the scope of the press by publishing poetry chapbooks. From 1976 through 1981, Anhinga Press published eight chapbooks by regional Florida poets. In 1981, the press published its first full-length volume of poems "Counting the Grasses" by Michael Mott, and today publishes the winners of its two book award contests as well as manuscripts chosen by its board. Rick Campbell, author of four poetry collections, is Director of Anhinga Press.

<i>The Common</i> (magazine) Academic journal

The Common is an American nonprofit literary magazine founded in Amherst, Massachusetts by current Editor in Chief Jennifer Acker. The magazine, which has been based at Amherst College since 2011, publishes issues of stories, poems, essays, and images biannually. The magazine focuses its efforts on the motif of "a modern sense of place," and works to give the underrepresented artistic voices a literary space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jules Chametzky</span> American literary critic, writer, editor, and unionist (1928–2021)

Jules Chametzky was an American literary critic, writer, editor, and unionist. His essays in the 1960s and 1970s on the importance of race, ethnicity, class, and gender to American literary culture anticipated the later schools of New Historicism and Cultural Studies in American letters.

Ig Publishing is a New York-based press devoted to publishing original literary fiction and political and cultural nonfiction. The editor is writer Robert Lasner, and the publisher is Elizabeth Clementson. The press was founded in 2002.

Nightboat Books is an American nonprofit literary press founded in 2004 and located in Brooklyn, New York. The press publishes poetry, fiction, essays, translations, and intergenre books.

Marsh Hawk Press, is a self-sustaining American independent, non-profit, literary press run by publisher Sandy McIntosh in East Rockaway, New York.

Rivers Solomon is an American author of speculative and literary fiction. In 2018, they received the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses' Firecracker Award in Fiction for their debut novel, An Unkindness of Ghosts, and in 2020 their second novel, The Deep, won the Lambda Literary Award. Their third novel, Sorrowland, was published in May 2021, and won the Otherwise Award.

Jeffrey Zuckerman is a translator of French literature. His work centers on contemporary fiction from mainland France and Mauritius—including Ananda Devi, Shenaz Patel, and Carl de Souza—as well as texts of the queer canon—including Jean Genet and Hervé Guibert. Zuckerman lives in New York City.

Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora is a biannual literary magazine which was first published in 1975 by Alvin Aubert at SUNY (Fredonia) under the name Obsidian: Black Literature in Review. The magazine has undergone a number of name changes and publication venues over the years, before obtaining its current title in 2014 under editor-in-chief Duriel E. Harris. It is published by the Publications Unit at Illinois State University.

The Firecracker Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards focusing on small-press publishing. Previously known as the Firecracker Alternative Book Awards (FABs), in the current form they are known as the CLMP Firecracker Awards for Independently Published Literature, and are administered by the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP).

References

  1. 1 2 3 Teltsch, Kathleen (April 8, 1983). "RESCUE BID AIMS AT LITTLE MAGAZINES". The New York Times.
  2. 1 2 3 Schonberg, Harold C. (May 17, 1981). "NEW YORK'S SHARE OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES GRANTS INCREASES". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ "History". About CLMP. CLMP.org. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
  4. 1 2 "Editors' Choice: Books Ends". The New York Times. Sep 5, 1976.
  5. ↑ Blau, Eleanor (Oct 3, 1989). "A New Chapter in the Life of Story". The New York Times.
  6. ↑ "CLMP History". CLMP. Archived from the original on 29 November 2009. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
  7. ↑ Levin, Dan (Oct 13, 2008). "Village Nonprofit Groups Say They Are Surprised by a Steep Rise in Rents". The New York Times.
  8. 1 2 "Magazines and Presses Share $1.4 Million". The New York Times. Jan 8, 1993.
  9. ↑ "Membership facts". CLMP. Archived from the original on 9 February 2001. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
  10. ↑ Open Book Alliance (26 December 2009). "Mission". openbookalliance.org. Archived from the original on 2009-12-26. Retrieved 24 September 2018– via archive.org.
  11. ↑ Harmanci, Reyhan (April 7, 2011). "Literary Journals Thrive, on Paper and Otherwise". THE BAY CITIZEN. The New York Times.
  12. ↑ "Book Ends: Oddments". The New York Times. Oct 17, 1976. The Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines would like us to say that their annual administrative expenses were $80,500 last year....
  13. ↑ "Briefs on the Arts: Small Magazines Get Publicity Aid". The New York Times. March 30, 1976. p. 32.
  14. ↑ Honan, William H. (Sep 23, 1988). "25 Grants Go to Arts Projects". The New York Times.
  15. ↑ "The Lord Nose Award". CLMP.org.
  16. 1 2 3 4 "Firecracker Awards". Community of Literary Magazines and Presses. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  17. 1 2 Swanson, Clare (May 29, 2014). "BEA 2014: Firecrackers Are Back". Publishers Weekly .
  18. ↑ "The 2015 Firecracker Award Winners". CLMP. Archived from the original on 8 August 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.