Amherst, MA, June 4, 2021 — The Common, the award-winning literary journal based at Amherst College, is a 2021 Literary Magazine Fund Grant Recipient, awarded in alliance with the Amazon Literary Partnership Literary Magazine Fund and the Community of Literary Magazines & Presses. Since 2017, funding from the Amazon Literary Partnership has helped further The Common’s mission of publishing and promoting emerging and underrepresented authors who deepen our individual and collective sense of place.
With this $7,000 grant, The Common will publish, promote, and support a diverse group of writers in its print magazine and open-access website, connecting authors with a global readership. In the spring of 2022, The Common will continue its series of translated Arabic fiction with a collection of short stories from Palestinian authors, co-edited by acclaimed Jordanian author, and The Common’s Arabic Fiction Editor, Hisham Bustani. As part of The Common’s spring issue, this portfolio will feature contemporary Palestinian voices alongside poetry and prose from the US and abroad.
Recent issues of The Common have featured short stories from Morocco (Issue 21, spring 2021), literature from and about the Lusosphere (Portugal and its linguistic and colonial diaspora) in Issue 20, and fiction from Sudan in Issue 19. A collection of writing from the Arabian Gulf, co-edited with Egyptian author Noor Naga, is forthcoming this fall. All of the above portfolios have been developed with Amazon Literary Partnership support.
“The Amazon Literary Partnership awards grants to innovative groups who create deep impact on the lives of writers and the broader literary and publishing community,” said Alexandra Woodworth, manager of the ALP program. “We are delighted to support all of this year’s grant recipients and commend their continued commitment to nurturing a vibrant and diverse literary landscape.”
This new grant from the Amazon Literary Partnership will also support the work of the magazine’s Editorial Liaison and Contributing Editors as they build connections with writers from marginalized groups and bring important new voices and perspectives to The Common’s pages.
“We are delighted to receive this support for writers from around the world whose voices deserve to be heard, and for our editors who crucially engage and support them,” said The Common editor in chief Jennifer Acker. “This funding will help us pay writers and continue to build an international platform for them to share their work.”
About The Common
The Common is an award-winning print and digital literary journal published biannually. The nonprofit magazine is based at Amherst College in Massachusetts. Since its debut in 2011, The Common has published nearly 1400 authors from 50 countries. Pieces from The Common have been awarded the O. Henry Prize, the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Award, The Pushcart Prize, and have been selections and notable mentions in multiple genres in the Best American series. The journal’s editorial vision and design have been praised in The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, Slate, The Millions, Orion Magazine, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Visit www.thecommononline.org.
About The Amazon Literary Partnership
Since 2009, the Amazon Literary Partnership has provided more than $14 million in grant funding to more than 150 literary organizations, assisting many thousands of writers. Among the organizations Amazon has supported over the years include the National Book Foundation, PEN America, Poets & Writers, Girls Write Now, Graywolf Press, Lamda Literary Foundation, Loft Literary Center, National Novel Writing Month, Words Without Borders, Yaddo, WriteGirl, and many more. Through Amazon’s annual grants, Amazon supports literary centers, writing workshops, residencies, fellowships, literary magazines, independent publishers, and poetry and translation programs. Writers supported by some of these organizations have gone on to become best-selling and award-winning authors. To learn more about the Amazon Literary Partnership, please visit www.amazonliterarypartnership.com
About CLMP
CLMP ensures a vibrant, diverse literary landscape by helping mission-driven independent literary magazines and presses thrive. We provide publishers with funding and technical assistance; facilitate peer-to-peer learning and group action; serve as a dependable, essential hub for best practices, resources, and nurturing community support; and build bridges to connect publishers with other groups of literary stakeholders, including readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, educators, presenting organizations, and funders. To learn more about CLMP, visit www.clmp.org.
