When SPD (Small Press Distribution) announced its sudden and immediate closure at the end of March, hundreds of small and indie presses were not only caught off-guard but immediately thrown into existential limbo. Publishers and authors took to whatever platforms they had available to share stories about missing books, outstanding invoices, and to ask for help. The past several weeks have been a flurry of activity as every step of the author-to-reader pipeline—including publishers, distributors, and bookstores—has tried to come to terms with the changed landscape.
So it is exciting to see that, today, the Poetry Foundation has announced a $150,000 bridge fund to help small presses impacted by SPD’s closure. Presses are eligible for up to $7,500 in funds and applications to the fund are being taken on a rolling basis until September or until the fund is exhausted.
This fund is open for applications immediately and is in addition to the Poetry Foundation’s ongoing grantmaking work. If you are a small-press publisher with poetry on your list, apply now!
A press release from the Foundation also mentions that they will be working to acquire titles at risk of going out of print as a result of SPD’s closure.
