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Nearly 300 literary organizations — including five in Minnesota — have received thousands of dollars in grant money to help them ride out the economic downturn brought about by COVID-19.

The Literary Arts Emergency Fund, launched and administered by the Academy of American Poets, the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses and the National Book Foundation, are distributing $3.5 million to 282 organizations and small presses. The grants were made possible, in part, by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

In Minnesota, Coffee House Press of Minneapolis and the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis will each receive $50,000; Graywolf Press of Minneapolis will receive $25,000; Milkweed Editions of Minneapolis and the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop will each receive $15,000; and Rain Taxi Review will receive $10,000.

Other organizations across the United States that received grants include Cave Canem Foundation, PEN America, Lambda Literary Foundation, Writers in the Schools and Archipelago Books.