New York, NY (July 11, 2023)—The Community of Literary Magazines & Presses (CLMP), the national nonprofit organization supporting the vital work of small literary publishers, will celebrate independent literary publishing and pay tribute to literary luminaries with a benefit on November 8, 2023, at the historic Church of the Holy Apostles, 296 Ninth Avenue, New York, NY.
Andy Hunter, Founder and CEO of Bookshop.org, will receive the Energizer Award for Exceptional Acts of Literary Citizenship. Erika Goldman, Publisher and Editorial Director of Bellevue Literary Press, will receive CLMP’s Golden Colophon Award for Paradigm Literary Publishing, and Alexandra Watson, Cofounder and Executive Editor of Apogee Journal, will receive the Platinum Review Award for Excellence in Literary Magazine Publishing. To learn more and purchase tickets and sponsorships, visit www.clmp.org/benefit.
“The CLMP Annual Benefit is a truly special evening, and we’re just thrilled to recognize this year’s honorees for their innovation and excellence, as well as their long-standing dedication to writers and literary works,” said CLMP Executive Director Mary Gannon.
“Our community of independent literary publishers continues to grow and thrive,” said CLMP Board Chair Nicole Dewey, “and it’s a privilege to support and honor their essential work in keeping our literary ecosystem vibrant and diverse.”
HONOREES
Andy Hunter is the Founder and CEO of Bookshop.org, an ecommerce platform launched in January 2020 to support independent bookstores and provide socially conscious readers with an alternative to Amazon. Since its launch, Bookshop.org has raised more than $26 million for independent bookstores. Hunter is also the Co-creator and Publisher of the websites Literary Hub, Crime Reads, and BookMarks, as well as the Cofounder and Chairman of Electric Literature. Among the many recognitions for Hunter’s work keeping literature a vital part of our culture in the digital age are the 2011 Innovations in Reading Prize from the National Book Foundation, the 2021 BISG Industry Innovator Award, and inclusion in Bloomberg Business Week’s The Bloomberg 50: “Ones to Watch” in 2021.
Erika Goldman is the Publisher and Editorial Director of Bellevue Literary Press, which she cofounded with Jerome Lowenstein in 2007. Bellevue Literary Press is devoted to publishing literary fiction and nonfiction at the intersection of the arts and sciences because of a conviction that science and the humanities are natural companions for understanding the human experience. It has published over 100 titles, and its books and authors have received critical acclaim and top awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, the John Burroughs Medal, the Wellcome Book Prize, the Mountain Book Competition Award in Mountain Fiction & Poetry, and inclusion in the 2022-2024 NEA Big Read. Over the course of her career, Goldman has also been an editor of fiction and nonfiction at several major publishing houses in New York City, including St. Martin’s Press, Charles Scribner’s Sons, Simon & Schuster, and W. H. Freeman.
Alexandra Watson is Cofounder and Executive Editor of Apogee Journal, a literary magazine that encourages the thoughtful exploration of identity and its intersections, prioritizing artists and writers of color. Since its founding in 2012, Apogee, which is supported by the New York State Council on the Arts, has featured contributors including K-Ming Chang, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Naomi Jackson, Dantiel W. Moniz, David Mura, Morgan Parker, Deesha Philyaw, Roger Reeves, Danez Smith, Mickalene Thomas, and many more. The recipient of a 2022 Literary Magazine Prize from the Whiting Foundation, Apogee has hosted free or low-cost community arts workshops with support from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and the Brooklyn Arts Council. Apogee published an issue in 2019 dedicated to writers and artists who are incarcerated, in partnership with Empowerment Avenue, and will continue this work with a dedicated online section. Watson, who received the 2019 PEN/Nora Magid Award for Literary Magazine Editing, is a writer and educator whose poetry and fiction appear in Bennington Review, The Common, Nat. Brut., The Nation, Painted Bride Quarterly, [PANK], Redivider, The Rumpus, and others. Her short story “Even Days” won the Ronald Moran Prize in Fiction from The South Carolina Review. She is a Lecturer in First-Year Writing and English at Barnard College.
ABOUT CLMP
CLMP ensures a vibrant, diverse literary landscape by helping mission-driven independent literary magazines and presses thrive. Since 1967, CLMP has provided publishers with funding and technical assistance; facilitated peer-to-peer learning and group action; served as a dependable, essential hub for best practices, resources, and nurturing community support; and connected publishers with other groups of literary stakeholders, including readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, educators, presenting organizations, and funders. Along with directly serving 1,000+ publishers located in almost every state in the country, CLMP administers the Lit Mag Adoption program, which provides educators and students with discounted magazine subscriptions; the annual Indie Lit Fair, in partnership with the PEN World Voices Festival; the $10,000 Constellation Award, given to honor an independent literary press that is led by and/or champions the writing of people of color for excellence in publishing; and the Firecracker Awards for Independently Published Literature, which celebrate magazines and books that make a significant contribution to our literary culture, among other programs.
