BookEnds Giving Day Write-a-Thon

THE WORLD NEEDS STORIES. Do you remember the first time you got lost in a book? In today’s blink-or-you’ll-miss-it society, it’s sometimes hard to remember the value of slow culture: the experience of time opened up to create an experience, an intimacy, a sensibility. Novels do that, but writing them takes sustained patience, time and work.

BOOKENDS OFFERS WRITERS THE CHANCE TO SLOW DOWN. On average, it takes five years to bring a novel from first draft to publication. Writing, like reading, requires immersion, and immersion is best achieved in community. “Books are not just escapes,” says Meg Wolitzer, program cofounding director. “They are a world.” Our program is designed to develop creative collaboration on several levels. We divide our cohort of twelve novelists into pods of three, each pod representing a dynamic artistic space. Each novelist is further assigned an individual mentor, a published author, who shepherds their work. Finally, at the conclusion of the program, BookEnders join an active community of alumni 75 strong, where they find the continuing support that writers crave and need.

THE ARTS ARE BEING DEFUNDED. In the face of the devaluation of national institutions like the National Endowment for the Arts, National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System, supporting programs like BookEnds has a new urgency, and we rely on individual support more than ever before.

SUPPORT THE BOOKENDS FOUNDERS FUND. We have a $2 million goal by the end of 2026, and we’ve raised $1.6 million in support already. Consider a donation to this singular, groundbreaking program, which goes beyond what any MFA in creative writing can offer: sustained, careful support of stories by talented writers with unique voices. Many of our published novels have spawned important cultural conversations, such as:

• Daisy Alpert Florin’s My Last Innocent Year (Holt, 2023), featured in the New York Times’ Book Group and as a Critic’s Choice, a ‘90s coming-of-age story set in the Clinton impeachment era about sexual politics, lust, power and consent.

• Giano Cromley’s American Mythology (Doubleday, 2025), featured on multiple NPR affiliates and podcasts, about the American heartland, the legend of Bigfoot and the power of stories to bring us together and heal us.

• Rachel León’s How We See the Gray (Curbstone, 2026) is part of the 2025 Poets & Writers Get the Word Out fiction debut program, and offers a documentary-esque tale of workers and wards in the Rockford, Illinois, foster care system.

• Kelly Anderson’s The Wild Beneath (HarperCollins, 2026, with foreign rights acquired in nine other countries) is highly anticipated as a book club must-read about climate change and catastrophe through a fantastical story about the ancient power of water.

WE BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF STORIES. And to craft compelling stories, every writer needs time, care, support and mentorship. Please consider giving support to nearly 10 years of BookEnds voices, which help shape the literary landscape and cultural conversations around us every day. Support the BookEnds Giving Day Write-a-Thon, as our alums work toward a daily writing goal each day this month. Thank you for supporting our writing fellowship and community!