for Poets

1) Why aren’t there any lands in my state on the map?

Recruitment of lands and poets is on a rolling basis and they don’t always match up perfectly. Blue icons indicates land is taken, yellow indicates land is available so far. If you are a poet looking for lands to write, please feel free to suggest land trusts for us to reach out to (you will receive a link for doing this in your welcome letter). Please do not reach out to land trusts on behalf of the project yourself.

2) What does it mean to be in WTL?

Writing the Land pairs poets with protected lands from whenever they are matched (a minimum of a few months) to the poem deadline date.

The adoption process is: you apply to the program; if accepted we keep your material on file. When a land trust comes into the project we post their land on the map, and email poets in that state (sometimes also surrounding states); interested poets email to let us know they’re interested; we send the land trust your portfolio; the land trust and/or the project decides which poets get which lands.

Once assigned a land, we ask for 2-3 poems inspired by your adopted land by the deadline. A minimum of 1 of your poems is included in the anthology; you allow the land trusts and the project to use your poems to support their mission of land protection indefinitely, non-exclusively. After the anthology is published, you may of course submit the poems anywhere as the copyrights of all poems remain with the poets.

Benefits vary by year as we work to increase them, and currently include: publication (in the anthology); a free copy of the book; a $100 stipend; possibilities to do other readings for your land trust with associated stipends; the opportunity to buy the book at wholesale and give away or to resell at retail (wholesale is $10, resale is $20); amenities of the WTL community including access to our community calendar, occasional newsletter with announcements, occasional free writing groups, preferential inclusion in the Authors and Artists Festival; occasional reading events, collaborative projects such as poems, good fellowship with like-minded poets, and of course the best part is knowing you’re helping protect land.

3) How do I get involved in this project?

Please apply to the project by sending an approximately 70 word third person bio, photo, and 3 poems that we can share with interested land trusts (these won’t be posted or published). Please name the files yourlastname-bio; yourlastname-photo; yourlastname-poems (please put all the poems in 1 file); document should be a .doc or .docx and photo should be a .jpg or .png. Thank you for your interest.

4) Can I suggest a land I’d like to be paired with?

When accepted to the project you will be provided a link to suggest a land trust you would like to work with. Please do not yourself reach out on behalf of the project.

for Land Protection Organizations

1) Where does the project work?

We work anywhere there are land trusts and other land protection-related groups who want to be part of the project. We will find poets in your area for you and coordinate them. Please see our existing lands on our maps.

2) Is there any cost to the project?

Yes there is an up-front stipend which includes a stipend for your poet and can be recouped and more by proceeds from book sales. This project is about outreach and fundraising to help support the protection of land. The goal is to help you raise money and awareness for the work you do. We create a beautiful book that can be used as incentive donor gifts, board and thank you gifts, and sold or raffled directly to support your mission; and you get wonderful poems you can use indefinitely to show your lands in an artistic light.

3) What do we get?

You get a 10+ page chapter in an anthology, the next anthology with available space will be matched with poets in 2025, and published in 2026; so please feel free to reserve a spot anytime. Your chapter contains the poems inspired by your land, and other material you wish to include about your work including black and white photos, maps etc. Starting in 2024 you will get more pages the more land you put in. The book is available to you at wholesale ($10) which you can resell at retail ($20), give away, raffle or otherwise use for outreach and fundraising.

4) Can we pick our poets?

Yes, you can bring your own poet, choose from a selection of poets (we provide a sample of their work, a photo, and a bio), or you can let us pick—-depending on your preference. Each land you put into the project gets a separate poet.

5) How do we find out more?

Please email to set up a zoom informational meeting. Thank you for your interest.