about

Poets in Need is a non-profit organization founded in 2000 with a bequest from the poet Philip Whalen. Its mission is to provide emergency assistance to poets who have an established presence in the literary community as innovators in the field and a substantive body of published work.

Philip Whalen in Japanese Buddhist attire

Assistance is given only in cases of current financial need that is in excess of and unrelated to the recipient’s normal economic situation and that is the result of recent emergency (due, for example, to fire, flood, eviction, or a medical crisis).