Cave Canem

Cave Canem was founded in 1996 by Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady as "a home for Black poetry" — beginning as a week-long retreat and growing into the most consequential poetry institution built in America in the last half-century. Its fellows include Tracy K. Smith, Terrance Hayes, Natasha Trethewey, and Jericho Brown; when the Pulitzer or the laureateship goes to a Black poet, the odds are they came through Cave Canem.

The organization runs the flagship retreat (application-based, for Black poets), regional workshops, and first- and second-book prizes with major press publication. Its model — community as infrastructure — has been deliberately replicated by Kundiman, CantoMundo, and others.