upcoming grant deadline: 05/15/2024

upcoming grant deadline: 05/15/2024

Donna Jo Napoli

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1995 Leeway Award

Donna Jo Napoli publishes children's books for all ages, short stories, poetry, and essays, as well as academic work in linguistics. She was born in 1948 in Miami, Florida, got married in 1968, has five children, a B.A. from Harvard in mathematics, and a Ph.D. from Harvard in Romance Linguistics. She is professor of linguistics and chair of the Linguistics Program at Swarthmore College, where among her courses she teaches workshops in writing both fiction and poetry. In the past she has taught at Smith College, UNC at Chapel Hill, Georgetown University, and the University of Michigan. She has held visiting positions at MIT, the University of Queensland, Australia ,the San Francisco State University, and Capital Normal University in Beijing, China, and given lecturer series at the University of Amsterdam, the University of Geneva, the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and the University of Stellenbosch in Stellenbosch, South Africa. She has held grants and fellowships in linguistics from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mellon Foundation, and the Sloan Foundation. She travels widely, mainly in Italy, but also in other countries of Europe and in Australia, Africa, and Asia.
 

[this is immediately after the mermaids have caused a shipwreck]

We laugh and wait shyly. What will a first kiss taste like? I don't dare to think beyond a kiss. The skin on my arms prickles at imagined pleasure. I lick my lips.

But only a few men swim toward shore. Where are the others? There is commotion in the water, though the waves have died down as suddenly as they arose. There are screams and thrashings.

The horror hits us like a slap: These men don't know how to swim!

I dive and go as fast as I can to the first man I find. He is short and thin. He doesn't struggle. I cannot feel the rise and fall of his chest. I hold onto the man with one arm. I pull him toward the rocks, using all my strength to go fast and faster. His head lolls on his neck.

 

- from Sirena, 1998

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Window of Opportunity Grant

The Window of Opportunity (WOO) grant provides financial assistance of up to $1,500 to Leeway grant and award recipients to help them take advantage of imminent, time-sensitive opportunities to support their art for social change practice. The Community Care Fund (CCF) provides financial assistance of up to $1,250 to Leeway grant and award recipients to support with immediate and essential emergency needs. [read more]

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Upcoming events
04/025:30 pm - 7:00 pm

4/2 Transformation Award (LTA) Awardee Panel + Info Session (In Person)

Have questions about the application process for the Leeway Transformation Award (LTA)?

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04/185:30 pm - 6:30 pm

4/18 Transformation Award (LTA) Info Session (Virtual)

Have questions about the application process for the Leeway Transformation Award?

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