Power of the Word

How does language shape and change culture?

“America is for Dreamers,” an exhibit featuring the work of artist Patrick Martinez on display at the Vincent Price Art Museum in Monterey Park, CA in 2018. Photo: Monica Orozco

By inviting us to stop, read, and listen, words act as windows into our shared humanity. They inform how we collect our past and inspire how we build our future. Mellon celebrates literary expression in all forms and the futures that might be imagined through the written word.

230124 MellonFoundation Shot05 021

Mellon Voices

The Words and Wisdom of Natalie Diaz

Read the article

Event RaceRev 2304x1536

Event

Race and Revelation in Our American Stories

Watch event See all events

A Black author and lawyer stands facing the camera, and wearing a black hat.

Yale University

Felony and Freedom with Reginald Dwayne Betts

Read the grant story

A hand holding a pen reaches toward a piece of paper set among a design with flowers and birds on a black and dark purple background

The Center for Economic Research and Social Change, Inc.

Freedom, Put in Writing

Read the grant story

Directed by Sindha Agha

“Democracy” by Langston Hughes

Celebrating National Poetry Month

Twenty Five Years

Celebrating National Poetry Month

Read the article

Six children sit with their mother on a porch

From the Heart Productions, Inc.

A Legendary Poet’s Home Becomes a Sanctuary for Young Artists

Read the grant story

Farah Jasmine Griffin

Mellon Fellows

An Acclaimed Scholar Reflects on Black Life and Literature

Read the article

Artist illustration of Elizabeth Alexander and Joy Harjo

Event

Reading Poetry, Engaging America

Watch event See all events

Voices

America’s Saving Spaces

Portrait of Emily Drabinsky

Emily Drabinski

Associate Professor

Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies

See grants that are related to Power of the Word

Browse the Grants Database