The NEA defunded us. Now what?

On Friday, May 2, Deep Vellum was one of hundreds of nonprofit arts organizations who received notice that our National Endowment for the Arts grant had been terminated by the Trump administration. What does this mean for us, and for the literary arts world more broadly?

“The National Endowment for the Arts, established by Congress in 1965, serves as the largest funder of arts and arts education nationwide and receives approximately $200 million in federal funding every year,” reports The Washington Post. “The agency previously announced that in the first cycle of funding for 2025, it was awarding 1,474 grants, for a total of $36,790,500.”

Our $20,000 NEA award this grant cycle was approved in January 2025, and was awarded to offset printing costs and compensate authors and translators for four titles to be published this calendar year. Those titles are:

  • Carapace Dancer, a trilingual poetry collection in English, Spanish, and Zapotec, by award-winning Mexican writer Natalia Toledo, translated by Clare Sullivan. This book published on January 21, 2025, and is available now wherever books are sold.

  • Juvenilia, the North American poetry debut of New Zealand “literary phenomenon” Hera Lindsay Bird (—Elle). This book is set to publish on June 3, 2025. We still hope to bring Bird to the United States for a book tour this fall with support from the New Zealand government.

  • Schattenfroh, the 1,001 page German maximalist novel that has already taken the literary world by storm months before its publication, written by Michael Lentz and translated by Max Lawton. The book will be available on August 19, 2025.

  • The Ruins, a haunting and accessible collection by contemporary Chinese poet and architect Ye Hui, translated by Dong Li, who was awarded a PEN/Heim grant for the translation of this work. The book will be available on November 11, 2025.

The termination of funding that has already been approved and allocated by Congress is intended to cause confusion and chaos and buy time while the Trump Administration considers eliminating the NEA altogether. (On May 5, the four employees of the NEA’s Literary Arts staff shared that they are being let go from the agency at the end of the month.) The language of the termination notices makes it clear that the Trump administration expects arts organizations to act “in furtherance of the administration’s agenda.” The NEA’s decision to terminate hundreds of grants, citing a realignment of priorities towards initiatives like “fostering AI competency,” echoes a disturbing trend in our cultural landscape, and a movement away from the empathetic, intellectually curious global society we are trying to build through our mission of bringing the world into conversation through literature.

Books are more than just dollar signs for us. Being a nonprofit publishing house allows Deep Vellum to publish books for their artistic and social value, not just what will hit the bestseller list—books that we believe should be in the world for readers around the world. Creating global conversation through literature builds cultural bridges, fosters empathy among individuals and communities, and allows us to view life from other perspectives. Alongside the many other nonprofits affected by the Trump administration’s “updated policy priorities,” including Open Letter Books, which recently joined the Deep Vellum publishing umbrella, we’re dedicated to continuing this work with the support of our communities.

“We refuse to engage in mission creep, chasing fleeting political priorities that have little to do with our core tenets of literary discourse and cultural exchange,” writes Deep Vellum founder Will Evans for The Dallas Morning News. “But we can’t do it alone.”

So what can you do to help?

  • Donate directly to Deep Vellum and other literary nonprofits. Consider becoming a recurring donor—$10 a month from even a fraction of our readers would make a tremendous impact.

  • Buy and support the four books affected by the grant termination. You can purchase or pre-order Carapace Dancer, Juvenilia, Schattenfroh, and The Ruins now on the Deep Vellum website, Bookshop.org, or from your local independent bookstore. Sign up for our newsletter or follow us on social media to stay up to date on future book tours and interviews with these authors and translators!

  • Buy any of our books directly from our website, or your favorite independent bookstore.

  • Request our books from your local library. If the library doesn’t have one of our books in stock, your request can encourage them to buy it! This is a great way to materially support us if you don’t have money to spare.

  • Buy any book (not just the ones we publish!) from the Deep Vellum bookstore’s Bookshop.org page. It’ll be delivered straight to your door, and will support us as if you bought that book right from our storefront in Dallas.

  • If you’re an academic, consider course adopting one of our titles to teach in your classes.

  • Read. Read. Read! Support the kinds of diverse work that you’d like to see more of in the world. We do this for you, and we couldn’t do it without you.

With gratitude,
Your friends at Deep Vellum

WIll Evans