Cave Canem Foundation

Cave Canem Foundation is an American 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1996 by poets Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady to remedy the under-representation and isolation of African American poets in Master of Fine Arts (MFA) programs and writing workshops across the United States. It is based in Brooklyn, New York.

Cave Canem programs include an annual summer retreat, regional workshops, first- and second-book poetry prizes, anthology publication and national readings and panels. The organization has also published two anthologies, Gathering Ground: A Reader Celebrating Cave Canem’s First Decade, edited by Derricotte and Eady (University of Michigan Press, 2006), and The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South, edited by Nikky Finney (University of Georgia Press, 2007).

In September 2016, National Book Foundation award Cave Canem the Literarian Award for service to the American literary community.

Founded in 1996 by poets Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady, Cave Canem Foundation began as a week-long writing retreat for selected African American poets at Mount St. Alphonsus Conference Center in Esopus, New York. Since then, Cave Canem "has grown from an initial gathering of 26 poets to become an influential movement with a renowned faculty and a high-achieving national fellowship" of over 300. The Foundation's name, Cave Canem, refers to a "Beware of the Dog" sign that Derricotte spotted while visiting the House of the Tragic Poet in the lost city of Pompeii.

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