LTL Awarded Grant from Every Page Foundation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 17, 2025
Literature to Life Awarded Grant from Every Page Foundation
NEW YORK, NY, JUNE 17, 2025 —Literature to Life (LTL) recently received a generous grant in General Operating Support from Every Page Foundation. This grant will support LTL’s programming in three distinct areas — growing their collaboration with Girls Write Now, expanding their work in U.S. correctional facilities, and enriching their digital programming. This project will enable LTL to engage more women and girls, incarcerated individuals, and underserved students in rural areas.
LTL is thrilled to grow their partnership with Girls Write Now (GWN), a mentorship and literary empowerment organization for girls and gender-expansive youth. LTL and GWN launched their first joint collaboration in January 2025 with a Signature Performance of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez. This event, hosted by adapter and director Ana María Jomolca, marked a milestone in their partnership. The pre- and post-show discussion, centered on the novel’s themes of cultural expectations, grief, family, and dreams, sparked a dynamic conversation between audience members, demonstrating the power of theater to engage young minds in critical dialogue. While budgetary constraints have limited the expansion of this partnership, thanks to the Every Page Foundation, LTL and GWN plan to launch their first full year of joint programming this Fall, providing young people with the opportunity to engage with thought-provoking works and deepening their understanding of complex social themes.
Likewise, LTL is eager to expand their work with justice-involved youths and adults. Since 2022, their partnership with Freedom Reads, a nonprofit dedicated to transforming the experience of incarceration by building libraries in correctional facilities, has allowed them to reach more than 650 incarcerated individuals across the country through literature and performance. This past year, LTL’s collaboration with Freedom Reads reached new heights by co-producing I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter. LTL is committed to expanding their programming in correctional facilities, both through and beyond their ongoing collaboration with Freedom Reads. This grant will cover LTL programs at up to three regional prisons over the next year.
Lastly, LTL will be using the remaining funds to record performances of their two newest titles, The Great Gatsby and I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter. These recordings will be used for virtual engagements, allowing the organization to bring high-quality arts and under-told stories to rural and remote corners of the country, as well as utilize the recordings for promotional materials to publicize their work, increasing booking opportunities. In previous years, LTL partnered with the Theater Development Fund (TDF) and Playhouse Square to provide virtual alternatives to in-person theater experiences for students. Though simple, this initiative is vital, as it expands programming and prompts students to explore the diverse human experience through LTL’s roster of titles.
“What an incredible gift the Every Page Foundation has given us,” says LTL Executive Director Lisa Beth Vettoso. “Literature to Life believes in bringing books where they are needed most, and the Every Page Foundation understood how much that could mean to so many. We are so grateful for their generosity and support.”
Every Page Foundation funds grants and develops partnerships that safeguard and advocate for diverse women and girls in order to advance social and environmental justice.
Literature to Life (LTL) is a performance-based literacy organization that presents professionally staged verbatim adaptations of American literary classics. Initially conceived as the educational program of the renowned American Place Theatre, LTL is now an independent organization with a mission to perform great books that inspire young people to read and become authors of their own lives.With a roster of books by authors such as F.Scott Fitzgerald, Lois Lowry, James Baldwin, Junot Díaz, Kao Kalia Yang, and more, LTL performs nationally in performing arts centers, schools, libraries, and correctional facilities.
To learn more about Literature to Life, visit literaturetolife.org or find LTL on social media @lit2life.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Alyssa Monte
Marketing and Outreach Manager, Literature to Life
Email: alyssa.m@literaturetolife.org
Note to editors: High-resolution images and additional information about Literature to Life's performances are available upon request.