THE LOFT LITERARY CENTER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $55,000 in support of the Mentor Series. The Loft's mission is to foster a writing community, the artistic development of individual writers, and an audience for literature. As a nonprofit literary center housed in the Open Book, it provides facilities for writers, access to contemporary literature in all of its forms, readings, and performances, residencies, workshops, audience expansion initiatives, and technical and professional assistance to writers. The Mentor Series is an intensive program that matches emerging developing writers with nationally recognized mentors in poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction, with the aim of creating strong and meaningful relationships. The program includes small group and private sessions, public readings, master classes, workshops, and public forums. Jerome Foundation has supported this program since 1979.