THE JUNIPER INITIATIVE FOR LITERARY ARTS AND ACTION reaches more than 10,000 participants each year through a dynamic range of programs. Co-founded in 2003 by Noy Holland, Lisa Olstein and Dara Wier, the Juniper Initiative's mission is to bring the imaginative and visionary qualities of the literary arts into people's lives. In order to remain vital, the arts must remain in active dialogue with the world. By providing a home for programs expressive and supportive of the inherent humanity of literary pursuits, the Juniper Initiative serves as both a national focal point and a regional home for literary art and action, working to ensure the vitality, plurality, and accessibility of the literary arts at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in Western Massachusetts, and beyond. VISITING WRITERS SERIES: a historic, nationally renowned reading series presenting the finest emerging and established writers of poetry and fiction. Recent readers include: C.D. Wright, Jamaica Kincaid, David Berman, Joy Williams, John Yau, Amy Hempel, Russell Edson, James Welch, Fanny Howe, Rick Moody, W.S. Merwin, James Salter, Joe Wenderoth, George Saunders, Nathaniel Mackey, Barry Hannah, William Gass, Jayne Anne Phillips, Eleni Sikelianos, Thomas Sayers Ellis, and Lydia Davis. JUNIPER LITERARY FESTIVAL: an annual festival bringing together writers, editors, publishers, scholars, and the public to explore the ever-changing landscape of new American literature through readings, addresses, roundtables, and a book and journal fair focused on first- and second-book poets and writers. Recent participants include: John Ashbery, Tomaz Salamun, Marjorie Perloff, Charles Simic, Ann Lauterbach, Simon Armitage, Rebecca Wolff, Brad Morrow, Gretel Ehrlich, Eric Lorberer, David Lehman, James Wood, Timothy Donnelley and dozens of independent literary presses and journals. JUNIPER SUMMER WRITING INSTITUTE: an intensive week-long residency program with acclaimed faculty and writers in residence offering writing workshops in poetry, fiction, and memoir. JUNIPER INSTITUTE FOR YOUNG WRITERS: a companion program to the adult institute, offering a week of workshops, craft sessions, readings, and seminars for high school writers. WRITERS IN THE SCHOOLS: a project placing poets and writers in preK-6 and after-school classrooms to bring innovative writing curricula to regional schools. JUBILAT/JONES READING SERIES & POETRY SWAP: a community-based public reading series presenting poetry readings and offering discussions and informal workshops to local and regional audiences. WRITERS WORK: a series of forums exploring the wide range of careers in which writers and other artists apply their skills, pursue their passions, and earn their livings. JUBILAT: an acclaimed international poetry journal publishing twice yearly the best in contemporary poetry along with art, interviews, and prose. JUNIPER PRIZES IN POETRY AND FICTION: nationally acclaimed annual book prizes for first and subsequent collections of poetry (since 1974) and fiction (since 2004), administered with University of Massachusetts Press. Route 9: an online literary magazine launched in 2010.  Entirely student-run, Route 9 showcases creative and critical work by UMass poets and fiction writers in all stages of their careers, and includes interviews, event listings, news of publications and awards, and details about small presses and magazines run by UMass poets and fiction writers. The MFA Program additionally is home to: LIVE LIT: a reading series in which poets and fiction writers in the program have an opportunity to hear each other's work.