The fall Xeric Grant recipients have been announced! As is normal, several of them resist easy googling — one shares the name of a famous Beat poet; one seems to be a much lauded painter; and a third has had his book about Ham, the first monkey in space, already picked up my Oni. We’ve linked to info where we can, but if anyone else has information on these sure-to-be notable projectt, please shoot us a line.

The Xeric Foundation has announced its most recent grant recipients. A total of $25,606 was awarded for six comic book projects. The Foundation has awarded in excess of $1,750,000 to comic book creators and nonprofit organizations since its first grant cycle in September 1992.

Established by Peter Laird, co-creator of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Northampton, MA based foundation offers financial assistance to self-publishing comic book creators in the US and Canada and to qualified charitable and nonprofit organizations in western Massachusetts.

The next deadline and review dates are January 31, 2007 and March 1, 2007, respectively.

The charitable organization grants were decided in June 2006 and announced separately.

The artists receiving grants are as follows:

Joel White – Bronzeville
Gregory Corso – And How (Ed. note: Corso is of course the name of a legendary Beat poet who died in 2001. )
Aron Nels Steinke – Big Plans
Toc Fetch – Kids of Lower Utopia – V6 No 1 – Of Softdoor Scout Finnagain and Daffodil Dash Eleven
Joshua Hagler– The Boy Who Made Silence
James Vining – First in Space (Good News! Jim’s book was picked up by Oni Press. He won’t need to use the grant funds, but he’s still a Xeric winner.)

For information, write to:
XERIC FOUNDATION
351 Pleasant Street #214
Northampton, MA 01060

check out: www.xericfoundation.com