Meet Our Grantee-Partner: Lucky Jefferson
Lucky Jefferson is dedicated to building a literary community by centering emerging voices, offering accessible educational programs, and producing innovative publications.
Students in Lucky Jefferson’s Writing Our World zine-making workshop. Photo courtesy of Lucky Jefferson.
Mission: We publish social change. We mobilize today’s artists and writers to do good.
Founded in 2018, Lucky Jefferson (LJ) is dedicated to building a literary community by centering emerging voices, offering accessible educational programs, and producing innovative publications. The name Lucky Jefferson was inspired by a typo in a text message between founder, NaBeela Washington, and a friend. This unintentional error symbolizes the publisher's embrace of spontaneity and creativity.
LJ serves a diverse, international audience of students, writers, and artists between ages 17 and 54. Focused on historically underrepresented communities who have experienced systemic challenges, especially Indigenous, Black, and Brown communities, LJ actively involves these voices in its leadership and programming. By collaborating with artists from diverse backgrounds, the publisher ensures that its work reflects the communities it serves.
LJ’s founder and leadership view poetry as a powerful vehicle for expression, storytelling, and social change. LJ has built a collaborative network where people of all backgrounds can reclaim their narratives, explore their identities, and connect with others through poetry. LJ writers are encouraged to process and express their experiences, foster resilience, and connect with others who share similar struggles.
Beyond the Frame Free Photography Workshop lead photographer Ivana Jarmon with students impacted by the justice system. Photo courtesy of Lucky Jefferson.
LJ centers modern readers by organizing collaborative community experiences that disrupt oppressive traditions in publishing. Core programs include:
Geo-targeted publishing: LJ publishes up to eight print or digital publications each year that showcase poetry, fiction, experimental forms, and art. LJ received funding to create niche and geo-specific community experiences that help writers of color, non-writers, and artists experience this work closer to their homes.
Creative arts programming: LJ serves high school and college students in the Chicago area to increase accessibility to artistic practice outside the classroom, including typography, printmaking, and illustration. Students also formulate creative concepts and promotions for LJ’s publications. They can apply their LJ internship toward a capstone, externship, or service learning. So far, the creative arts internship program has served more than 155 students.
Research: LJ strives to become a leader in research around issues impacting BIPOC artists and writers. In 2022, LJ received a grant from Illinois Humanities to spearhead its Research Lab. This funding allowed LJ to host three focus groups that surveyed Black writers and artists. The grant also funded hiring two arts research fellows to produce reports using the data from the focus groups and launch future focus groups. LJ collaborated with students at DePaul University and the University of Chicago to create a thorough report on the findings. To date, they have surveyed more than 200 writers and artists across Illinois and the United States.
Receiving an Equity in Verse grant from the Poetry Foundation in 2024 has significantly increased LJ's capacity and sustainability, allowing for the expansion of programs and reach. LJ has been able to publish more niche works highlighting diverse communities like Latine-identifying writers, BIPOC writers, and artists with autism. The grant has also facilitated investment in operational infrastructure for staff and continued development of long-term partnerships, all of which contribute to the stability and growth necessary for fulfilling the mission.
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