The Loft Literary Center is a non-profit literary organization located in Minneapolis, Minnesota incorporated in 1975. The Loft is a large and comprehensive independent literary center, and offers a variety of writing classes, conferences, grants, readings, writers' studios and other services to both established and emerging writers. Each year, the Loft hosts more than 400 writers and performers that draw more than 12,000 people, and collaborates with at least 30 local and national organizations. The Loft additionally claims to have more than 170,000 unique visitors through digital resources and online writing classes. History Inception Incorporated in 1975, the Loft started in a bookstore when a group of writers decided to offer classes and readings in the upstairs loft. Following a series of successful events held at Rusoff & Co. Book Dealers in Dinkytown, Minnesota, bookstore owner Marly Rusoff and writers Jim Moore, Patricia Hampl, Phebe Hanson, and Michael Dennis Browne formed a 'poets' club' with support from a fundraising party emceed by Garrison Keillor. This 'poets' club' eventually became known as 'The Loft' and in 1975 filed for nonprofit status and received a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board to sponsor several writing workshops. Over the next two years, the Loft hosted a number of benefit readings that featured poets such as Allen Ginsberg, Robert Bly, and Etheridge Knight. Continued growth Over the years, the Loft grew organically as a community-based non-profit to become one of the nation's leading independent literary centers. With support from the Jerome Foundation the Loft launched the Mentor Series in 1980, bringing together nationally prominent authors with promising local writers. The first year featured New York Times bestselling author Marge Piercy and Pulitzer Prize-winning poets Philip Levine and Galway Kinnell. Other programs launched in the organization's first decade include the McKnight Artist Fellowship in Creative Writing (1982), The Loft Scholarship Fund (1984), and a radio program in collaboration with Minnesota Public Radio (1985). In 1990, Loft membership passed the 2,000 mark, and in 1996 the Loft awarded more than $160,000 in grants to writers. Social engagement The Loft initiated the Amnesty Action Project in 1988, which coordinated letter-writing campaigns on behalf of imprisoned writers as identified by Amnesty International. Prominent Malawian poet Jack Mapanje was the first, followed by political prisoners Jaki Seroke, Zwelakhe Sisulu, Nguyễn Chí Thiện, Dai Qing, Lee San-ha, and Bligesu Erenus. The following year, WCCO anchor Dave Moore read from