New York, NY -- (ReleaseWire) -- 06/01/2011 --phati’tude Literary Magazine launches its first official online fundraising campaign to help keep the word alive. Established in 1997, phati'tude Literary Magazine (http://phatitude.org/online/phatitude-magazine/) is a themed quarterly that promotes multicultural literature, which consists of the best poetry, prose, short stories, articles and interviews along with literary criticism, book reviews and biographical profiles by established and emerging poets, writers and artists. Published by the Intercultural Alliance of Artists & Scholars, Inc. (http://theiaas.org), a NY-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, phati’tude Literary Magazine provides a forum for diverse voices and perspectives. In fact, we consider all writers multicultural.

Why support phati’tude Literary Magazine? Experts in multicultural education frequently emphasize the importance of using literature to increase cultural awareness. By publishing today’s contemporary writers, readers get an opportunity to read works that accurately portray the history, customs, values and even language of a particular cultural group. Our goal is to present to the public carefully selected literature where both students and lovers of literature can better understand and appreciate a literary heritage that comes from many diverse backgrounds, promoting critical thinking skills. If you are not acquainted with phati'tude Literary Magazine, please check out previews of our issues (http://phatitude.org/online/phatitude-magazine/issues/).

As the cornerstone of our programming, phati’tude Literary Magazine provides a forum unlike any other for multicultural poets, writers and artists. We’ve published some phenomenal poets and writers this past year: a number of poet laureates such as Rita Dove, Lawson Fusao Inada, devorah major, and Everett Hoagland; emerging writers such as Silas Parry, Aseret Sin, Angelo Nikolopoulos, Devi Lockwood, Anthony Gayle, Samantha Le; established writers such as Patricia Smith, Susan B.A. Somers-Willett, Jaime “Shaggy” Flores, Heid Erdrich, Tara Betts, Richard Kostelantz, Edward Snow, Timothy Liu, Edward Field; and poets from our “phati’tude family,” notably Jesus Papoleto Meléndez, David Henderson, Ammiel Alcalay, Meena Alexander, Tony Medina, Louis Reyes Rivera, Mary McLaughlin Slechta and others. We have featured cover art by our art director Lorraine Miller Nuzzo and artists Ruben Acosta, Edward L. Rubin, Danny Simmons and Kristi Taylor. We have produced themed issues, such as Multiculturalism, LGBT Literature, Ekphrasis and African American Writers, which are available for sale at Amazon.com (http://tinyurl.com/phatitude-amazon).

We need continuing support for phati’tude Literary Magazine because costs for editing, designing, printing, distribution of subscriptions and contributors’ copies doesn't grow on trees. You can donate as much as you like, or you can donate in increments of $25, $50, $75, $100 and $150, and receive a free gift — our way of saying thanks for your support.

Please help us to support this project, which presents an incredible group of writers, has garnered great reviews, and has developed a lively group of followers and supporters, by making a tax-deductible donation today at our donation page (http://phatitude.org/online/phatitude-magazine/donate/). For more information on how you can help or other queries, contact us at donation@theiaas.org. Catch phati’tude and pass it on!