HELP WANTED: I wouldn’t be doing my duty if I didn’t pass along this opportunity. The National Endowment for the Arts is hiring a literature director. This comes a week after director Cliff Becker died suddenly of a heart attack. The annual salary range is $103-$135,000, which should go a long way toward paying for those daily lattes and parking tickets. You will earn it, as life at the Dana Gioia-revamped NEA is grueling (or so I hear). Seriously, it is an extremely important job suited for someone who loves literature passionately (as Cliff did) and knows his/her way around federal grant applications. Arguably, it’s the most important job in the U.S. literary field. I did a two-year tour as assistant literature director at the NEA in 1993-95. I worked hard and enjoyed life in the big city. I met scores of interesting writers, editors, publishers, and directors of literary organizations. I learned a lot and brought that experience back to WYO in 1995. The NEA press release says that the "position may also be filled through the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA)." The allows the feds to hire (for two-year terms) people currently employed by local or state governments, and public colleges and universities. You remain an employee of your home agency but get paid federal rates. That was my arrangement during my time at the NEA.

- posted by Michael Shay @ 12:41 PM