ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (June 16, 2025) – For more than 40 years, Roy Peter Clark, writing teacher to thousands, author or editor of 21 books and ambassador for public writing, has been synonymous with the nonprofit Poynter Institute.
Now, the organization, which is the gold standard for professional development of journalism craft and ethics and promotes media literacy and fact-checking, plans to create a faculty position in honor of Clark, known as “America’s Writing Coach.” The new faculty position will be known as the Roy Peter Clark Chair for Writing and Editing.
“For 50 years, the Poynter Institute has championed the craft and important purpose of quality writing. And over that time, no one has been more influential in the careers of more writers and in the teaching and coaching of great work than Roy Peter Clark,” said Poynter President Neil Brown, in announcing the chair.
“Through this new position, Poynter is excited to offer inspiring and innovative instruction for the next generations of writers, sharing both timeless lessons and new approaches for reaching today’s audiences,” Brown said.
Poynter is seeking commitments from donors of $500,000 to launch the Roy Peter Clark Chair, a full-time faculty member who will create and lead new writing and editing programs, for a minimum of three years.
“The challenges facing journalism today are much different than the ones we faced over the last 50 years,” Clark said. “But the legacy we created in supporting great writing — whatever new forms that may take — will prove essential to truth-telling and democracy.”
Roy Peter Clark is pictured with students at Poynter in 1984. (Poynter file)
Clark joined Poynter in 1979, after working as a writing coach for the then-St. Petersburg Times, which Poynter owns. He retired from Poynter in 2016, serves as its senior scholar and still coaches writers. He is widely known for his engaging and enthusiastic approach to teaching. Among his books are Writing Tools, Help! For Writers, The Glamor of Grammar and Tell It Like It Is. His most recent book, Writing Tools for the College Admissions Essay, published in May.
Poynter also honored Clark and his influence on writing in 2024, when it took stewardship of a longtime journalism contest, now called the Poynter Journalism Prizes. It created a new category, the Roy Peter Clark Prize for Excellence in Short Writing. One of Clark’s many books is How to Write Short.
Stephen Buckley, the Patterson Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University’s DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy, is co-chairing the steering committee raising money for the new chair.
“This chair honors someone whose work has impacted and inspired countless journalists – including me — and other writers over the past five decades. Just as important, his teaching now ripples across the generations, as young people are still learning so much of the craft through his techniques and principles. His voice still carries,” Buckley said.
(L-R) Roy Peter Clark, Karen Cherry and Stephen Buckley talk in the Poynter library, circa 1989. Buckley, who now teaches at Duke University, is co-chairing the steering committee seeking to raise money for the new Roy Peter Clark Chair for Writing and Editing. (Poynter files).
Once selected, the Roy Peter Clark Chair for Writing and Editing has an ambitious portfolio. The faculty member will provide expert writing instruction to individuals and groups, promote writing as a core value for all platforms of communication and professions, foster innovation through teaching, coaching and editing, and honor Clark’s mission to create societies where writers evangelize about the power of clear writing and thoughtful editing.
To donate to the fund for the Roy Peter Clark Chair, go here or contact Poynter Chief Development Officer Deborah Read at deborah@poynter.org.
“Tens of thousands of former students of Roy’s out there still benefit from the inspiring lessons he taught them,” Brown said. “We know many of them will be moved to honor Roy’s legacy and support continued great new teaching and coaching of writers at Poynter.”
One former student, Doreen Carvajal, is an author, a former reporter for the St. Petersburg Times and the New York Times and is now based in Paris.
“For decades, Roy Peter Clark has shown journalists the way, a north star for good writing,” she said. “Half poet, half coach, he taught me to love the cadence of a sentence, to push for clarity, rhythm and risk.”
Clark said he’s honored by Poynter’s effort and looks forward to working with the new faculty member.
“One of my heroes is Les Paul, who invented the electric guitar. He was playing jazz gigs until he was 92,” he said. “That means I have 15 years to help the great writer and teacher who will be sitting in my chair.”
Media Contact
Jennifer Orsi
Vice President, Publishing and Local News Initiatives
Poynter Institute
jorsi@poynter.org
About the Poynter Institute
The Poynter Institute is a global nonprofit working to address society’s most pressing issues by teaching journalists and journalism, covering the media and the complexities facing the industry, convening and community building, improving the capacity and sustainability of news organizations and fostering trust and reliability of information. The Institute is a gold standard in journalistic excellence and dedicated to the preservation and advancement of press freedom in democracies worldwide. Through Poynter, journalists, newsrooms, businesses, big tech corporations and citizens convene to find solutions that promote trust and transparency in news and stoke meaningful public discourse. The world’s top journalists and emerging media leaders rely on the Institute to learn new skills, adopt best practices, better serve audiences, scale operations and improve the quality of the universally shared information ecosystem.
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