Peer Sessions 

• Comms/Marketing: Kenna McCafferty, Anchor
• Development: Kathy Kearnan, Anchor
• Programming/Curating: Ron Kavanaugh, Anchor
• Group Mentoring for Mentees Past & Present: Alison Meyers, Facilitator

The Magic Word Is a Number:
Using Data Effectively to Tell Your Organization’s Best Story

• Moderator: Andrea Louie
• Panelists: Lydah Pyles DeBin, Hallie Hobson, Rachel Neches, Rebecca Thomas

Making the Case for Literature:
Moving Beyond Scarcity 

Moderator: Kerry McCarthy
Panelists: Bruce Morrow, Larisa Wick, Craig Peterson

Poetry Reading, Book Signing & Mixer

• Host: Mahogany L. Browne
• Poets: Jive Poetic, Noah Arhm Choi, Rico Frederick, Bruce Morrow, Caroline Rothstein, Jon Sands, Rob Arnold

Peer Sessions 

• Executive Directors: Rob Arnold, Anchor
• Editors: Erika Goldman, Anchor
• Mentors: Maya Nussbaum, Anchor

Navigating Conflict:
A Framework for Literary Arts Leaders

• Facilitator: Ashley Lekwauwa

Bruce Morrow has 40 years of experience in fundraising and nonprofit management, having served as Director of Foundation & Government Grants at The Trevor Project and Senior Director of Institutional Giving at GLAAD. Bruce is a former fiction editor at Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts & Letters and co-editor of Shade: An Anthology of Short Fiction by Gay Men of African Descent. He has a B.S. in Biology from the Rochester Institute of Technology, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University. In 2007, he was a Revson Fellow for Mid-Career Civic Leaders at Columbia University.

Ashley Lekwauwa is the founder and principal consultant of Ọrụ Consulting, a boutique consultancy specializing in people operations and organizational effectiveness for nonprofits. Through her work with Literary Arts and cultural organizations, she provides hands-on support across HR operations, payroll and benefits administration, recruitment, and staff onboarding. Ashley helps organizations build and strengthen the people systems and processes that allow their mission-driven work to thrive. 

Alison Meyers is a veteran nonprofit leader with executive director positions at Writers & Books (2019–2025) and Cave Canem Foundation (2006–2016); Director of Poetry & Marketing, Hill-Stead Museum, CT (2000–2006). Consultant to Literary Arts organizations, 2017–present: Adirondack Writing Center, Belladonna, Bloomsday Literary, Bright Hill Press, Geneseo Migrant Center, Hudson Valley Writing Center, Imani House, In This Moment Chapbooks, Just Buffalo Literary Center, Kundiman, Kweli, Nightboat Books, Tupelo Press, Writers & Books. Published poet, twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

M. M. De Voe founded the national nonprofit Pen Parentis with its tagline “parenting done, write” in 2013. A Columbia MFA graduate and Writing Fellow, she now serves as Executive Director, helping writers with kids stay on the creative track. Five Pushcart nominations, two Editors' Prizes, a Shirley Jackson Award, a Hugo nomination, two distinguished alumna awards, two children, and several international writing conferences later, De Voe continues to seek balance between family and a successful writing career. Her debut novel, The Boy Who Loved Trees, an LGBT coming-of-age story set in Soviet-occupied Lithuania, is forthcoming in October 2026. 

Kerry McCarthy is the Founder and Principal of 1:1 Advisory, a consultancy she established to foster deeper partnerships between philanthropies and nonprofits. She currently serves on the boards of New Yorkers for Culture and the Arts, Mohonk Preserve, and FPWA. Kerry holds degrees from New York University (MA) and Sewanee: The University of the South (BA), participated in Coro’s Leadership New York program, and is a Crain’s New York Business Notable LGBTQ leader.