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Representing Literature
for New York State
LitNYS is the nation's largest ecosystem of Literary Arts organizations, building literary capacity, community, and culture for 25 years.
June 2026 Letter
Building Community
2026 STATEWIDE LITERARY ARTS CONVENING
Assembling New Practicalities
in Strength & Solidarity
October 4-6 at Poets House in New York City
Over our many years of gathering, we've learned one thing for certain: we are better together. Strength in solidarity matters, and inclusion builds community. At the 2025 Convening, we explored liminal spaces to reposition ourselves through a time of great uncertainty—and our richest conversations happened in small groups, peer to peer. That's the spirit behind this year's theme. Assembling New Practicalities means building the concrete, usable approaches—resources, tactics, shared solutions—that each of us needs to meet the present moment. In Strength & Solidarity is how we'll build them: together, role by role, drawing on our collective knowledge and experience. Building on the task forces formed last year, the 2026 Convening is taking a new shape to explore deeper collaboration. Expect networking across peer groups and tangible tools for advancing your organization's mission. With sessions open to a broader range of staff, our goal is to extend participation in the Convening. We look forward to gathering with you and your colleagues this fall.
Featuring Mahogany L. Browne
Opening Remarks & Poem
Host of Curated Reading Oct 5
With poets Jive Poetic, Noah Arhm Chol, Caroline Rothstein, Jon Sands, and Rico Frederick
New Peer Group Sessions
Are you responsible for communicating the why, when, how and for whom of your organization’s programs or publications? Or are you tasked with raising funds—often from diverse sources such as grants, sponsorships, and individual contributions—to ensure your organization meets its bottom line? Are you the curator or editor for your organization's publications? Or are you a mentor or mentee in the LitNYS Mentoring Program? If so, we invite you to gather in group leadership sessions with your Literary Arts nonprofit peers from across New York State at this year's Convening.
Sun, Oct 4, 2-4 PM
- Comms/Marketing:
Kenna McCafferty, Anchor - Programming/Curating:
Ron Kavanaugh, Anchor - Development:
Kathy Kearnan, Anchor Group Mentoring for Mentees Past & Present:
Alison Meyers, Facilitator
Tue, Oct 6, 10-11:30 AM
- Executive Directors:
Rob Arnold, Anchor - Editors:
Erika Goldman, Anchor - Mentors:
Maya Nussbaum, Anchor
Stay tuned for the full agenda in the LitNews July issue.
Building Capacity
LITERARY ARTS FUND OPEN OPPORTUNITY
Innovation Project Grants
Application Deadline Aug 17
The Literary Arts Fund is providing at least $50 million in support to the nonprofit Literary Arts field over the next five years. Utilize the resources in this section to help jumpstart your application today.
NEW LITNYS MENTORING SERVICE
Mentor on Call
Give or Get Help on the Literary Arts Fund Application—
and a Myriad of other Nonprofit Challenges!
Brought to you in partnership with Girls Write Now, LitNYS Mentor on Call enables light-touch, high-impact, self-directed knowledge-sharing to leverage our collective resources and strengthen the vital ecosystem of literature. From seasoned leaders looking to give back, to emerging professionals seeking guidance, any member of the LitNYS network can be a Mentor on Call—you determine the capacity-building areas in which you have knowledge to give or gain.
Assessment & Evaluation · Collaborations & Partnership · Governance & Board Development · Finance · Fundraising · Human Resources & Staffing · Marketing & Communications · Strategic Planning · Systems & Information Technology
LITERARY ARTS FUND INFO SESSION
Budget Best Practices
Tips for Your Grant Applications
Preparing the annual operating budget typically begins 3-5 months before the end of current fiscal year.
It can be risky to over- and underestimate. In general an annual operating budget should be based on your actual financial results from the previous year and not aspirational/magical thinking.
It is essential to include notes about any extraordinary items, marked deviations from previous year’s statements, budget deficits, or a substantial surplus.
In the Literary Arts Fund application, you are not required to use the provided budget template, but it offers an excellent example of what is generally needed, and can be used for other grant applications as well.
The next Literary Arts Info Session, on Innovation and Project Grants, will take place on June 18, 2026, 2–3 PM ET.
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.
LITNYS SPECIAL SESSION
From Transaction to Partnership:
Finding Your Power in the Funder Relationship
Thursday, September 17
10 AM-12 PM via Zoom
Presented by Kerry McCarthy
Designed specifically for leaders and fundraisers within New York State's Literary Arts nonprofits, this interactive, two-hour Zoom webinar dismantles traditional, stressful funder-grantee power dynamics. Kerry McCarthy of 1:1 Advisory—a seasoned consultant to nonprofits and philanthropies, and a former foundation program officer and vice president—will lead the session, pulling back the curtain on how foundations operate from the inside out. The workshop utilizes active peer learning, anonymous polling, and breakout discussions. By decoding the internal pressures of foundation staff and providing concrete communication tools, Kerry empowers lean literary organizations to stop treating funders as gatekeepers to be appeased, and instead confidently engage them as interdependent, expert colleagues working toward a shared mission.
Registration is limited to 30 participants.
Building Leadership
GIRLS WRITE NOW PRODUCTIONS
Stories from the Field
Podcast & Blog Series
Last year we shared the untold stories of LitNYS leaders on Girls Write Now's podcast, Lunch with LitNYS available on all major podcast platforms.
This year, Girls Write Now features conversations between LitNYS mentoring pairs on LinkedIn's Life@LitNYS.
LIFE@LITNYS
Meet Mentor-Mentee Pair
Ira & Carina
In our second installment of Life@LitNYS, we hear from literary Renaissance Man, Ira Silverberg, along with Carina Imbornone of The Drift, a magazine of culture, politics, and literature—and Ira's mentee of nearly two years in LitNYS's flagship Mentoring Program. The pair takes pride in the vim and vigor it takes to make it in New York State. Together, they show us how liberatory a literary life can be, and the daily practices they keep to stay sane.
Ira Silverberg,
Literary Agent &
Non-Profit Consultant
Carina Imbornone,
The Drift
Writer & Business Manager
Those who figure it out are some of the strongest, mission-driven orgs one will ever encounter. So, there's a lot of native pride.
— IRA SILVERBERG on what makes New York organizations special
LitNYS LinkedIn Group
Join our LinkedIn Group to Stay Connected with your Fellow Leaders
LEADER TO LEADER
LitNews Member Edition
Initiatives, Events , Resources & Publication Announcements
This Space for You!
Invitation to all LitNYS Members
Want to spread the word about your organization's events, initiatives, and other opportunities? Post on LinkedIn or send to litnys@girlswritenow.org to be included in the next LitNews issue.
Building Partnership
LitNYS
LitNYS is a coalition of New York State-based Literary Arts organizations committed to field-building work and collective thriving. We connect individuals of shared interest and purpose, helping them build and sustain capacity to foster, promote, and present the Literary Arts. Founded in 2001 as a New York State Council on the Arts Literature initiative, LitNYS responded to national literary leaders’ call to professionalize the field. Our comprehensive collaborative approach—through our Advancement Regrants, Mentoring Program, Special Sessions, and Annual Statewide Literary Arts Convenings—has made us the nucleus of field-sustaining work for Literature in New York State.
Girls Write Now
Brought to you in partnership with Girls Write Now, LitNews NYS is a monthly digest of features, resources, and opportunities from the LitNYS network. With attacks on our freedoms mounting daily, now is the time to strengthen and project our collective voices, and Girls Write Now is committed to facilitating connections between LitNYS partners to further this goal. For nearly three decades, Girls Write Now—a nationally award-winning nonprofit, media incubator, and multi-generational community—has broken down the barriers of gender, age, race, and poverty to mentor, teach, and connect writers and leaders across disciplines and around the nation.
