Legal Consultations, Calls to Action & Planning for Strategic Growth
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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.
August Letter
Building Community
2025 LITNYS STATEWIDE CONVENING
Leading in A Liminal Season:
Adaptive Strategies for Growth
While Staying Sane
September 14 - 16 in Hudson, New York
Space is limited. Register by August 15
Free hotel for out-of-towners!
Building Capacity
CONVENING SESSION PREVIEW
Field Study & Call to Action
Magnitude and Bond: A Field Study on Black Literary Arts Organizations
Monday, September 15
10 AM - 12 PM
As part of the opening Call to Action panel on September 15, Day-2 of the Convening, Cave Canem’s Founder, Cornelius Eady, will share findings from their report, Magnitude and Bond: A Field Study on Black Literary Arts Organizations. The report was commissioned to illuminate the history and sustainable practices of Black literary arts organizations. While national in scope, the report delves into work that takes place behind the scenes of New York State's Black literary arts organizations—and offers insights, tools, and resources to chart new sustainable paths for Black creatives in the region.
Three decades ago, Cornelius Eady founded Cave Canem alongside Toi Derricotte to remedy the underrepresentation and isolation of African-American poets in the literary landscape. Since 1996, their programs—fellowships, workshops, readings, and prizes—have grown and flourished. For Eady, the landscape may be sparse, but the future is filled with promise—and building capacity is all about leading with data.
FINDINGS INCLUDE:
- Less than 5% of domestic giving is allocated to arts and culture, with a negligible amount for the literary arts, and the least for culturally-specific subsets.
- Over 90 entities operate in the Black literary space today, and despite serving thousands each year, receive only a tiny fraction of the funding.
- The majority are run by just one or two overworked staff, supplemented by a large share of volunteer leadership arrangements.
These numbers speak volumes, but so does our resolve.
—LISA WILLIS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CAVE CANEM
What kind of world do we get without the arts? It is a portal whose door is to remain locked at all costs. It is a question that can only be responded to with art."
—CORNELUIS EADY, CO-FOUNDER, CAVE CANEM
CONVENING 1:1 CONSULTATIONS
LitNYS Legal Help
Tuesday, September 16
9:30 AM - 12 PM
The final morning of the Convening is reserved for you to hang out, converse, and collaborate in ease before transitioning back to work. You can also use the time to meet with attorneys Paul Battaglia, Will Creeley, and Gary Schuster, all who will be on hand to respond to legal questions and concerns about the challenges we are facing in the field.
Ask your questions in advance to receive tailored advice at Convening!
Bruce Morrow is a writer, visual artist, and nonprofit leader. His first short film, IN DREAMS BEGIN... won Best LGBTQ Jury and Audience Awards at the 2023 Paris Short Film Festival. He is a former fiction editor at Callaloo and co-editor of Shade: An Anthology of Short Fiction by Gay Men of African Descent. As a nonprofit leader, he has worked with the Misty Copeland Foundation, The Trevor Project, GLAAD, and Bank Street College of Education. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University and recently attended the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Ragdale Residency, and Kimbilio Retreat. Bruce serves on the Board of Girls Write Now.
SPECIAL SUMMER SESSION
Clarity, Strategy & Impact: A Primer on Building Strategic Capacity with Bruce Morrow
Wednesday, August 20
10 - 11:30 AM Via Zoom
How do we grow sustainable literary arts organizations when we’re often “mission-rich and cash-poor”? This interactive workshop focuses on the building blocks of strategic capacity: clear budgeting, aligned fundraising, and storytelling that moves funders and communities alike. Designed for nonprofit literary leaders, the session walks participants through the process of creating a dream budget, analyzing revenue streams, and crafting a project-based fundraising plan that reflects values and vision.
Please be prepared to answer:
- What’s your biggest capacity-building challenge?
- What would it take (people, money, time) to solve it?
- What are your top three organizational priorities as reflected in your budget?
Through practical exercises, group discussion, and real-world examples, participants will leave with tools to turn ambition into action—and to grow with clarity, strategy, and impact.
Free Registration—Limited to 30 Participants!
Building Leadership
Calling writers of all backgrounds and fields to apply to the Girls Write Now Collaboratory. Mentors explore a range of genres, media, and topics, benefit from professional development and networking with a talented multigenerational community—and form a bond with a young writer for life.
At Lunch with Lit, you'll feel like you're getting lunch with your smartest friends. The Lunch with Lit Podcast Series is produced by Girls Write Now, and is available through Substack, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Feast on the stories of your field!
LITNYS + GIRLS WRITE NOW PRESENT
Lunch With Lit Podcasts
Nearly 500 visionary literary leaders comprise the LitNYS coalition, enriching each other and shaping culture with our deep skills, experience, and passion for literature. Girls Write Now captures and pays tribute to our heroes behind the scenes through a podcast series, Lunch with Lit. The project was kindled through interviews recorded at our last LitNYS Convening hosted by Girls Write Now, and now the podcast has come to life. Each month throughout the year LitNews NYS brings you a new episode—including updates from our featured leaders.
LUNCH WITH LIT FEATURE
Kimiko Hahn
Last month we heard from Brenda M. Greene, Founder of The Center of Black Literature. In this episode, 2024 Convening keynote speaker Kimiko Hahn speaks about organizing, getting out of your own way, and the metaphor of the bucket!
In her keynote speech, Hahn shared a parable about a shipwrecked crew off the coast of South America. The captain signaled to shore, “We need fresh water” and the shore signaled back, “Lower your buckets where you are.” Eventually, the sailors lowered their buckets. It was fresh water, all thanks to the Amazon River flowing into the sea. Hahn hopes to inspire the next generation of poets and writers to lower our buckets where we are.
Wherever you are, you can find a place to talk and more important, a place to listen to people and become involved.
—KIMIKO HAHN, NEW YORK STATE POET LAUREATE
“Hahn works from the minute, ephemeral stuff left from a life (a loose thread, a single hair, an open safety pin) back to the overarching themes of memory, death, love, and sorrow.”
—POET LYNN EMMANUEL
LUNCH WITH LIT UPDATES
Hahn Named New York State Poet Laureate
As the author of 11 books, Kimiko Hahn has been awarded the PEN/Voelcker Award, Shelley Memorial Prize, a Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award—and now, the honor of New York State Poet Laureate—taking the helm from Patricia Spears Jones, our LitNYS 2025 keynote speaker! Hahn will serve as Poet Laureate from 2025-2017, while also keeping her post at Queens College as Distinguished Professor in the MFA Program in Creative Writing & Literary Translation—and co-editor of the forthcoming anthology on the Japanese zuihitsu, a literary genre she has brought to the forefront in America.
Do you have updates you want the LitNYS community to know about?
Building Activism & Awareness
CONVENING SESSION PREVIEW
Planning for Strategic Growth
Sunday, September 14, 4:30 - 6:00 PM
2025 has been marked by devastating cuts to federal agencies, including the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). How have literary organizations and nonprofit publishers around the country been affected? What specific challenges do you face in your local communities? What advocacy and other efforts have emerged in response? Panelists in this Convening session will provide context for considering how New York State-based organizations can work together to meet this challenging moment.
Panelists Include:
POETS & WRITERS
Melissa Gradel
Melissa Ford Gradel is the executive director of Poets & Writers and publisher of Poets & Writers Magazine. Gradel serves on the Steering Committee of LitNet, a nationwide coalition of literary organizations.
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS
Amy Stolls
Amy Stolls is the former Director of Literary Arts at the National Endowment for the Arts, where she served for 26 years. She is the author of the novels The Ninth Wife and Palms to the Ground.
ASIAN AMERICAN WRITERS' WORKSHOP
Jafreen Uddin
Jafreen Uddin is the first woman to lead AAWW since its founding in 1991. Most recently, she served as Deputy Director of Development for Special Events at PEN America. Prior to joining PEN, she helped oversee executive education as an Assistant Director with NYU’s Stern School of Business.
"This moment demands that we confront not just the continued loss of critical funding, but the deeper inequities that are further exposed. When federal support for the arts erodes, marginalized communities are often hit first and hardest. At the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, we’ve seen firsthand how these cuts silence emerging voices and shrink the spaces where stories of belonging and resistance take shape. But we’ve also witnessed the power of grassroots coalitions and organizing: sharing resources, readers rallying behind small presses, and artists redefining what sustainability looks like. I hope we can move beyond crisis language and ask ourselves: How do we build systems that allow us to sustain each other when we can’t rely on institutions? The future of literature shouldn’t be rooted in scarcity, but instead centered on a collective commitment to solidarity."
—JAFREEN UDDIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ASIAN AMERICAN WRITERS' WORKSHOP
Building Next Gen Lit Leaders
Sara Lippmann is the author of Lech, Doll Palace, and Jerks. Her work has been awarded the Lilith Prize and
recognized by New York Foundation for the Arts.
Sara's reading recommendations are What Are You Going Through and also Sempre Susan: A Memoir of Susan Sontag by Sigrid Nunez—and, of course, the spring and summer issue of Epiphany Magazine!
EPIPHANY MAGAZINE
Sara Lippmann
Sara Lippmann, the new Editor-in-Chief of Epiphany Magazine, is an author and Co-Founder of Writing Co-Lab, a writer run teaching cooperative. Writes Lippmann, "Throughout its history, Epiphany has prided itself on discovering, nourishing, and championing fresh, singular voices, and I look forward to carrying on that tradition alongside all of you—readers, writers, editors alike—united by a capacious love of literature." While getting caught up to speed on submissions, Sara is diving into a website redesign that will feature a comprehensive archive of Epiphany's 20+ year history, and also cooking up a few fun events for fall.
Get connected with Sara or shoot her an e-mail at sara.lippmann@epiphanyzine.com
WRITERS & BOOKS
Michael Solis
Writers & Books welcomes Executive Director Michael Solis who will succeed Alison Meyers, stepping down from her post this September. An award-winning author and changemaker, Solis says, “I’m thrilled to join Writers & Books, which brings together so many of the things I care about—literature, creativity, people, and social impact. As a writer, I know the power of stories to connect, heal, and transform. And as someone who has spent nearly two decades in humanitarian and development work, I understand the importance of celebrating diverse voices and lived experiences." Following travels in Korea, Chile, Ireland, Nicaragua, Honduras, Colombia, Sierra Leone, Kenya, and Switzerland, Solis looks forward to connecting with the vibrant community in Rochester, New York.
Michael Solis writes science fiction, fantasy, and creative non-fiction, and is the author of Deficient.
Michael's reading recommendation is Cinema Love, by Jiaming Tang, a staggering, tender epic about gay men in rural China and the women who marry them.
Get connected with Michael or find him at the LitNYS Convening!
JOB OPENING
The Feminist Press is seeking a new Executive Director from the fundraising and nonprofit fields. From Interim board chair Nancy Sheppard: “We’re looking for an innovative and committed leader to further our mission to publish diverse literary works that shine a light in the dark."
LIFE @ GIRLS WRITE NOW
Meet the Literary Interns
Ayah
Ayah Al-Masyabi, a Girls Write Now mentee since 2021, and intern for LitNYS News, has had a creative journey of self-discovery deeply shaped by the power of mentorship, community, and resilience. Guided by her mentor Anne Hellman, Al-Masyabi has grown as both a writer and a young person navigating the complexities of life and identity.
Kayla
Kayla Dudley, a Girls Write Now mentee over the past year, now on thei Social Media & Marketing Journey focused on supporting LitNYS, lives on art—it is her source of energy. Dudley's experience with Girls Write Now, which she calls "amazing karma", has nurtured her love of poetry, and inspired her to create her own poetry organization.
About LitNews Partners
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, and Facing Pages 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.
