What a Great Year It Has Been!
Greetings, friends, family, colleagues, and buddies. Once again, I am celebrating my latest turn around the sun. After a quiet morning starting my next year of life, the sky has been mostly gray but the sun came out to party with me for a couple of hours midday.
I am delighted to share that the year has been one of many achievements. Living with Haints, my fifth collection of poetry and third with Tiger Bark Press, was released in April with a terrific launch party at the YMCA of Central NY’s Writers Voice Center. Thank you to Phil Memmer for another beautiful book design and my dear Leslie Neustadt for her stunning art to grace the cover. Many family members, friends, and students attended in person and on Zoom. What a treat to be honored by so many. More about this below.
Late last fall, I was invited to serve as a panelist for CNY Arts in annual funding deliberations. In winter and early spring, again I served on the committee for the annual Women Artists Datebook published by the Syracuse Cultural Workers. We selected 15 poems and 16 works of art for another stunning issue.
March took me to Manhattanville University at the invitation of Iain Haley Pollack to participate in the annual spring poetry festival, giving me the chance to visit my friends, Bette and Ric Siler. In April, I traveled with members of the Central NY Branch to Columbus, Ohio, for the biennial convention of the National League of American Pen Women, where I also taught a workshop.
Summer was jam-packed with many events and opportunities. In June, I traveled to Dublin with Antoinette Brim-Bell for a writers’ retreat sponsored by the Sancho Panza Literary Society. We were housed on the Trinity College campus, where we also met for our daily critique workshops. Walking through the main gate at Trinity was like walking into Hogwarts for the first time. I am in love with Dublin and will return next year.
After I returned, I was delighted to officiate the wedding of Zak Ilnitzki and Carly Anzalone. Midsummer, Apple An and I launched 28 Voices: A Nonfiction Anthology, the first volume of writings by authors from the Writers Center. We are so proud of all of our contributors and appreciate Susan Keeter for the cover design featuring a gorgeous photo by Kevin Morrow.
I was honored to be named in this year’s cohort of Poet Laureate Fellows by the Academy of American Poets. I am among many talented poets nationwide, all doing excellent work in their communities. We convened in Washington, D.C., in late August for meetings at the NEA and Library of Congress, a reading from all 22 of us at the National Book Festival, and some marvelous bonding together.
Several of my editing clients have released books after their hard work, and others have achieved journal publications. It is extremely satisfying to see the results of all the effort that writers come to fruition, including Mary Jumbelic, Leslie Neustadt, Morris Torres, and Deborah Bussewitz, among others. It is an honor to support other writers in meeting their goals. It is the same honor I have in facilitating my Flow creative nonfiction workshops at the Writers Center, as the participants grow and bolster each other.
I also taught two summer classes for Bright Hill Literary Center, my third year of being a part of that community. I traveled to Bright Hill with Suzanne Frishkorn for the opening of an ekphrastic show that included work generated in the class on Japanese forms, and then the two of us read for Bright Hill in September.
I also curated a reading series in the Westcott/University neighborhood for a second summer, sponsored by the Westcott Neighborhood Association, featuring many of the poets who live in the Westcott Nation. We were welcomed by the crew at Mom’s Diner for three monthly readings, thanks to Eva Essi.
In August, I presented a weekend nonfiction workshop at the Adylenrood Retreat and Conference Center in Massachusetts. What a retreat and joy that was. I thank Jackie Schmitt for the invitation and to all the participants for their stories and energy.
The greatest honor of this year was the announcement at my book launch that my niece, Dr. Anna Weiss, and her brother, James, collaborated with Phil Memmer to establish a Writers Center scholarship in my name. Then, today, by coincidence, the formal announcement of the fund was sent out from the Y. Twice, they surprised me. For information, see below in the email I am forwarding. If you care to contribute to the ongoing programming of the Young Authors Academy and the Writers Voice, please follow the link. I thank you in advance. As I have said to many since the announcement, my niece and nephew have guaranteed me a long life with this distinction.
Midas has been a wonderful companion, of course. He is a good dog and sounds like a grumpy old man when he gets up from a nap. He is a senior dog now so his passing gas every evening is forgivable.
So, that is most of what made this solar year wonderful, but not all of it. Thank you to all of my beloveds for blessing every day of this life. I am pleased to report I am the best me I have ever been and each of you has helped guide me here. I am so grateful for you all.
Love and light, onward!
Georgia
Dear Members and Friends,
Those of you who joined us this spring at this year Writers Voice Benefit Reading featuring our own Georgia Popoff heard a terrific surprise announcement that evening: Georgia’s family, in recognition of her many years of service both to the YMCA Writers Voice and to the literary community in Central New York, announced the creation of an endowment for the YMCA in honor of Georgia.
I am delighted to let you know that all of the legal legwork has been completed, and the Georgia Popoff YMCA Writers Voice Fund is now a reality! The Fund is housed at the CNY Community Foundation, and has the purpose of supporting the literary arts activities of the YMCA of CNY, including creative writing program scholarships for teen writers and poetry-focused programs for all ages. It’s a truly exciting development for the Writers Voice and those we serve.
Now that the Fund is established, our goal is to help it grow; interest payments are what ultimately will support scholarships and programming. If you would like to join me in making a gift to the Fund in honor of Georgia and her legacy, please click here to visit the CNY Community Foundation.
Thanks for your support… and congratulations, Georgia!
Phil Memmer
District Executive Director for Arts & Education