Fall DWC Readings Draw to a Close

The fall season at the DWC is winding down and what a tremendous success! Now in our 11th year, we have had the best attendance for our reading series in our center's history. The line-up of tremendous writers that Phil selected was a blend of local authors and those who are nationally noted. In particular, the evening with B.H. Fairchild was magnificent, and was a part of the SU Humanities Center's Syracuse Symposium, with this year's theme being Memory, Media, Archive. We appreciated the opportunity to collaborate with the Humanities Center once again.

We are now preparing for the first ever Central New York Book Awards celebration on Thursday, October 29th. Nominations were submitted from a wide array of writers who have produced books in 2012 in poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. The awards will be announced during the reception at Chancellor Nancy Cantor's house on the SU campus. The 24 very talented writers whose work was being considered gave the judges many remarkable books from which to select. The finalists for the awards are:

POETRY: Patrick Lawler, David Lloyd, Charles Martin, and Bruce Smith

NON-FICTION: Ruth Colvin, Stephen Parks, and Harvey Teres

FICTION: CJ Barry, Dana Spiotta, and Christine Wenger

For information or to purchase tickets for the event, which is also a fundraiser for the DWC, please contact us at 315.474.6851 ext. 328, or email pmemmer@syracuseymca.org. Be a supporter of the Downtown Writers Center and the rich literary community of Central New York.

News from the New Wing

The fall of 2011 and now the new year have given the DWC much to laud:

• In the fall, we opened the new wing of the Downtown Writer's Center, after a very successful capital campaign. Thanks to the generosity of many donors from the CNY community, we have new offices, two new classrooms, and a library area that is fostering the connection of our students and members.
• Our reading series has continued with visitors from around the country, regional writers, and a reading by Jessica Cuello and Elinor Cramer, two of our long-time students students who have published books and chapbooks.
• We welcomed some wonderful new faculty members to our roster, including Megan Davidson, Mike Raicht, K.C. Wolfe, and Yvonne Murphy, along with including a memoir course by Mona DeVestel before she moved to San Francisco.
• Our director, Phil Memmer, had the poems he created while on his writing retreat in Scotland last summer released in book form this winter. The Storehouses of the Snow: Psalms, Parables, and Dreams was published by Lost Horse Press, who also published his last book. It is a beauty with cover art by the amazing Don Gregorio Anton.  
• Georgia Popoff assumed the role of Workshops Coordinator, following Jennifer Pashley and Becky Sernett. Georgia's most recent book, Our Difficult Sunlight: A Guide to Poetry, Literacy, & Social Justice in Classroom & Community was recently nominated for an NAACP Image Award.

• Lastly, the DWC, with generous funding from an anonymous donor, launched a long-time dream of the Young Authors Academy in mid-February. This program will include writing instruction, inspiration, and peer critique in all genres of the writing arts for teens in the Syracuse City School District to start, then expanding after we get the pilot program running smoothly. Look for continued updates on the Young Authors Academy and its talented teen writers!

The spring schedule will be full of surprises and delights in our course offerings and the reading series will continue with its tradition of nationally noted authors and poets reading for free on Friday nights. For information or to be included on our mailing list, email:

dwcworkshops@syracuseymca.org or call 315.474.6851 ext. 380.