Facing Pages Statewide Literary Arts Convenings

Facing Pages Statewide Literary Arts Convenings bring New York State literary leaders together with peers and experts for discussions, workshops, and network building activities on themes related to trends and organizational development.

Facing Pages strengthens the literary arts in NYS by building the capacity of its presenters, service organizations, and independent publishers—whether long-tenured or brand new. Convenings are provided at little or no cost to participants to ensure broad access and provide an unparalleled opportunity to forge new connections with colleagues and learn from one another. Expert guidance has far-reaching impact. Resources are shared and disseminated widely.


2024 Facing Pages Statewide Literary Arts Convening

SEPTEMBER 15-17, 2024 in New York City

Join literary colleagues from across New York State for this year’s annual gathering.


2023 Convening

Drawing Water from the Well: Strategies to Flourish

JoLi, Rochester, NY

This gathering included Inspirational talks by luminaries from the NYS literary community.


Alison Meyers
Where We Are: Deepening Identity & Purpose
(Recorded September 17, 2023)

Alison Meyers is Executive Director of Writers & Books, a literary arts center in Rochester, NY. A veteran nonprofit leader, she previously led Cave Canem Foundation (Brooklyn, NY) as Executive Director, 2006-2016; served at Hill-Stead Museum (Farmington, CT) as Poetry Director and Director of Marketing & Communications, 2000-2006; and was General Manager of the Oberlin (OH) Consumers Co-op, a $2.9 million bookstore serving Oberlin College & Conservatory and surrounding communities (1995-1999). For many years she owned and managed an independent bookstore in Connecticut. She consults, sits on panels, and presents widely; serves as a LitNYS mentor for New York State-based literary arts nonprofits; and is Treasurer of the Board of Kweli Journal. Alison is a Pushcart Prize‐nominated poet, fiction writer, and essayist whose work may be found in journals and anthologies and at alisonmeyers.com.


Jamia Wilson
A Career Arc in Publishing
(Recorded September 18, 2023)

Jamia Wilson is an award-winning feminist activist, writer, speaker, and podcaster. She joined Random House as vice president and executive editor in 2021. As the former director of the Feminist Press at the City University of New York and the former VP of programs at the Women’s Media Center, Jamia has been a leading voice on women’s rights issues for over a decade. Her work has appeared in numerous outlets, including The New York Times, The Today Show, CNN, Elle, BBC, Rookie, Refinery 29, Glamour, Teen Vogue, and The Washington Post. She is the author of This Book Is Feminist, Young, Gifted, and Black, Young, Gifted and Black Too,  the introduction and oral history in Together We Rise: Behind the Scenes at the Protest Heard Around the World, Step Into Your Power: 23 Lessons on How to Live Your Best Life, Big Ideas for Young Thinkers, ABC's of AOC, and the co-author of Roadmap for Revolutionaries: Resistance, Advocacy, and Activism for All. Jamia is passionate about mission-driven organizations and serves on the Omega Institute, Feminist.com, and Center for Reproductive Rights boards. She is also the co-host of the second season of the Anthem Award-winning podcast, Ordinary Equality.


Ricardo Maldonado
Closing Inspriational Talk
(Recorded September 19, 2023)

Ricardo Alberto Maldonado is Executive Director and President of the Academy of American Poets. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, he is the author of The Life Assignment (Four Way Books, 2020); the translator of Dinapiera Di Donato’s Colaterales/Collateral (National Poetry Series / Akashic Books, 2013); and coeditor of Puerto Rico en mi corazón (Anomalous Press, 2019), a bilingual anthology that raised funds for grassroots recovery efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. Maldonado is part of El proyecto de la literatura puertorriqueña / The Puerto Rican Literature Project, a forthcoming online database collecting the creative output of Puerto Rican poets in the diaspora and archipelago. He is the first Latino to lead the Academy in its nearly 90-year history.

2022 Convening

Finding Joy in the Plot Twists & Flourishing: In All Times & Across Generations

The Beekman Arms & Delamater Inn, Rhinebeck, NY


2019 Convening

Community, Leadership, Legacy: Sustaining Ourselves & Our Organizations

Girls Write Now, New York, NY

When we engage with thoughtfully crafted language — when we let sonorous words reverberate with their layers of meaning, and sentences assemble in the mind — we exercise our imaginations and experience the elicitation of our emotions.” —Jen Benka


2018 Convening

LIT Up in Dark Times: Our Organizations & Ourselves as Agents of Change

Hotel Henry, Buffalo, NY

LitNYS Statewide Literary Arts Convenings History (2005-2023)