Facing Pages Statewide Literary Arts Convenings

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.