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Letter from the National President Nancy Avery Dafoe, Summer 2026
Celebrating Successes and Looking Ahead at the Challenges
Thank you for your trust in placing me in this role. Without the advice and knowledge of an incredible, immediate past-president in Sheila M. Byrnes and an outstanding board of directors, assuming the role of the new NLAPW president would have been daunting, to say the least. However, the talent and friendships of remarkable Pen Women throughout the country have made this transition from second vice president to president a remarkably smooth one, filled with excitement about the future of our League. We have board members who hold vast institutional knowledge and new members who bring exciting ideas to our discussions.
Our 2026 Biennial was truly a celebration in every sense, with camaraderie, great shared experiences, networking, and educational and inspirational conversations throughout the weekend in Washington, D.C., the home of our national organization of professional women artists, writers, and composers. Each of us in attendance could probably share different highlights, but we could all agree on an uplifting feeling of sisterhood and professional interactions in our Biennial experience.
Some of my most memorable ones include our Vinnie Ream gathering with keynote speaker NOW C.E.O. Kim Villanueva’s genuine message of shared values and goals, reminding us of our history and why we came together in the beginning; then watching the emotional reactions of the Vinnie Ream winners and the audience’s respect for each of them. The evening reading of letters winners’ work was moving and rather astonishing, considering the breadth and depth of topics and expertise involved in the work.
For many, the Central New York Branch-sponsored bus tour, focused exclusively on women’s historical achievements around D.C., was unforgettable, as we hopped off the bus to toast the 100th anniversaries of both the Central New York and Jacksonville branches while taking in the sculptures of Vinnie Ream; then walking on a curated tour of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. As the lights of the city sparkled in the rainy night sky, we stopped at one incredible scene after another to remind ourselves of the magnificent contributions of women in our history.
I expected the boutique to be a success, but I had not anticipated the many new friendships that grew out of that time discussing each other’s significant works and what led us to create them. Writers had their books, artists had their art, and musicians brought CDs to share, and share we did.
Special thank you to our Biennial workshop presenters and panelists, including Lori B. Duff, who taught us about the legalities of writing while keeping us laughing at the Letters Luncheon; Lyn Loewi, who educated and inspired with her slide presentation of women’s achievements at the Music and Art Luncheon; Megha Sood, who brought her expertise to a poetry workshop that surprised our participants with what they did in such a short time; Neha Dadhich, Ph.D., who had Pen Women not wanting to leave her workshop on Gond art; Grace Joy Reid, whose workshop on “setting a melody to text” was riveting; and Wilma Davidson, Ed.D., who offered workable strategies for engaging communities with the work of Pen Women.
There was the very moving presentation on “The Curious Phenomena of Dementia and Dying” with Vanessa Johnson, Christina Larson, Elizabeth MacQueen (arriving from Paris, France), Dawn Petrill, and Sally Stormon. A seminar on “creative transformation” relating the experiences of the cross-genre competition was presented by Joan Applebaum, Lucy Arnold, Nancy Dafoe, Terri Dusseau, Janet Fagal, Darlene Yeager-Torre, and moderated by Georgia A. Popoff.
Because the Biennial is such a momentous event for our organization, we would like to explore ideas about how to help more Pen Women from around the country attend, either virtually or in person. One concept that will be considered is a League grant allowing members in need to attend the event.
Although we celebrated our Biennial successes, we are also acutely aware of the many challenges that face the NLAPW. With this in mind, I have set three goals for my first term as your president:
1. Initiating new plans and ideas designed to increase membership at both the branch and national levels (more details on these plans in upcoming messages). In brief, among the proposed ideas we are exploring:
- Retreats at Pen Arts. A Writers’ Retreat will be offered this fall at Pen Arts. Letters members may contact the president to inquire more about this opportunity. We hope to add both music member and art member retreats at Pen Arts, as well.
- Offering individual and group readings by Pen Women at Pen Arts; perhaps offering a gallery showing of a member’s artwork, and more musical performances at Pen Arts. We love our NLAPW home and want all to feel that special history.
- Launching a second cross-genre competition with two categories to encourage more participation (guidelines and rules are already up at nlapw.org/cross-genre-competition). Find your team!
- Launching a non-Pen Woman poetry competition at the branch levels, with finalists to be judged by National (more on this to come in our next issue). If successful, we can expand the concept to music and art competitions to encourage more women to join us.
2. Networking with other women’s organizations to encourage collaborations and increase our NLAPW profile, as well as continue to support other professional women. We are already making connections with the National Organization of Women (NOW) and a request has been made to create some type of collaboration with the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
3. Improving our NLAPW communications to enable Pen Women from around the country to easily connect with other members to discuss projects and ideas. While seemingly simple in concept, this will take some time to get approvals and permissions for sharing emails while still protecting your privacy but will, undoubtedly, be worth our efforts.
As we move into this next fiscal year, I would like to remind everyone that we are only as strong as our bonds and willingness to work together. Anything we accomplish will happen because everyone pitched in in some manner, listened to and considered new ideas, and helped us move forward. We remain a 129-year-old volunteer organization with vast outreach, in itself an amazing accomplishment.
Thank you all for what you do every day as a creative woman in the arts, and I look forward to hearing from you.