Letter from NLAPW National President

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Letter from the National President Sheila M. Byrnes, Spring 2024

Celebrating our Achievements

Sheila Byrnes
Sheila M. Byrnes

For the past several months, the Biennial Committee has been busy planning the 51st NLAPW Biennial to be hosted in Columbus, Ohio, April 26-28. I am excited to renew acquaintances and make new friends with Pen Women from across the United States as we gather to celebrate the League’s achievements and to share exciting plans.

Nancy Dafoe, national second vice president, will announce a new contest at the event. It is a cross-genre, collaborative competition for Pen Women, designed to encourage engagement between Pen Women across genres. Competition teams may be made up of at least two and up to four Pen Women. The intent is to inspire new creative and collaborative projects among members.

DC Women
Mary Harris (third from left), a former Pen Woman from South Carolina, led a discussion about creativity and nature with the Central New York Branch. After the talk, members walked into the autumn woods at Baltimore Woods Nature Center, Marcellus, New York, with sketchbooks, notebooks, and cameras to quietly observe and record what they saw, heard, and smelled. Photography by Janine DeBaise

On another happy note, Amy K. Bormet, founder and director of Washington Women in Jazz, received a grant to host a three-day workshop and public concert at Pen Arts on March 28-31. A gifted pianist, vocalist, and composer, she is known for her fearless, free-wheeling style and dedication to creating new music. WETA public television network station for D.C. is highlighting Bormet and her work in jazz prior to the workshop. The League’s beautiful Pen Arts Building will be shown in the feature.

Additionally, WETA will be streaming on PBS Passport in May a documentary on Dora Fugh Lee, a Pen Woman whose bust of Pearl Buck sits in the wonderful foyer of the Pen Arts Building. The documentary will feature the bust as one of Lee’s works and will show stills of the bust as it sits in our headquarters.

How wonderful that our building will again be shown and our organization noted!

See President’s Letters Archive for past letters.