President's Report 2023-2024
Tania Moore, President
It has been a privilege and an honor to serve as President of the Columbia Fiction Foundry these last three years. We have achieved a great deal in that time, and I’ll highlight a few of the initiatives I’m most proud of. The foundation of our organization is our bi-monthly workshops, with the mission of supporting CFF writers in the creation of quality fiction and seeing their work published. Both the Wednesday evening and Saturday morning workshops continue to enjoy strong attendance led by a diverse team of volunteer moderators. Workshops often fill within days of sending out the Call for Submissions.
Many of our members have had success publishing their work with the big five commercial publishers as well as prestigious academic and literary presses, small, independent publishers, literary magazines, and hybrid presses. We couldn’t be more proud of each and every one of them.
In addition to our workshops, we’ve hosted special events ranging from panel discussions with top literary agents to conversations with award winning authors, and roundtable discussions where our members are able to explore elements of craft in greater depth than we’re able to address in our workshops. These events have enjoyed broad participation not only among our membership, but from the wider Columbia Alumni community.
Our efforts to bring a diverse array of offerings to Columbia fiction writers have resulted in significant growth of our membership over the past few years. We now have close to 400 members from across the US and the globe, and we’re always welcoming new members. If you’re interested in joining our mailing list, just Google Columbia Fiction Foundry, which will bring you to our website, and you’ll see where to sign up from there.
One of the initiatives I undertook as President was to overhaul CFF’s outdated site. This was a project that spanned months and-was aided by many volunteers. The result is a cleaned up, professional, easy to navigate website where you can find CFF’s schedule of workshops, read about upcoming and past events, as well as visit our News page where we post publishing news from our members.
None of this could have been done without the support of the Columbia Alumni Office. Genna Farley Fleming and Stanley Clark have been a delight to work with. Their professionalism and friendship have meant the world to me.
Our Executive Committee has also done great work in supporting CFF and its members. I’m delighted that more people than ever are involved in assisting the Columbia Fiction Foundry in its mission. One of the priorities I’m most passionate about is the effort we’ve made to establish a collegial and collaborative culture of cooperation and mutual respect for all our writers, providing constructive criticism and practical advice while preserving the heritage of the School of Arts MFA Writing workshops.
As I pass on leadership to our new President, I’d like to thank our past presidents who have done so much to bring us to where we are today, Will Hughes, Richard Hensley, and Ralph White, who is one of our founding members.
Finally, thank you, everyone. It is because of you, our members, that we are the thriving community we are today. I look forward to reading your work and seeing many of you at our workshops and special events. And now, I hope you’ll join me in welcoming our new leadership team.
Tania Moore
President
2024 Meeting Minutes
The annual meeting of the members of Columbia Fiction Foundry was held on October 5, 2024 at the Columbia Alumni Center at 622 W 113th St, New York, NY 10025. The President, Tania Moore, called the meeting to order at approximately 10:15 a.m. Serving ExCom members and nominees attending in person included Tania Moore, Ken Schept, Margaret Winslow, and Michael Hirsh. Linda Ellison, Steve Rosenfeld, and Richard Nochimson participated via Zoom. Ralph White, one of the founders of CFF and Jack Burger, a longtime member, also attended.
In addition to the above, there were about thirty-three in-person participants at the Alumni Center, as well as six non-ExCom members attending via Zoom. (The in-person tally may be off by up to 10% as people came and went. Not all signed in. One or two of the Zoom participants’ screen names did not clarify their identity. And one or two came in late or left early.)
Tania Moore welcomed everyone to the meeting, and delivered the President’s Annual Report, a copy of which is annexed to these minutes. The next order of business was election of officers for the 2024-25 year. Ms.Moore called upon Margaret Winslow, Chair of the Nominating Committee. In response to Ms. Winslow’s question, Ms. Moore confirmed that she had not received any nominations by email, nor had she received any emailed ballots. Ms. Winslow then presented the Committee’s Report and placed the following names in nomination:
President – Ken Schept
Vice President – Linda Raymond Ellison
Secretary – Margaret Winslow
Communications Director – Michael Hirsh
Officer At-Large – Tania Moore, Lisa E Melilli, Richard Nochimson, and Mauricio Matiz.
There being no questions regarding the nominees and no other nominations, Ms. Moore called for a vote. All members voting voted in favor of the Committee’s slate, whereupon the above-mentioned nominees were elected.
Ms. Moore asked if there was any further business, at which point Mr. Schept, the incoming president, paid tribute to the extraordinary job done by the President during her term of service. On behalf of the ExCom, Mr. Schept presented a few gifts and a folio of tributes to Ms. Moore.
Ms. Moore and Mr. Schept then welcomed new members attending for the first time and invited all present to remain for an Open House, featuring conversation and refreshments.
There being no further business, the Annual Meeting was adjourned at approximately 10:50 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Margaret Winslow, Secretary
October 11, 2024