Reports

2024 Meeting Minutes & Annual Report
2023 Meeting Minutes & Annual Report

2024 Meeting Minutes & Annual Report

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
Members At Large of the Executive Committee – 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

 

COLUMBIA FICTION FOUNDRY – ANNUAL 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

 

2023 Meeting Minutes & Annual Report

The annual meeting of the members of Columbia Fiction Foundry was held on October 14, 2023.  The President, Tania Moore, called the meeting to order at approximately 10:15 a.m. Attending in person at the Alumni Center, 622 W 113th St, New York, NY 10025  were the following members: Tania Moore, Ken Schept, Steven Rosenfeld, Margaret Winslow, Mike de Rosa, Ralph White, Jack Burger, Amy Heebner, Micaela Perry Conners, Courtney Ren, and Jinna Wang. Members attending via Zoom were Anne Taranto, Linda Raymond Ellison, Michael Brown, Michael Hirsh, Ed Evans, Jack Rosenbluth and Elaine George. Non-member guests attending the meeting were Tom Anderson, Havilah Giannetta, Robbin Johnson, Brandie Lustbader, Mohith Manohar, Deb Johnson, and Mauricio Matiz.

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 the election of officers for the 20232-24 year. Ms. Moore called upon Ken Schept, Chair of the Nominating Committee. In response to Mr. Schept’s questions, Ms. Moore confirmed that she had not received any nominations by email, nor had she received any emailed ballots.  Mr. Schept then presented the Committee’s Report and placed the following names in nomination:

President – Tania Moore
Vice President – Margaret Winslow
Secretary – Steven Rosenfeld
Communications Director – Michael Hirsh
Members At Large of the Executive Committee – Lisa E Melilli,  Ken Schept, Linda Raymond Ellison and Margrét Thors.

Mr. Schept reviewed the bios and qualifications of the new nominees, Ms. Ellison and Ms. Thors.

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. Rosenfeld and Ms. Winslow paid tribute to the extraordinary job done by the President during the past year. Ms. Moore 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 10:35 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Steven B. Rosenfeld, Secretary

 

COLUMBIA FICTION FOUNDRY – ANNUAL REPORT 2022-2023
Tania Moore, President

It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve as President of the Columbia Fiction Foundry this year. I’ve loved hearing from many of you, so please feel free to reach out.

Columbia Fiction Foundry has had a fantastic year. Our membership has increased steadily, and both the Wednesday and Saturday workshops have enjoyed unprecedented attendance. The quality of writing and feedback have been excellent, and many members have volunteered to help in a variety of ways. We’ve also hosted several successful events.

One of our goals has been to make CFF an inclusive environment where writers of all ages and backgrounds will feel welcome. We’re delighted by the variety of writing and the diversity of voices in our workshops, and we look forward to continuing to grow in this area. We also look forward to welcoming many of our new members to our workshops and events.

We continue to run our workshops via Zoom. Post-COVID, the Alumni Center is no longer open on the weekends, which is when we run our monthly Saturday workshop. While this scheduling change has in some ways been disappointing, one of the benefits of meeting virtually is that members from across the US and as far afield as Kentucky, DC, Chicago and Iceland have been able to attend.

As we look for new ways for our members to meet in person, we’ll be offering several live events in the coming year, starting with our Open House/Annual Meeting today. The next in-person event will be our December Saturday workshop, which will take place at the Alumni Center, and will be a hybrid in-person/Zoom event, with some holiday treats, so look out for that.

Last February, we hosted a highly attended panel discussion with agents from DeFiore & Company. Participants gained insights into the publishing business and learned how to navigate the crucial step of getting an agent. Events with publishing professionals are always popular, and our next event is scheduled for October 26th. If you’re on our mailing list, you’ve received an invitation, and if not, you can sign up for both our mailing list and the event on the Columbia Fiction Foundry website.

We are proud of our many members who have published work this year with large and small presses, as well as literary magazines. Under the leadership of our Communications Director, Michael Hirsch, we post publication news from our members in our newsletter, so check out our News page on our website. If you have publication news to share, be sure to reach out to Michael.

Columbia Fiction Foundry is a team effort. In addition to Micheal Hirsch, who I’ve already mentioned, I’d like to thank Lisa Melilli, under whose care and leadership the Wednesday workshop continues to flourish. Thank you to Steve Rosenfeld, CFF Secretary, for his critical role in all matters of CFF governance, and Margie Winslow, who helps with everything from moderating meetings to keeping us all on track. As she’s been known to say, “it’s like herding cats”. Lastly, but not least, thank you to Ken Schept, who, among other initiatives, forged a valuable connection with the School of the Arts and is running our next event. We have a great leadership team, and today we will vote on our slate that includes two fantastic new members for the Executive Committee.

As always, I would like to thank Genna Farley Fleming, Senior Associate Director of Diversity Engagement at Columbia’s Office of Alumni. Genna has been our go-to for pretty much everything. I’m delighted that she now has a fantastic new Assistant, Stanley Clark, who’s already been wonderful to work with. We couldn’t do it without you guys.

CFF could not exist without our members, those of you who share your writing, who offer feedback and support your fellow writers, who participate in events and volunteer your time and enthusiasm to help keep CFF running. So thank you to all of you. For anyone who would like to get more involved, whether moderating a meeting or anything else, please reach out to any of us.

Lastly, thank you for the privilege of serving as your President this year. I look forward to working with our Executive Committee and all of you to continue to make CFF a thriving community of writers who come together to support one another in our shared goal of creating exciting, quality fiction with the goal of publication.

We’re going to have an amazing year.

Tania Moore
President