Elise Marie Collins
Dear WNBA SF Chapter Members,
As the year comes to a close, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on our chapter’s accomplishments in 2021. We take pride in our many heartfelt literary panels and readings on Zoom, including the Afrofuturism/Afrosurrealism Panel (organized by board member Ellen McBarnette) in October, our South Asian Author Panel in May, as well as our now annual Holiday Storytelling (organized by past president Kate Farrell, WNBA SF Chapter and Board Development Chair, Sheryl Bize-Boutte.
We continued to support our writer/author members with events steeped in inspiration and wisdom, including: “How to Blog Your Book” (with Nina Amir), “How to Make Your Book an Amazon Bestseller,” (with Tamara Monosoff), “Cocktails with Publishers” (with past president Brenda Knight), and “How to Follow up with a Literary Agent” (with Randy Peyser). Additionally, our chapter held two powerful poetry events: our National Poetry Month Event Mixer in April and “Five Poets Read in Celebration of Native American Heritage Month.” We look forward to expanding our poetry offerings in 2022.
Our second annual virtual Pitch-o-Rama was another raving success in April, and our Annual Effie Lee Morris Lecture (in conjunction with the SF Public Library) went online for the first time, with Jason Reynolds speaking on “Transformation.” Although the recording of the lecture is no longer available, Reynolds’ recent appearance on The Late Show was exhilarating and uplifting. If you haven’t yet seen it: https://youtu.be/nNzYE_4DdtA.
As we embark on a new year, we are in the planning stages for most of our Zoom programming with several exciting events already lined up. In person for the first time since the pandemic will be the 18th Annual San Francisco Writers’ Conference, from February 17th through the 22nd. WNBA is a proud sponsor of the conference, and we encourage you to register: https://www.sfwriters.org/2022-conference/. Please sign up before December 31st to receive early bird pricing.
On January 14th, we kick off our chapter Zoom events with “Set Yourself up for Success in 2022, Goal Setting for Writers” (with Deb Eckerling). Next, “How to
Write About Grief and Loss Related to the Pandemic,” will take place on January 28th. Finally, save the date for our best ever, Virtual Pitch-o-rama Plus, which happens on April 30th.
Please schedule a quick chat to talk about your membership here: https://calendly.com/elisemariecollins/wnba-sf-membership.
We appreciate our members’ strong support, helping us continue to offer our stellar events. We request your WNBA membership renewal by December 31st to ensure our continued success in offering a robust array of warming and inspirational literary events in 2022.
My warmest wishes for a richly fulfilling new year,
Elise Marie Collins
WNBA – SF Chapter Board President
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