Albany Poets is proud to welcome NY Writer’s Compendium to the Albany Poets family to continue its mission to support the literary community in the upstate New York region and beyond.
The Compendium began at SUNY Albany as a student-led project to publish interviews with writers and reviews of local readings and open mics.
Founder Courtney Galligan Semoff says “It never occurred to me that a school project would become too much for me to handle alone but over the last two years the NYWCompendium has blossomed into so much more than a school project. It is my own creation, a labor of love and a project that has given me countless hours of experience in networking, management, and website design. It has also grown beyond what I am able to continue on my own and still allow it to grow into the entity that I dream it could become.”
Thom Francis, President of Albany Poets adds “The NY Writer’s Compendium has been publishing great reviews, interviews, and information since it’s inception. We are so happy to have them join our team as we embark on some big changes as Albany Poets celebrates its 20-year anniversary next year.”
“I am so blessed to have crossed paths with the wonderful people at Albany Poets during this time and experience first-hand their own common passion for the written word and the literary world.” Semoff continues, “I am happy to say that I am handing the NYWCompendium over to become a subset of Albany Poets. I will be staying on as intern coordinator, to assist where needed and have the time to participate in the literary community myself. I am so excited to see where these two projects will go together and the potential for an even bigger close-knit community of those creative geniuses that we all simply call writers!!”
Albany Poets is thrilled to build this partnership with the University at Albany and the NYS Writers Institute, who has funded the NYWCompendium in part since the beginning. There is a huge opportunity to bring the community together and let people know how vibrant the literary scene is in the upstate region.
“We are pleased that NY Writer’s Compendium is joining forces with Albany Poets,” said Paul Grondahl, director of the New York State Writers Institute at the University at Albany.
“We have helped support NY Writer’s Compendium founder Courtney Galligan Semoff as she created a dynamic website covering literary happenings around the Capital Region with the help of UAlbany student interns,” Grondahl said. “This merger will forge an even larger and stronger online community of writers and readers. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with this new entity and are happy that Courtney will serve as intern coordinator so that UAlbany students will still have an opportunity to learn valuable writing and editing skills.”
Albany Poets’ Vice President Mary Panza says “Albany Poets is having a great year of growth. We are so pleased to have the NYWCompendium join our growing community.”
And this is just the beginning. Stay tuned for more announcements as Albany Poets embarks on its 20th anniversary in the new year.
