CNY Branch Member Georgia Popoff Wins CNY Book Award

Syracuse poet and author Georgia Popoff found herself in the winner’s circle at the Central New York (CNY) Book Awards, held at the CNY Philanthropy Center in Syracuse on the evening of November 9, 2017. Popoff, a CNY Branch member of the NLAPW, was named a winner for her book The Whiskey of Our Discontent: Gwendolyn Brooks as Conscience and Change Agent in the non-fiction category of the awards. Georgia is the co-editor, along with Quraysh Ali Lansana, of the book of essays on Brooks. Sonia Sanchez wrote the introduction to the compilation. In addition to serving as editor, Popoff wrote one of the contributing essays in the collection: “Breaking Glass and the Sad Shatter of Hope.” Popoff’s book won in a large field of non-fiction books nominated for the award.

In addition to Popoff’s win, CNY Branch VP of Communications, Nancy Dafoe, was recognized for her poetry chapbook Poets Diving in the Night, a finalist in the poetry competition, and her non-fiction book on education policy, The Misdirection of Education Policy: Raising Questions about School Reform. The CNY Branch of the NLAPW also had a poetry anthology, In the Company of Women, nominated for an award in the poetry category. CNY Branch members Dafoe and Lorraine Arsenault served as co-editors of the honored poetry anthology, the work of the entire membership of the CNY Branch.

In addition to CNY Branch members Popoff and Dafoe, the CNY Book Awards event saw Branch President Mary L Gardner, Sheila Byrnes, National Second VP and Historian, and member Karen Hempson attend and support CNY Branch contributions to the Book Awards.