Happy New Year! The board and all of the volunteer committee members and staff members of the GCLS organization and the Writing Academy wish all of our members, friends and allies a safe, happy, healthy, productive, and prosperous new year. 2020 was a wild ride for GCLS, and we know it was for all of you too. 

We're moving into 2021 with some brand new board members and some longer tenured board members in new positions. Our search continues for an Executive Director (ED) to assume the duties taken over by Ann Roberts, our Interim Director. Ann's term ends in July. If you have it in your heart to serve, please contact Ann and talk to her about the position. 

If serving as the ED isn't an interest of yours, perhaps you can help in other ways. We need volunteers for a wide variety of positions to include joining the marketing team to manage some aspects of social media, and to assist our Director of Diversity and Inclusion and our Director of Community Engagement with research and outreach projects. Many hands make light work.

We continue to plan for a live conference in Orlando, Florida in July. We're watching the situation with COVID-19 closely and we're planning accordingly. We know many of you, even if you could travel, won't do so during these trying times. We understand. While the live con may be smaller than normal, we're also planning a virtual track for it for everyone who can't attend in person. Speaking of virtual events, we're planning a slate of them throughout 2021 to include panels, classes, and some things just for fun. "Watch this space!"

For the live conference and for all of our virtual plans, we need panelists and moderators. We'd love our panels to be a lot more diverse than they've been in the past. To that end, we've created a database panel proposers will be able to use to find people for their panels, both live and virtual. GCLS membership is not required to be a panelist. If you have not filled out a panelist application yet, you can do so at the link.

We love hearing from you. Feel free to comment, contact us via the contact form, or contact us through any board member with your ideas and your concerns. 

All the best to you and yours in 2021,

Anne Hagan

Director of Marketing