FOW First Annual Spring Gala

Friends of Writers is happy to report that its very-first-ever Annual Spring Gala, held the evening of May 6th in New York City, was a warm and wonderful gathering of old and new friends who were treated to 360 degree views of the city, a good dinner, a lively and humorous auction masterminded by Pete Turchi, and who, as a rare delight, were invited to witness Bill Irwin, Meryl Streep and Stephen Mo Hanan exercise their talents on behalf of the CHS Scholarship Fund.  In true Swanannoa style, the evening concluded with an hour of exuberant dancing. And, lest we forget, the sold-out and generous crowd of 208 sang Ellen Bryant Voigt “Happy Birthday” exactly three days before her actual 70th.

The end result of all this fun was a serious achievement: enough monies were raised to fulfill the endowment of the Carol Houck Smith Scholarship Fund and to begin awarding scholarship support for final semester students in the WWMFA Program for Writers. Ms. Smith’s life-long commitment to helping writers toward their first books of poetry or fiction will now be felt at Warren Wilson as ongoing scholarship support, and we are grateful for her original bequest, and to all those whose efforts made possible a good evening.

A first gallery of photos is posted here to give an idea of what happened; more— including those of Ms. Streep applying lipstick to Ms. Voigt, so that the final item to be auctioned might bear important traces not only of our Special Guests, but also of our Program Founder— to follow!

[button link=”http://www.wwcmfa.org/friends-of-writers/fundraising-events/” color=”black”] Click Here for Event Photos and Video![/button]

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Friends of Writers is happy to report that its very-first-ever Annual Spring Gala, held the evening of May 6th in New York City, was a warm and wonderful gathering of old and new friends who were treated to 360 degree views of the city, a good dinner, a lively and humorous auction masterminded by Pete Turchi, and who, as a rare delight, were invited to witness Bill Irwin, Meryl Streep and Stephen Mo Hanan exercise their talents on behalf of the CHS Scholarship Fund.  In true Swanannoa style, the evening concluded with an hour of exuberant dancing. And, lest we forget, the sold-out and generous crowd of 208 sang Ellen Bryant Voigt “Happy Birthday” exactly three days before her actual 70th.

 

The end result of all this fun was a serious achievement: enough monies were raised to fulfill the endowment of the Carol Houck Smith Scholarship Fund and to begin awarding scholarship support for final semester students in the WWMFA Program for Writers. Ms. Smith’s life-long commitment to helping writers toward their first books of poetry or fiction will now be felt at Warren Wilson as ongoing scholarship support, and we are grateful for her original bequest, and to all those whose efforts made possible a good evening.

 

A first gallery of photos is posted here to give an idea of what happened.  To see more– including those of Ms. Streep applying lipstick to Ms. Voigt, so that the final item to be auctioned might bear important traces not only of our Special Guests, but also of our Program Founder–click here or on the buttons below!

[button link=”http://frankwingphoto.com/fow2/” color=”black”] 2013 Spring Gala Photos[/button]   [button link=”http://www.frankwingphoto.com/fowgala/” color=”black”] 2013 Spring Gala Video[/button]

[et_attachment attachment_id=”3420″ link=””]High Noon. Co-Chairs Maeve Kinkead and Abigail Wender spring into action.

[/et_attachment][et_attachment attachment_id=”3419″ link=””]6:45 p.m. The early bird gets the worm: first guests peruse the Silent Auction offerings.[/et_attachment][et_attachment attachment_id=”3418″ link=””]7:30 p.m. Jeremy Bass and Alicia Jo Rabins, along with Abe Streep and Ian Stearns, welcome guests to dinner.[/et_attachment][et_attachment attachment_id=”3426″ link=””]8:10 p.m. Van Jordan speaking on the importance of scholarship aid to WWCMFA students (“How come the spotlight’s on Michael?”) and Michael Collier speaking on the importance of Ellen Bryant Voigt’s leadership to WWCMFA students (“How come he gets the mic?”).[/et_attachment][et_attachment attachment_id=”3425″ link=””]8:15 p.m. Stephen Mo Hanan leads a chorus of “April Showers” on a beautiful evening in May.[/et_attachment][et_attachment attachment_id=”3423″ link=””]9:15 p.m. Meryl Streep and Bill Irwin launch into their version of “Who’s on First,” or, “Who won the Pulitzer?” “No, ‘Who” won the Pen Voelcker….”[/et_attachment][et_attachment attachment_id=”3424″ link=””]9:30 p.m. A warm thank you to Meryl Streep from Ellen Bryant Voigt, for her reading of a selection of poems from Messenger.[/et_attachment][et_attachment attachment_id=”3417″ link=””]9:50 p.m. Peter Turchi, in full command of the Live Auction, and Bill Irwin, coaxing the guests to ever higher bids.[/et_attachment][et_attachment attachment_id=”3422″ link=””]10 p.m. Wish I May, Wish I Might….: Ellen Bryant Voigt considers the cake and Louise Gluck and friends applaud.[/et_attachment][et_attachment attachment_id=”3421″ link=””]Gerald Stern, Meryl Streep, Bill Irwin, Joseph Dial and friend, and Barbara Ras kick it in style.[/et_attachment]

Friends of Writers is happy to report that its very-first-ever Annual Spring Gala, held the evening of May 6th in New York City, was a warm and wonderful gathering of old and new friends who were treated to 360 degree views of the city, a good dinner, a lively and humorous auction masterminded by Pete Turchi, and who, as a rare delight, were invited to witness Bill Irwin, Meryl Streep and Stephen Mo Hanan exercise their talents on behalf of the CHS Scholarship Fund.  In true Swanannoa style, the evening concluded with an hour of exuberant dancing. And, lest we forget, the sold-out and generous crowd of 208 sang Ellen Bryant Voigt “Happy Birthday” exactly three days before her actual 70th.

 

The end result of all this fun was a serious achievement: enough monies were raised to fulfill the endowment of the Carol Houck Smith Scholarship Fund and to begin awarding scholarship support for final semester students in the WWMFA Program for Writers. Ms. Smith’s life-long commitment to helping writers toward their first books of poetry or fiction will now be felt at Warren Wilson as ongoing scholarship support, and we are grateful for her original bequest, and to all those whose efforts made possible a good evening.

 

A first gallery of photos is posted here to give an idea of what happened.  To see more– including those of Ms. Streep applying lipstick to Ms. Voigt, so that the final item to be auctioned might bear important traces not only of our Special Guests, but also of our Program Founder–click here or on the buttons below!

[button link=”http://frankwingphoto.com/fow2/” color=”black”] 2013 Spring Gala Photos[/button]   [button link=”http://www.frankwingphoto.com/fowgala/” color=”black”] 2013 Spring Gala Video[/button]