Reading series brings authors and poets to Syracuse Downtown YMCA

Phil Memmer sat amongst an audience of 70 people about 10 years ago, listening to the last reading of poet W.D. Snodgrass’ career. Everyone knew of the writer’s terminal lung cancer and, as the reading drew to a close, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

That “magical evening” is just one of many memories Memmer has from his time running the Visiting Author Reading Series at the Syracuse Downtown YMCA.

A writer himself and lover of the written word, Memmer realized in 2001 that there wasn’t a place in Syracuse dedicated to poetry readings. This thought is what inspired him to start the reading series, which brings in authors to read their work, both old and new, to audiences from the Syracuse area.

This April marks the 20th annual National Poetry Month and to commemorate the month-long observance, Syracuse University, the Syracuse Downtown YMCA and other organizations in the area are offering poetry reading series.

Since its conception, the Syracuse Downtown YMCA program has grown, now bringing in about 20 to 25 authors per year with an average audience of about 30 people. New authors reach out to the YMCA each week, so they aren’t able to book every author who applies.

The program, Memmer said, is “reasonably well known throughout the state and beyond.” This means that, while about a third of the readers are from within an hour of the city, they sometimes fly in authors from as far away as Texas.

The authors range from brand new writers to Pulitzer Prize winners, and Memmer said the program’s audience is just as diverse. Attendees range from suburban lawyers and doctors to those who seek temporary shelter at the YMCA.

Typically, audience members are college-aged and older, but Vince Gotera, a recent author at the series, said he was impressed to see a high school student at the reading.

Gotera read work from his books “Dragonfly,” “Ghost Wars,” “Fighting Kite” and other recent poems. He’s currently editor of the North American Review, the oldest literary magazine in the United States.

The program, which is funded through a combination of grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, Onondaga County, workshop fees and individual donations, will host poet Joan Murray on Friday, April 8. Murray recently won the Pushcart Prize, a national award given to the best poetry, short fiction or literary essay.

Murray, who referred to the program in an email as “long-standing and very highly regarded,” plans to read from her newest book, “Swimming for the Ark: New & Selected Poems 1990-2015.” She said she is especially excited to be appearing in the series during National Poetry Month.

One literary project that has transcended from the SU hill to the downtown YMCA is “Stone Canoe,” a literary journal that was started at SU’s University College and published there for its first eight issues. The journal is now run by the downtown YMCA’s Writing Center, an organization that offers literary workshops and resources for the Syracuse community.

When the university was unable to continue funding the project, it was picked up by the YMCA. They are able to pay for it through a combination of grants, advertisement sales and proceeds from selling the journal itself.

“Stone Canoe” publishes on a yearly basis, and just released its most current issue in March. The YMCA published the ninth issue on behalf of Robert Colley, founder of the magazine, but created the entire tenth issue of this “gorgeously produced, very heavy” publication, Memmer said.

The journal also accepts a variety of entrees, including short fiction, creative nonfiction, short plays, poems and works of visual art. To submit to the “Stone Canoe,” entrants must be a current or former resident of upstate New York.

The YMCA advertises the publication through social media, online and in national magazines like “Poets and Writers.” Memmer said this allows them to reach a combination of writers and artists, but also just general readers.

Memmer also said “Stone Canoe,” the YMCA’s Downtown Writers Center and any similar programs are important to the community due to the power of the written word.

“The literary arts are, of course, a crucial part of arts in general,” he said. “And storytelling has been, for as long as we all know, a very central part of human experience.”

Correction: In a previous version of this article, W.D. Snodgrass’ name was misstated. The Daily Orange regrets this error.