The YMCA of Central NY’s Downtown Writers Center (DWC) opened its doors in 2001 to offer writing classes in all genres as the region’s only literary center. DWC changed its name to the Writers Voice in 2024. 

Apple An started taking courses at DWC in 2017 and benefited tremendously from the instructors and fellow authors over the next six years. They were instrumental in publishing her debut work (Las Crosses) in 2023. They also inspired her to find her calling as a storyteller to preserve what history overlooks and to amplify the voices silenced by time and other factors. 

As a way to contribute back to the services and the community, Apple decided to edit and publish collections of the writings by fellow authors from DWC/Writers Voice. In doing so, Apple hoped to 

1. Offer authors a platform to share their own stories, to foster dialogue and understanding across cultures and times, 

2. Benefit the Writers Center with net proceeds from book sales, and 

3. Encourage all writers to pay forward, to be generous with their time and effort to help promote each other's work whenever possible. She believes in this literary world, a rising tide raises all boats. 

The anthology idea became a reality after an animated brainstorming between Apple and Georgia Popoff, a DWC instructor since its beginning and program director since 2011, and the Onondaga County Poet Laureate. 

The Voices Heard Anthology series has two volumes: 28 Voices and 37 More Voices.

Description

The authors of these 28 essays recount a wide range of life’s journeys and what we have learned from them: childhood memories, life-changing events, love and relationships, childbirth and parenthood, balancing family and career, adapting to new environments or cultures, coping with losses of loved ones, and spirituality.

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