The following essay was read by Margo Taft Stever on Friday, May 9th, 2025, at the Harvard Club of New York City as part of a special event celebrating the new anthology What the Presidents’ Read: Childhood Stories and Family Favorites, edited by Elizabeth Goodenough and Marilyn S. Olson (Rowman & Littlefield, 2025). Ted Widmer,…
This article is adapted from a speech I delivered at Union Church in Pocantico Hills on April 8, 2025, following a poetry reading with Dominika Wrozynski, the new program director at the Hudson Valley Writers Center. As a returning board member and founder of the Hudson Valley Writers Center, I was invited to reflect on…
By Chris S. Cornell This spring marks a transformative moment at the Hudson Valley Writers Center (HVWC), the renowned literary nonprofit founded by poet Margot Taft Stever over four decades ago. With new leadership, expanded programming, and a renewed emphasis on community, HVWC is poised for a renaissance—one that builds on its rich legacy while…
On Sunday, December 1st, 2024, at 4:00 PM, poets and literature enthusiasts gathered in a packed room for a special Poets on War and Peace reading, organized by Cindy Beer-Fouhy and Margo Taft Stever. This unique event, which took place at the Hudson Valley Writers Center in Sleepy Hollow, New York, showcased poets whose work reflects the…