1. “Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn’t.”
2. “The woman speaks eighteen languages and can’t say ‘No’ in any of them.”
3. “Criticism is prejudice made plausible.”

Send your answers via email (with “AWM Contest” in the subject line and your answers in the email message) to general@americanwritersmuseum.org. Remember to include your name and contact information. We’ll have a drawing of all those who submit the correct answers and the winner of the drawing will win a $25 Amazon.com e-gift certificate.

Until now.

Although the American Writers Museum (AWM) has not yet been formally established, the museum’s foundation is spearheading an effort with directors of authors’ homes and museums throughout the U.S. to create a formal, national association.

“This is a concept that has tremendous merit and is long overdue,” said Donna Carcaci Rhodes, curator of the Pearl S. Buck home in Perkasie, PA. Rhodes is eager to be a founding member of the new group. “I foresee significant synergies and economic benefits to this initiative.”

According to Rhodes, the effort will start by reaching out to the directors and curators of author homes to assess their willingness for involvement. The museum’s website already includes a section where author homes and museums are listed and linked, and encourages additions to that roster.

Rhodes anticipates that the first step in the formation of this new group will be the establishment of a members-only section of the AWM website that will enable directors to share insights about successful programming with each other, as well as thoughts about fundraising and advocacy.

Regis Delmontagne, a member of AWM’s executive planning team, will be working closely with Rhodes and others to lead this initiative and plans to meet with a number of directors early in the new year to define the major objectives and benefits they anticipate receiving once a formal organization is in place. One of the first tasks for founding participants will be naming the association.

Delmontagne says the American Writers Musem Foundation anticipates long-term, collaborative relationships with the directors’ group and foresees a day that the museum, once built, would include temporary and permanent collections developed in collaboration with the directors of author homes and museums.

“This is an important first step in that long-term vision,” explains Delmontagne. But, Delmontage adds, the new group will be wholly independent and he sees the museum as simply a facilitator to creating the means by which these sometimes isolated directors throughout the country can come together to share marketing strategies; use their collective buying power for services; share peer-to-peer advice about everything from membership drives to community relations and legislative issues; aggregate web resources; discuss the latest trends in exhibit technology; and perhaps meet face-to-face for educational forums or regional conferences.

AWM Foundation President Malcolm O’Hagan said the Foundation and this proposed, new association share a similar objective: keeping alive the rich tradition of American writers and their literature.

To receive more information, or to become involved in this new organization, contact Regis Delmontagne at delmontagne@americanwritersmuseum.org.

The mission of the American Writers Museum Foundation is to establish the first national museum in the United States dedicated to engaging the public in celebrating American writers and exploring their influence on our history, our identity, our culture and our daily lives. For more information, visit the website at www.americanwritersmuseum.org.

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