Mary Gannon is joining the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses as executive director, effective November 5. She succeeds Jeffrey Lependorf, who is also the executive director for Small Press Distribution and will continue in that role while also serving as executive director of the Flow Chart Foundation.
Since 2013, Gannon has been the associate director and director of content for the Academy of American Poets. Prior to that, she was the editorial director of Poets & Writers, the nonprofit organization serving poets and writers of literary prose. Gannon is also a widely published poet and writer. With her husband, Poets & Writers magazine editor-in-chief Kevin Larimer, she is writing The Poets & Writers Guide to the Writing Life, to be published by Simon & Schuster.
"For the past 17 years, this organization has been in the expert care of Jeffrey Lependorf, the literary world's energizer bunny," the CLMP board said. "Thanks in part to his leadership and assistance, the diverse and essential publishers he has served have never been more active, thriving, and necessary. Because of his work, more voices have been heard. We are indebted to him for his enormous contributions to the literary world and to Democracy.
"The moment we met Mary Gannon, we knew she was the person to build on Jeffrey's legacy. Having spent her career in service to the literary world, she understands the needs of all the stakeholders in our community and is expert at finding creative solutions to the unique challenges literary publishers face in amplifying the wide range of voices they publish. CLMP and the entire literary ecosystem are very lucky to have her."
Praising her predecessor as "a tireless and dedicated champion of literary publishers for the past two decades," Gannon said she looks forward "to carrying on his hard work serving this community, which is the foundation for the literary arts in our country and beyond."