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Tears of the Phoenix is a non-profit literary charitable organization incorporated in the State of Connecticut.
We are dedicated to gathering writers and artists from all walks of life and prior publishing credentials who are willing to use their talents to help charitable literary and/or educational organizations.
We are currently applying for 501(c)3 status.
Founders N. Apythia Morges and Tamela J. Ritter have been a part of the publishing industry as both writers and editors in newspapers, magazines, and books.
A journalist, Morges has nearly 15 years experience as a newspaper editor, page designer, and freelance book/magazine editor/designer and is currently pursuing a master's degree in publishing. She is also the author of a weekly literary newspaper column.
Ritter, an award-winning author, is also a freelance journalist and has served as editor of Whatever literary magazine as well as her college’s literary journal.
President/Editor: Nanette Morges
Vice President/Editor: Tamela Ritter
Assistant Editor: Darcy Fitzgerald
Art Director: Diana McCabe
Art Director: Kim Kiser
Marketing/Publicity: Gwen Limbach
In May 2007, hundreds of fans of literature came to New Orleans. They came to celebrate a city that had been struck with tragedy, weighed down by destruction, burdened with an uphill battle to rebuild what many said should just die a graceless death. They came to celebrate the written word, specifically a story about a boy struck with tragedy, weighed down by the mission to save the world, burdened with a lightning-shaped scar.
That’s why we came, but what we found once we were there was a much better story. We saw a city that was rising from the ashes to be reborn into something new, something awe-inspiring, something truly worth telling about. We found a group of fans who surprised us with their enthusiasm, their devotion, and their truly immense talents.
Although most of the participants didn’t venture to the parts of New Orleans still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, we did get to see the devastation of one of the things most of us hold most dear: their libraries. Author Rachel Caine, who had taken up the cause of Rebuilding New Orleans Public Library project during the conference by raising awareness and money, showed us what had been lost and what we could do to help.
But giving money wasn’t enough. We wanted to do more.
In times like these when all the stories coming out of New Orleans sound the same, we wanted to tell a different story. We want to tell the story that the librarians of New Orleans wanted. Not about tragedy or loss; but about action, adventure, romance, comedy, fantasy and triumph. Poems, short stories and flash fiction all inspired and requested by the librarians of New Orleans that either are struggling to put their libraries back together or are trying to put their lives back together after losing their jobs along with their libraries.
How did we plan to do this? Simple. We would compile an anthology of original fiction inspired by New Orleans librarians as written by members of the Harry Potter fandom. ALL profits from the book would be donated to the Rebuild New Orleans Public Library project.
We asked the talented fan fiction writers, artists and musicians to put down their Harry Potter-inspired pens, paints and lyrics for a brief time and pick up the worlds, characters and settings inspired by people who might never get a story told about them, or for them.
Why did we do this? There were many reasons behind this project, but the most important was to give something back to the city and the fandom that has given us so much. But more importantly, to donate all profits generated by this project to the libraries in New Orleans that need all the help they can get in order to rebuild and restock.
From this first project, Tears of the Phoenix has grown to include Tears of the Phoenix Anthologies, an independent non-profit publishing imprint that produces anthologies dedicated to literary and/or educational charities, as well as Tears of the Phoenix Ink, a non-profit literary magazine.
We remain a volunteer-run, non-profit organization dedicating to promoting writers and artists while helping worthwhile charities.
We all know the power that a single book can have on a life. Join us in proving that a love of stories can, in fact, make a difference in the world!
N. Apythia Morges and Tamela J. Ritter
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