Agents & Editors: Rakia Clark

Mariner Books executive editor Rakia Clark talks about unlocking the full potential of an author, how writers can shine in the query letter, and effecting meaningful change in the publishing industry.
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Articles from Poet & Writers Magazine include material from the print edition plus exclusive online-only material.
Mariner Books executive editor Rakia Clark talks about unlocking the full potential of an author, how writers can shine in the query letter, and effecting meaningful change in the publishing industry.
Essays by debut authors Madhushree Ghosh, Sari Botton, David Santos Donaldson, Shareen K. Murayama, and Jane Campbell.
In her third novel, Our Missing Hearts, best-selling author Celeste Ng continues to explore the social and political pressures that shape family dynamics—this time in a story set in a contemporary dystopia that feels frighteningly familiar.
The author of one of last year’s most challenged books confronts a campaign of threats, cyberattacks, and doxing in the post-truth era.
This series of interviews with over forty book editors, publishers, and agents offers a unique look at the past, present, and future of the book industry and what writers can do to thrive in today’s publishing world.
In The Furrows, Namwali Serpell draws readers into the roiling nature of grief in a powerful narrative that explores memory, loss, and Black identity without resting on what she calls the “meaningless platitude” that art promotes empathy.
Annie Hwang of Ayesha Pande Literary talks about community building, professional burnout, the questions writers should ask when querying agents, and the demanding work of advocating for diversity in publishing.
Interviews with debut authors Leila Mottley, Tsering Yangzom Lama, Arinze Ifeakandu, Paige Clark, and Morgan Talty, as well as excerpts from their books.
Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s new novel, Women of Light, chronicles five generations of an Indigenous Chicano family in the American West and is imbued with her rich sense of history and pride in her own mixed ancestry: “The story of who I am is inextricably tied to this country.”
Elif Batuman, the best-selling author of The Idiot and its sequel, Either/Or, talks to Porochista Khakpour about the new novel, being named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and what she learned on a trip to Russia and Ukraine.
In this online supplement to our annual print feature celebrating debut authors over the age of fifty, Jeffrey J. Higa, Ursula Pike, Megan Culhane Galbraith, Michael Kleber-Diggs, and Vinod Busjeet share excerpts from their first books.
Three poets discuss writing, survival, and community as Asian American adoptees.
In a new memoir, Poet Warrior, published by W. W. Norton in September, U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo travels the roads, rivers, and rhythms of her life, taking readers on a journey across generations.
Kaveh Akbar, the author of Calling a Wolf a Wolf, returns with Pilgrim Bell, a collection of poems that dissolves the border between knowing and not knowing and interrogates ideals of justice, the self, and the divine.
In his first nonfiction book, How the Word Is Passed, published in June by Little, Brown, poet and scholar Clint Smith delves into the legacy of slavery alive in the monuments and landmarks within and beyond the United States, in an immersive read that exquisitely depicts how a nation and its inhabitants remember its history.
Excerpts from the titles by Eric Nguyen, Lee Lai, Zakiya Dalila Harris, Joss Lake, Pik-Shuen Fung, and the late Anthony Veasna So featured in our annual roundup of the summer’s best debut fiction.
Alex Torres reflects on the literary legacy of his beloved partner, Anthony Veasna So, the author of the debut story collection Afterparties, who died in December 2020.
Ten years after her debut story collection was published, Danielle Evans returns with her second book, The Office of Historical Corrections, a timely reckoning with, among other things, America’s history of racialized violence.
Five authors over the age of fifty—Elizabeth Wetmore, Vivian Gibson, A. H. Kim, Susan Buttenwieser, and Daniel Becker—share excerpts from their first books.
In her new essay collection, World of Wonders, poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil turns her creative powers of attention, play, openness, and love to a world of magic and imagination outdoors.
Eleven writers pen letters addressed to fellow Black writers, to their ancestors, to gatekeepers, to members of the media, and to allies, among others.
Our annual debut fiction roundup features Ashleigh Bryant Phillips, Jean Kyoung Frazier, Corinne Manning, Megha Majumdar, and John Fram.
In our fourth annual installment of this series, five debut authors over the age of fifty—Julie Langsdorf, Valencia Robin, Timothy Brandoff, Margaret Renkl, and Peter Kaldheim—share excerpts from their first books.
Reginald Dwayne Betts, whose latest poetry collection, Felon, is out now from Norton, sits down with poet and activist Mahogany L. Browne for a conversation about political poetry and the realities of the U.S. prison system.
Ben George, a senior editor at Little, Brown who works with some of the biggest names in literary fiction and nonfiction, talks about the author-editor relationship, the plight of the midlist writer, and the art of revision.