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Articles from Poet & Writers Magazine include material from the print edition plus exclusive online-only material.
Fifteen years after his dazzling debut, The Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach returns to the spotlight with The Brightness, a story of big love, campus protest, female friendship, and the daunting potential of youth.
The editorial director of One World discusses writing and publishing in service of freedom, what she’s looking for in a book and what turns her away, and the part of an agent’s query she does not read.
Essays by debut authors Hillary Behrman, Radha Lin Chaddah, John Fadely, Shanda McManus, and Judy Sandler as well as excerpts from their books.
The third novel by Min Jin Lee, American Hagwon, is an epic story of families, schools, and societal change, offering its readers a deeply personal education in the pressures, passions, and pulses of the human heart.
Essays by debut authors Nita Noveno, Phill Branch, Megan O’Grady, Joseph Trinidad, and Elena Dudum, as well as excerpts from their books.
Dressed up as a witty, dramatic page-turner, Deesha Philyaw’s first novel, The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman, forthcoming in September, is at heart a withering critique of church and patriarchy.
In Lift Every Voice, Phillip B. Williams explores the devastating effects of avoiding grief, and sitting with that feeling, more than two decades after his father’s death, is what allowed him to finally mourn and eventually make his art.
Eden Royce, R. O. Kwon, Aimee Bender, Susan Muaddi Darraj, and Jamel Brinkley introduce the authors of this summer’s best debut fiction: P.C. Verrone, M Lin, Joe Bond, Amanda Rizkalla, and Devyn Defoe.
Alia Hanna Habib of the Gernert Company talks about taking the pressure off first conversations with writers, the similarities between agenting and dating, and knowledgeably breaking the unspoken rules of the book industry.
For over forty years Julia Alvarez has told stories that have established hers among the biggest names in contemporary literature. A new book, Visitations, offers a personal, poignant look back while proving she’s nowhere near finished.
With his second collection, Horses, award-winning poet Jake Skeets shows us how to contemplate the profundity of our interconnected world, holding space for both grief and beauty, the Anthropocene and queer eros.
T Kira Māhealani Madden’s new novel, Whidbey, asks challenging questions about how we as a society treat and talk about both the survivors and perpetrators of sexual abuse.
Since 2010 we have asked graphic designers and artists to create new, surprising, and uniquely inspiring covers for the first issue of the year; in this portfolio we look back at their work.
In her latest poetry collection, The Natural Order of Things, out now from Graywolf Press, Donika Kelly celebrates joy as a simple yet radical means of resisting despair.
Essays by debut authors Jennifer Eli Bowen, Princess Joy L. Perry, Yael Valencia Aldana, Vishwas R. Gaitonde, and Lauren K. Watel as well as excerpts from their books.
Since 2016, Poets & Writers Magazine has showcased authors who have made their literary debuts after the age of fifty in our annual 5 Over 50 series. These are the fifty writers and books that have been celebrated in our pages.
In her third novel, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, which comes out nearly twenty years after her Booker Prize–winning The Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai considers loneliness in all its states of loss and heartache, possibility and promise, through the lens of a love story.
An executive editor at Scribner, previously a senior editor at Grove Atlantic, Katie Raissian talks about learning to be fearless, what grabs her in a query, and the art of publishing books.
Essays by debut authors Sarah Aziza, Erika J. Simpson, Julian Brave NoiseCat, Amanda Hess, and Samina Najmi as well as excerpts from their books.
A new book examines Toni Morrison’s years as an editor at Random House and the complicated art of publishing books of poetry by Barbara Chase-Riboud, Lucille Clifton, and June Jordan.
Lauren Grodstein, David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Megan Kamalei Kakimoto, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, and Jonathan Escoffery introduce five debut fiction authors: Sarah Yahm, Jon Hickey, Carrie R. Moore, Aaron John Curtis, and Jemimah Wei.
In the poetry collection I Imagine I Been Science Fiction Always, Douglas Kearney shatters traditional expectations by transforming images and texts into dynamic conversations about Black identity, personhood, and art.
Superstar literary agent Nicole Aragi talks about what stands out to her in a query, the importance of finding the right agent, and the art of following your nose.
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.
