Balkan Spring: Report From Literary Sofia, Bulgaria

In a continuing series on international writing communities, contributing editor Stephen Morison Jr. spends time with writers in the capital city of Bulgaria.
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Articles from Poet & Writers Magazine include material from the print edition plus exclusive online-only material.
In a continuing series on international writing communities, contributing editor Stephen Morison Jr. spends time with writers in the capital city of Bulgaria.
The author of Fifty Words for Rain reflects on learning to forge her own unique path through the world.
For an alternative movie night, view these extended readings and conversations with literary luminaries Zadie Smith, Édouard Louis, Min Jin Lee, Ocean Vuong, and Joy Harjo.
Leah Hampton’s F*ckface: And Other Stories, Megha Majumdar’s A Burning, Marie-Helene Bertino’s Parakeet, Karen Tei Yamashita’s Sansei and Sensibility, and C Pam Zhang’s How Much of These Hills Is Gold.
The author of the story collection I Hold a Wolf by the Ears talks about ghost stories, writing in the direction of the unknowable, and creativity during quarantine.
A novelist recalls the challenges and rewards of publishing a second novel—twenty-seven years after his debut.
A growing list of conferences, festivals, and writing contests that have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The author of Writing Past Dark: Envy, Fear, Distractions, and Other Dilemmas in the Writer’s Life talks about the impetus for writing the book, response after its publication, and its lessons for a new generation of writers.
A message to self-proclaimed allies: Actions speak louder than words.
Resources and ideas for fighting racial injustice and police violence, both on and off the page.
The 2020 National Youth Poet Laureate talks about the intersection of poetry and activism, creativity during the pandemic, and more.
The author of White Blood: A Lyric of Virginia discusses definitions of poetry, ancestral silence, and unpacking American history’s “white blood.”
Lambda Literary, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting LGBTQ literature and writers, has launched a fund-raiser to help it stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The five poets who make up the Poets at the End of the World collective discuss how they support one another as artists, contribute to social causes, and envision a better, more just future.
The pandemic has forced teaching writers and their students to move classes online, but that’s far from the only challenge for adjunct professors at colleges and universities across the country.
Six queer writers of color create a collective space to pursue their work, no explanations or apologies necessary.
The pandemic that has shuttered nearly two-thirds of Barnes & Noble’s stores presents an unexected opportunity.
As scores of indie bookstores have shut their doors to the public and laid off staff, many continue to serve their customers via online orders and curbside pickup programs.
The 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center is just one of the venues offering online literary programming.
A new initiative from the organizers of National Novel Writing Month invites writers to find comfort in their creativity and stay inside while the battle with COVID-19 continues.
One of the New York City literary world’s most iconic gathering places faces an uncertain future during the coronavirus pandemic.
The coronavirus pandemic has radically disrupted the book business, setting off waves of bookstore closures and book festival cancellations, so authors and booksellers are teaming up to shift live events online.
The author of more than thirty books of fiction and nonfiction imagines how a world without writing might function.
The author of the debut novel Temporary discusses how impermanent work affects the soul.
The author of Cleanness and What Belongs to You talks about the uneasy marriage of capitalism and sex, the future of democracy, and love.