Springtime in Tirana: Report From Literary Albania

In a continuing series on international writing communities, contributing editor Stephen Morison Jr. spends time with four authors in Tirana, Albania.
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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 four authors in Tirana, Albania.
A fiction writer’s habit of imagining the lives of people who live in her favorite houses leads to serious research for her novel.
Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden has named Tracy K. Smith the next poet laureate of the United States.
The author of four novels, most recently The Changeling, published by Spiegel & Grau in June, talks about the evolution of his new book, minimal dads, and writing a female character.
Novelist and singer-songwriter Ben Arthur finds inspiration in a chapter of poet Patricia Lockwood’s memoir, Priestdaddy.
A new exhibit at Pro Arts Gallery in Oakland celebrates the idea of “fun as a revolutionary event” and explores AfroSurreal notions of intuition and imagination.
Barbara Gowdy, whose novel Little Sisters is published this month by Tin House Books, and novelist Helen Phillips discuss profound empathy, how literature can change women’s relationships to their bodies, and writing against the odds.
In celebration of Short Story Month, we’ve assembled ten of our favorite audio recordings of authors reading from story collections featured in Page One: Where New and Noteworthy Books Begin during the past five years.
On April 26, nineteen-year-old Amanda Gorman of Los Angeles was named the first national youth poet laureate.
Poets for Science is engaging poets from across the country in the March for Science on April 22.
Nepali author Samrat Upadhyay discusses his writing process, exile literature, and his new story collection, Mad Country.
Poet, playwright, and novelist Angela Jackson explores the teenage years of Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks.
Whether you end up distributing your own prose or poetry at a reading or collecting the work of your friends in limited editions, these instructions on how to create and bind your own chapbooks offer hours of bookmaking fun.
The acclaimed author of Among the Missing, a finalist for the National Book Award in 2001, talks about his new novel, Ill Will.
The New Yorker staff writer and bestselling author of The Orchid Thief talks with musician Ben Arthur about her music, inspiration, distraction, adaptation, and her new book about the Los Angeles Public Library fire in 1986.
Read excerpts of the debut books by 2016’s 5 Over 50: Desiree Cooper, Sawnie Morris, Paul Vidich, Paula Whyman, and Paul Hertneky.
Max Ritvo, the author of Four Reincarnations (Milkweed Editions, September), spoke with poet Dorthea Lasky two months before his death from cancer. He was twenty-five.
In our sixteenth annual First Fiction roundup, five debut authors—Yaa Gyasi, Masande Ntshanga, Rumaan Alam, Maryse Meijer, and Imbolo Mbue—discuss their first books. Introduced by Angela Flournoy, Naomi Jackson, Emma Straub, Lindsay Hunter, and Christina Baker Kline.
For the past thirty years, from the publication of his first novel, Mohawk, to his latest, Everybody’s Fool, a sequel to his beloved 1993 novel, Nobody’s Fool, Richard Russo, the Pulitzer Prize–winning “patron saint of small-town fiction,” has remained the same generous, optimistic, hardworking writer he’s always been, welcoming readers into his books and his heart.
The Pushcart Prize, a venerable nonprofit award series and press, released its fortieth-anniversary prize anthology this month. On the eve of its release party, Poets & Writers staff looked into the history of the prize, and what has kept "one of the last bastions of non-corporate writing" alive and well over the years.
Start your MFA research with this comprehensive guide to more than 170 full- and low-residency programs in creative writing, expanded and updated for 2016. Each listing includes detailed information such as core faculty, special features, funding, tuition, application fees, and deadlines. The free PDF also includes a regional index, a cost-of-living comparision, and a handy Application Tracker to keep track of your applications.
Three poets laureate—Luis J. Rodriguez, Joseph Bathanti, and Natasha Trethewey—talk about the various initiatives and influences they've brought to the position, and what the role means to them.
In a continuing series examining the lives of writers in the international writing community, contributing editor Stephen Morison Jr. spends time with three authors in Rome who share a common desire "to shake free from a past so impressive it's suffocating."
Since appearing in our annual Debut Poets roundup, a number of the one hundred and twelve poets we’ve highlighted have gone on to create a wealth of interesting and important work. The following list includes each poet we’ve featured in the past ten years, his or her debut collection, and the many full-length books that followed.