Five Terrific Literary Magazines for Strange and Unusual Work
The editor of Diagram highlights five literary magazines with unexpected ambitions, including a celebration of sentence-long narratives and a journal dedicated to revenge.
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Article Archive
Articles from Poet & Writers Magazine include material from the print edition plus exclusive online-only material.
Ten Exceptional Literary Magazines for Nonfiction
The author of American Harvest: God, Country, and Farming in the Heartland identifies exemplary journals publishing nonfiction, where editors seek “a novel point of view, a voice willing to confront the true uncharted territory of the imagination.”
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Ten Superb Literary Magazines for Fiction
The author of the collection What We Fed to the Manticore highlights homes for short fiction that embrace new talent, spark dynamic conversations, and live the values of inclusion and representation.
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Ten Outstanding Literary Magazines for Poetry
The author of How to Submit: Getting Your Writing Published With Literary Magazines and Small Presses names top journals offering visibility, community, and meaningful pay to poets.
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Collective Effervescence: How to Elevate a Book Event to a Gathering With Purpose
An author recommends strategies for organizing book events that give audience members a chance to connect with one another, opening up conversations rather than defaulting to the formal delivery of a static author reading.
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Writing in the Age of AI: The Case for Collective Resistance
A novelist lays out the reasons why writers should resist, but not necessarily reject, artificial intelligence and advocate for AI tools to be used to augment creativity rather than replace our humanity.
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50 Over 50: Celebrating a Decade of Debut Excellence
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.
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5 Over 50: 2025
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.
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Singing the Sublime: A Profile of Donika Kelly
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.
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An Agent’s Perspective on Literary Magazines
An agent at Trellis Literary Management offers nuanced advice to writers on approaching literary magazine publication, including how much these credits matter in a query letter and which writers benefit most from such exposure.
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The Time Is Now: Writing Prompts and Exercises
Begin writing a series of poems in the epic tradition, a story with a frenetic narrative voice, or short reflections on animals.
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Long Live the Longer Short Story: Depth Without a Novel’s Commitment
The acclaimed fiction writer unpacks the art of the longer short story—a form with space for ambitious plot and rich characterization, with the pressure and punch of concision.
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The Literary Sizzle in Dallas
New publishing lines, reading series, symposia, and magazine partnerships are springing up in Dallas with support from SMU’s Project Poëtica.
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Q&A: Michelle Aielli Leads AWP
The new executive director of AWP discusses her path from publishing to arts administration and shares what gives her hope for the literary arts.
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The Written Image: AUTO Books
Housed in the trunk of a 1984 Mercedes-Benz 380SL, AUTO Books travels throughout Los Angeles, bringing art, photography, and poetry titles, along with other rare and experimental literature, to neighborhoods across the city.
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Literary MagNet: Dong Li
The translator of Ye Hui’s The Ruins highlights journals that embraced his translations, including Asymptote and Copihue Poetry.
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Small Press Points: Green Linden Press
Based in Grinnell, Iowa, and motivated by a mission to support reforestation, Green Linden Press publishes around six titles per year and donates a portion of its proceeds to environmental efforts.
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Introducing AI to Used Books
With a $100,000 grant from O’Shaughnessy Ventures, bookshop manager Charlie Becker is building an AI tool to help secondhand booksellers identify and catalogue titles.
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Page One: Where New and Noteworthy Books Begin
The first lines of a dozen noteworthy books, including The New Economy by Gabrielle Calvocoressi and Girls Play Dead: Acts of Self-Preservation by Jen Percy.
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Literary Arts Thrives in Portland
In spite of the pandemic and other challenges, executive director Andrew Proctor has steered Literary Arts in Oregon through a successful capital campaign, raising over $22 million at a time when the arts need it most.
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Ten Questions for Megha Majumdar
“Becoming a mother, and feeling the ferocity of love that parents hold for their children, and doing the daily work of parenting, helped me find the emotional core of the book.” —Megha Majumdar, author of A Guardian and a Thief
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Ten Questions for Joshua Wheeler
“It should be possible to both write good and live good. Go see your friends. Be with your family. Taste something new. Fall in love with the world again and again while you still can.” —Joshua Wheeler, author of The High Heaven
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Beware of Scams Targeting Writers
Scams targeting writers remain a threat, and Poets & Writers urges the literary community to be vigilant to avoid falling prey to scammers and frauds.
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Writing Ambivalence
The author of no swaddle (University of Iowa Press, 2025) reflects on approaching uncertainty on the page.
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Ten Questions for Jade Chang
“I think I’m a natural maximalist, and I still enjoy orchestrating a complex, layered scene or sentence, but I often found myself paring down versus building up.” —Jade Chang, author of What a Time to Be Alive
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