Ten Questions for Emily Lee Luan
“You write one poem precisely so that you can write the next.” —Emily Lee Luan, author of 回 / Return
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Article Archive
Articles from Poet & Writers Magazine include material from the print edition plus exclusive online-only material.
Ten Questions for Vievee Francis
“I have to fight for every word, then fight to let them go.” —Vievee Francis, author of The Shared World
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Ten Questions for Dean Rader
“Your voice is your voice. Your voice. No one else’s.” —Dean Rader, author of Before the Borderless: Dialogues With the Art of Cy Twombly
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The Art of Reading Gary Paulsen: How “Boy Books” Taught Me to Write
As a child the author idolized the sharp prose and arresting images of survival in Gary Paulsen’s young adult novels. Now, as an adult novelist, that love is complicated by questions of who gets to tell what stories—even as her admiration endures.
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The Accidental Poetry of Ninety-Nine-Cent Stores
The author of peep finds poetic surprises in the workaday language of commerce and culture.
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The Anthologist: A Compendium of Uncommon Collections
A look at three new anthologies, including Between Paradise and Earth: Eve Poems and The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape.
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Literary MagNet: Candace Williams
The author of I Am the Most Dangerous Thing introduces five journals that first published their poems and engaged them in community, including Sixth Finch and Prelude.
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ChatGPT Revises Authorship
With the rise of AI-generated writing, writers and publications alike struggle with the question of what authorship means.
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Small Press Points: 2Leaf Press
Hoping to inform, entertain, and connect to readers, 2Leaf Press has published dozens of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction titles as an independent nonprofit serving a diverse audience.
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The Written Image: Monica Ong—Rewriting the Sky
In her new Planetaria series, artist Monica Ong crafts visual poems in the form of objects that prompt the audience to experience poetry through the lens of astronomy.
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Q&A: Major Jackson of The Slowdown
Following poets laureate Ada Limón and Tracy K. Smith, poet Major Jackson steps into a new role as host of the celebrated podcast, sustaining and encouraging listeners to find new possibilities within poetry.
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Literary Prizes Under Scrutiny
A trio of academics—including two poets—has compiled data on the winners and judges of major literary prizes in the U.S. Their findings raise critical questions about how social hierarchies influence who gets rewarded for their writing.
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Radiant Fog: One Writer’s Life in Rural America
A poet shares how she builds a life around her writing in rural Wisconsin, where literary community takes surprising—and sometimes amusing—forms. She finds both struggle and abundance in her chosen path.
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Blooming How She Must: A Profile of Camille T. Dungy
With roots in nature writing, environmental justice, poetry, and photography, Camille T. Dungy’s new book, Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden, delves into the personal and political act of cultivating one’s own green space.
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Bringing the Joy: A Profile of Luis Alberto Urrea
Luis Alberto Urrea always knew his mother had a story; he just didn’t know how to tell it. But in researching his new novel, Good Night, Irene, he gained a deeper understanding of the person she was and the happy ending she deserved.
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Page One: Where New and Noteworthy Books Begin
The first lines of a dozen noteworthy books, including Any Other City by Hazel Jane Plante and Thinning Blood: A Memoir of Family, Myth, and Identity by Leah Myers.
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Ten Questions for Elizabeth Metzger
“Everything you are afraid of will be surpassed by desires you cannot yet imagine.” —Elizabeth Metzger, Lying In
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Sometimes I Think That This Is What It Is to Write a Poem (and at Such Times I Am, Without a Doubt, a Monster of Grandiosity)
The author of peep considers the ecstatic freedom of writing poetry.
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Ten Questions for S. L. Wisenberg
“My writer’s brain picks up little pieces here and there and puts them together.” —S. L. Wisenberg, author of The Wandering Womb: Essays in Search of Home
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Somewhere Somebody Is Doing Something Right Now
The author of peep offers an exercise in negative capability.
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Ten Questions for Victor LaValle
“I had to not only transform into different people and places, but to also find myself within both of those.” —Victor LaValle, author of Lone Women
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How Do You Know When to Stop Revising?
The authors of The Invisible Art of Literary Editing engage in a dialogue about textual doneness.
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Ten Questions for Laird Hunt
“Read more! Listen more! See more! Feel more! Take better notes!” —Laird Hunt, author of This Wide Terraqueous World
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Ten Questions for Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
“I need to be authentic to my culture and invite readers to embrace the Vietnamese culture through my work.” —Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, author of Dust Child
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Found Forms, Found Stories
The author of The Art of Brevity: Crafting the Very Short Story offers a lesson in becoming a verbal junk collector.
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