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Articles from Poet & Writers Magazine include material from the print edition plus exclusive online-only material.
Zenia Tompkins, founder of the Tompkins Agency for Ukrainian Literature in Translation, discusses the impact of Russia’s invasion on her work and the agency’s urgent efforts to bring Ukrainian voices to the West.
Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s new novel, Women of Light, chronicles five generations of an Indigenous Chicano family in the American West and is imbued with her rich sense of history and pride in her own mixed ancestry: “The story of who I am is inextricably tied to this country.”
“I wanted to write female friendship in a way that felt honest to me.” —Christine Kandic Torres, author of The Girls in Queens
The author of [WHITE] explores how writing outside one’s primary genre can lead to literary breakthroughs.
“When you’re in that in-between stage, between starting something and gathering speed, a piece of chipped nail polish is the most riveting thing in the world.” —Sloane Crosley, author of Cult Classic
The author of [WHITE] shares how experimenting with found texts can energize the poetic process and expand a poet’s lyric repertoire.
“I have to lock up my phone every day—in a box designed for locking up cookies—during the hours I’m writing. Text messages ruin me.” —Lydia Conklin, author of Rainbow Rainbow
Elif Batuman, the best-selling author of The Idiot and its sequel, Either/Or, talks to Porochista Khakpour about the new novel, being named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and what she learned on a trip to Russia and Ukraine.
“Prioritize writing. Make time for it. Plan it like you plan your grocery lists. Plant your ass in the chair and do it.” —Gabe Montesanti, author of Brace for Impact
“There are plenty of hard truths in Ma and Me that were difficult to put down on the page, and then there are other truths that are mine, and mine alone, to keep.” —Putsata Reang, author of Ma and Me
Lesley Wheeler reckons with vulnerability, loss, and family through a close reading of Jan Beatty’s poem “Red Sugar."
“If I had known about the twists and turns beforehand, I like to think I would have kept going, but maybe it’s better not to know.” —Vanessa Hua, author of Forbidden City
“This book has its own life force. All you have to do is allow it to come together.” —Marwa Helal, author of Ante body
Jay Hopler and Kimberly Johnson discuss their new books, the techniques and craft decisions they used in writing these collections, and the occasion to which both books respond: Hopler’s diagnosis of terminal prostate cancer in 2017.
“Adjust one small plot point in the second half of the book, and you realize you’ve got to go back to the beginning and account for that change.” —Soon Wiley, author of When We Fell Apart
“I am a fitful writer: long periods of not writing followed by intense engagement.” —Dana Levin, author of Now Do You Know Where You Are
The author of Country of Origin looks back on the fifteen years she spent working on her debut novel.
Writer and visual artist Ben Shattuck turned his journals from walks through New England’s wild spaces into a book of drawings and text titled Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau.
The author spotlights five journals that published lyric and narrative poems from her debut poetry collection, The Body Family.
Two University of Baltimore MFA students founded the small press that publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and hybrid work, and as well as a podcast and literary magazine.
The Matwaala collective was launched in 2015 to create visibility for South Asian poets. Today, Matwaala programs such as the Poets of Color festival foster solidarity between different identity groups through literature.
Established in 2018, the Graywolf Press African Fiction Prize awards an African writer an advance and publication by Graywolf. The prize aims to offer African writers a platform without them having to leave the continent.
Twenty-six of the industry’s best and brightest agents responded directly to readers’ questions in this column that ran from 2010 to 2022.
The first lines of a dozen noteworthy books including The Candy House by Jennifer Egan and Ante body by Marwa Helal.
When the pandemic affected booksellers’ job security, several bookstores transitioned to employee-ownership models to create more equitable workplace environments.
