Setting the Table for Your Reader
The author of [WHITE] explores the benefits of writing to a specific audience and the risks of trying to meet the market’s imagined demands.
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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 Ottessa Moshfegh
“I was struck by the freedom of third person, how I could roam and jump and skip around, and cozy up to characters and then back away.” —Ottessa Moshfegh, author of Lapvona
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Revise Like a Painter
The author of [WHITE] considers how writers might take inspiration from visual artists in their approach to revision, pushing beyond surface editing to “see” their work afresh.
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Exclusive Excerpt: Blithedale Canyon
An excerpt from Blithedale Canyon by Michael Bourne, who writes in the July/August 2022 issue about his long path to publishing his debut novel without the assistance of a literary agent.
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Book Prize Celebrates Older Poets
Recognizing that talent and relevance have no age limit, the Henry Morgenthau III First Book Poetry Prize from Passager Books spotlights debuts by poets age seventy and older.
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Centering Neurodivergent Poets
The Multiverse book series from Milkweed Editions spotlights the work of neurodivergent poets and powerful new ways of “languaging.”
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Page One: Where New and Noteworthy Books Begin
The first lines of a dozen noteworthy books including The Crane Wife: A Memoir in Essays by CJ Hauser and Gods of Want by K-Ming Chang.
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First Fiction 2022
Interviews with debut authors Leila Mottley, Tsering Yangzom Lama, Arinze Ifeakandu, Paige Clark, and Morgan Talty, as well as excerpts from their books.
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The Anthologist: A Compendium of Uncommon Collections
A look at three new anthologies, including Body Language: Writers on Identity, Physicality, and Making Space for Ourselves, edited by Nicole Chung and Matt Ortile.
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Open Letter’s Translator Triptych
By presenting translations in trios, a new initiative from Open Letter Books puts international literature in context and celebrates the role of translator as curator.
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Small Press Points: rinky dink press
Each no bigger than a deck of cards, rinky dink’s “micro zines” aim to “get poetry back in the hands (and pockets) of the people” and make the genre more accessible.
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Literary MagNet: Raquel Gutiérrez
The author on the journals and zines that published essays from their collection, Brown Neon.
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The Written Image: Stopan
The celebrated Bulgarian bookmaker Stopan calls on his country’s craft traditions to create fantastical artist’s books that are “both in and out of folklore.”
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Keeping the Stories: A Profile of Kali Fajardo-Anstine
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.”
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Q&A: Translating Ukrainian Voices
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.
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Ten Questions for Christine Kandic Torres
“I wanted to write female friendship in a way that felt honest to me.” —Christine Kandic Torres, author of The Girls in Queens
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Freedom From Genre as Freedom to Write
The author of [WHITE] explores how writing outside one’s primary genre can lead to literary breakthroughs.
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Ten Questions for Sloane Crosley
“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
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Mixing Up My Poetry Practice to Beat Writer’s Block
The author of [WHITE] shares how experimenting with found texts can energize the poetic process and expand a poet’s lyric repertoire.
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Ten Questions for Lydia Conklin
“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
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Life Goals: A Q&A With Elif Batuman
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.
Ten Questions for Gabe Montesanti
“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
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Ten Questions for Putsata Reang
“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
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Brave Words: On Jan Beatty’s “Red Sugar” and Finding Courage in Poetry
Lesley Wheeler reckons with vulnerability, loss, and family through a close reading of Jan Beatty’s poem “Red Sugar."
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Ten Questions for Vanessa Hua
“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
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