Craft Capsule: Elegy
Cameron Awkward-Rich weighs the ethical demands of elegy.
Article Archive
Articles from Poet & Writers Magazine include material from the print edition plus exclusive online-only material.
Ten Questions for Tommy Pico
“Fridays I would slash and burn upwards of 80 percent of that week’s word haul. Anything that stayed had to earn its keep.” —Tommy Pico, author of Feed
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Craft Capsule: Writing “After”
Cameron Awkward-Rich considers the possibilities and pitfalls of “after” poetry—poetry inspired by or borrowing from another writer’s work.
An Indie Alternative to Amazon?
Andy Hunter, the cofounder of Electric Literature and Literary Hub, launches Bookshop, an e-commerce platform that promises indie bookstores a way to take back sales from Amazon.
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The Anthologist: A Compendium of Uncommon Collections
A look inside three new anthologies, including A Map Is Only One Story: Twenty Writers on Immigration, Family, and the Meaning of Home edited by Nicole Chung and Mensah Demary.
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Ahsahta Press Closes Its Doors
After more than forty years of publishing innovative poetry, Ahsahta Press will shutter in June 2020.
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Inside Publishing: The Literary Agent Assistant
In the first installment of a yearlong series on publishing professionals, three literary agent assistants in New York City reveal the inner workings of a literary agency.
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Poetic Lenses: Our Fifteenth Annual Look at Debut Poetry
Ten debut poets published in 2019, including Camonghne Felix and Jake Skeets, share their advice, inspiration, and path to publication.
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Open the Book
Artist Diane Samuels turns works of literature inside out in a dramatic process of creative rewriting that highlights the intimate relationship between writer and reader in a painstaking homage to the ultimate act of creativity: writing.
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Graphic Narrative Workshops
Courses in graphic storytelling gain popularity at MFA programs, workshops, and community spaces across the United States.
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Small Press Points: Trembling Pillow Press
The New Orleans press publishes four or five poetry titles a year in an eclectic range of styles.
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Literary MagNet: Beth Peterson
An author recommends five journals that published essays from her debut collection, Dispatches From the End of Ice.
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The Written Image: Shelley Jackson’s “Snow”
An author tells a fantastical story by writing it a word at a time in the snow.
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Q&A: Kelly Link Returns to Bookselling
The fiction writer on the twentieth anniversary of Small Beer Press and the opening of Book Moon, a bookstore in Massachusetts that she co-owns with her husband, Gavin J. Grant.
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Page One: Where New and Noteworthy Books Begin
The first lines of a dozen noteworthy books including Cleanness by Garth Greenwell and Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu.
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Ten Questions for Jeffrey Colvin
“I had to imagine the life of characters who shared some of my own history but had their own unique ways of being in the world.” —Jeffrey Colvin, author of Africaville
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Craft Capsule: Revising the Archive
Cameron Awkward-Rich discusses turning archival research—traces of the past—into poems.
Ten Questions for Jeff VanderMeer
“Writing—the writing it down—has increasingly become the least important part of the process. Living in the world of the novel, existing as the characters, viewing the day-to-day from their perspective, is the most important thing.” —Jeff VanderMeer, author of Dead Astronauts
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Distant Places and Pulses: A Conversation With Nathalie Handal
The author of Life in a Country Album discusses her influences, the idea of borders, and her multinational background.
Ten Questions for Dexter Palmer
“Sometimes at the end of an eight-hour day I’d have a single paragraph to show for it.” —Dexter Palmer, author of Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen
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Matt Brogan to Lead Poetry Society of America
Matt Brogan is the new executive director of the Poetry Society of America. He takes the helm from Alice Quinn, who led the organization for more than eighteen years.
Ten Questions for Nina MacLaughlin
“Much of the book I had no recollection of writing, and it was strange to be confronted with what I’d done, as though I was getting access to parts of my mind I hadn’t known existed.” —Nina MacLaughlin, author of Wake, Siren
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Ten Questions for Elaine Equi
“Don’t be afraid to cut it if it’s not working.” —Elaine Equi, author of The Intangibles
Ten Questions for Malcolm Tariq
“My preferred notebook is a sharp-cornered, hardcover Roaring Spring black marble composition book with 20# paper, item number 77461, college ruled—I’m a Pisces and need a line to keep me grounded.” —Malcolm Tariq, author of Heed the Hollow
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I Just Published a Book: Why Am I Depressed?
A debut memoirist speaks up about post-publication blues and offers some suggestions for how to cure them.
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