Poets & Writers Theater

In this video, Carrie R. Moore, winner of the University of Texas at Austin’s 2021 Keene Prize for Literature, talks about how a Solange song inspired her short story “The Rest of the Morning.” Moore, author of Make Your Way Home (Tin House Books, 2025), is featured in “First Fiction 2025” in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“It’s just wonderful to be able to tell my story and tell our family’s story, and it’s very emotional.” In this interview, Vanessa Chan discusses the personal and historical inspiration for her debut novel, The Storm We Made (S&S/Marysue Rucci Books, 2024), which is January’s Good Morning America Book Club Pick.

“When preparing to call the soul back, first ask the Earth for permission to take from her only what will be needed.” In this virtual reading hosted by the Journal of Expressive Writing, Tommy Archuleta reads from his debut poetry collection, Susto (Center for Literary Publishing, 2023), and talks about becoming a published author. Archuleta is featured in “5 Over 50: 2023” in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“My husband and I had a fight today about pictures—I never like the ones of me, and that pisses him off.” In this reading for Orange Blossom Review, Donna Spruijt-Metz reads her poem “To the Death,” which appears in her debut collection, General Release From the Beginning of the World (Parlor Press, 2023). Spruijt-Metz is featured in “5 Over 50: 2023” in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Eirinie Carson talks about her debut memoir, The Dead Are Gods (Melville House, 2023), which was inspired by the sudden loss of a close friend, in this conversation with author Savala Nolan at the Booksmith bookstore in San Francisco. Carson is featured in “The New Nonfiction 2023” in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Thierry Kehou, director of Programs & Partnerships at Poets & Writers, hosts this celebratory reading by the inaugural fiction cohort of Get the Word Out, a publicity incubator for debut authors. Publicity mentor Lauren Cerand introduces authors Federico Erebia, Kristen Gentry, Anita Gail Jones, Chin-Sun Lee, Magogodi Makhene, Mark Ernest Pothier, Shannon Sanders, Brenda Wilson, Lauren Yero, and Ada Zhang for the event.

In this virtual reading, Poets & Writers editor in chief Kevin Larimer introduces the 2022 cohort of “5 Over 50” debut authors, Sari Botton, author of And You May Find Yourself: Confessions of a Late-Blooming Gen-X Weirdo (Heliotrope Books, 2022); Shareen K. Murayama, author of Housebreak (Bad Betty Press, 2022); Madhushree Ghosh, author of Khabaar: An Immigrant Journey of Food, Memory, and Family (University of Iowa Press, 2022); David Santos Donaldson, author of Greenland (Amistad, 2022); and Jane Campbell, author of Cat Brushing (Grove Atlantic, 2022).

Watch the trailer for The Peach Seed (Henry Holt, 2023), the debut novel by Anita Gail Jones, one of our 2022 Get the Word Out fiction authors. For more from Jones, read her installment of our Writers Recommend series.