Poets & Writers Theater

This short film produced by Boa Editions and Hunger Media highlights the life and career of Lucille Clifton and how her work continues to influence and inspire the poetry community, including Boa’s Blessing the Boats Selections series. For more on the press’s work, read “Poetry to Save Us: Boa at 50” in the March/April 2026 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this 2020 video hosted by Philip Brady, Johnny Temple, publisher and editor-in-chief of Akashic Books, and Ibrahim Ahmad, the press’s former editorial director, discuss a day in the life of a small press and offer insights on the publishing process. Ahmad, currently an executive editor at Viking, is featured in Agents & Editors in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“The vitality of poetry right now, I think, is at a high pitch.” Jeff Shotts, executive editor of Graywolf Press, speaks with PBS NewsHour’s Jeffery Brown about the independent press’s success, poetry submissions and rejections, and why there’s never been a better time than now for poetry publishing.