Article Archive: Feature
Articles from Poet & Writers Magazine include material from the print edition plus exclusive online-only material.
Road Trip: A Profile of Sherwin Bitsui

Sherwin Bitsui’s new poetry collection, Flood Song—a sprawling, panoramic journey through landscape, time, and cultures—is well worth the ride.
Agents & Editors: A Q&A With Editor Jonathan Karp

As the editor in chief of Twelve, Jonathan Karp is always looking for good writing. Considering that half of all the books he’s published there have become best-sellers, that should make a lot of writers very, very excited.
Have a Good One: A Profile of Anselm Berrigan

For Anselm Berrigan, whose fourth book of poems, Free Cell, is just out from City Lights, the work that pays the bills is in frequent opposition to the work that fills the page.
Agents & Editors: A Q&A With Agent Georges Borchardt

Georges Borchardt has been an agent for more than fifty years. He’s seen authors, editors, and other agents come and go, but two things have never changed: his belief that good writing is a gift and his ability to get it published.
Agents & Editors: A Q&A With Jonathan Galassi

Some publishers may have lost sight of what’s important, but the head of FSG shows his allegiance as he discusses the fallacy of the blockbuster mentality, what writers should look for in agents, and his close bond with authors.
Agents & Editors: A Q&A With Four Literary Agents

Four agents discuss how the economy is affecting their jobs, where they’re finding new writers, and what totally freaks them out about MFA students.
Agents & Editors: A Q&A With Four Young Editors

Four young editors, from big houses and small, take some time off to discuss what makes a good manuscript, what they’ve come to expect from their authors, and how much of their work needs to be done at night and on weekends.
Dear (Hypothetical) Reader: An Interview With Lucia Perillo

Award-winning poet Lucia Perillo would just as soon surrender the idea of a readership altogether and focus on what truly matters—great poetry.
Agents & Editors: A Q&A With Four Young Literary Agents

Four young literary agents meet for an evening of food, wine, and conversation about the writing they’re looking for, how they’re finding it, what they love, what they hate, and ten things writers should never ever do.
The World Over: A Profile of Rolf Potts
Getting there may be half the fun, but for Rolf Potts, author of Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, the art of traveling—and travel writing—raises more important questions than how to go from point A to point B.
The Spirit and the Strength: A Profile of Toni Morrison

A writer doesn't work for four decades, publish ten books, and win the Nobel Prize without developing a healthy dose of skepticism. This attitude, combined with the confidence to disregard critics, has made Toni Morrison stronger than ever.
Agents & Editors: A Q&A With Editor Chuck Adams

A veteran editor who has worked at publishing houses both large and small, Chuck Adams of Algonquin Books talks about what beginning writers tend to forget, the secret to selling two million copies, and the problem with MFA writing.
Agents & Editors: A Q&A With Agent Molly Friedrich

Known as a heavy-hitting agent willing to go to bat for her clients, Molly Friedrich discusses how an author should choose an agent, what she looks for in a manuscript, and what separates great agents from merely good ones.
After the Flood: A Profile of David Rhodes

The story of David Rhodes is punctuated by early successes and devastating losses, personal demons and unlikely angels, dogged determination and blind faith, and the next chapter begins with the triumphant return of a major American novelist after a thirty-year silence.
Agents & Editors: A Q&A With Editor Janet Silver

Having settled into her new role at Nan Talese’s imprint following her ouster from Houghton Mifflin, editor Janet Silver discusses what she looks for in a new writer and what every author should know about agents.
Agents & Editors: A Q&A With Agent Nat Sobel

Nat Sobel, one of the most forward-thinking and outspoken agents in the business, voices his opinions on what authors should do for themselves, the dangers of MFA programs, and what he finds in literary magazines.
Agents & Editors: A Q&A With Editor Pat Strachan

With nearly four decades of editing experience, publishing veteran Pat Strachan reveals the qualities she looks for in fiction, her approach to editing, and how writers can help themselves navigate the industry.
The Gun On the Table: A Profile of Tobias Wolff

The short stories of Tobias Wolff, collected in four books during the past three decades, derive much of their strength from what is left unsaid—but what is said is usually violent and almost always disturbing.
The Poetry of Beginning: Twelve Poets Who Got Things Going in 2007
Twelve debut poets talk about their experiences publishing first collections of poetry.
Chasing the Whale: A Profile of Junot Díaz
Eleven years after the publication of his best-selling debut story collection, Junot Díaz’s follow-up has finally arrived.
Noble Rider: A Profile of Bin Ramke
With the publication of his ninth collection, poet Bin Ramke has emerged as one of the avant-garde's treasured half-secrets.
Truth, Lies, and Outsider Art: A Profile of Greg Bottoms

Greg Bottoms has demonstrated that the truth is rarely black and white in all three of his books of creative nonfiction, but never more vibrantly than in his latest, The Colorful Apocalypse.