The Choice to Create
An excerpt from Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courate to Create by Elissa Altman, a compassionate, inspiring literary guide to transcend the fear and shame that can too often keep important stories from being written.
Article Archive: Online Exclusive
Articles from Poet & Writers Magazine include material from the print edition plus exclusive online-only material.
Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric
Twenty years after its initial publication, Claudia Rankine’s groundbreaking Don’t Let Me Be Lonely has been reissued with a new preface written by the author.
Literary Journals Associated With MFA Programs
If, as part of your graduate experience, you’re interested in contributing your time or writing to a school-sponsored journal, check out this listing of institutions whose MFA programs produce literary magazines.
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First: Marcela Fuentes’s Malas
Growing up with strong women around her, Marcela Fuentes has always been keenly aware of how women can break out of gender norms despite domestic and societal tensions. Her debut novel, Marla, is the realization of that knowledge, weaving intergenerational stories with Mexican legend.
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Truth Is the Arrow, Mercy Is the Bow: How to Write the Unbearable Story
The author of twelve books of fiction and nonfiction confronts the question every writer inevitably faces: Is my compulsion to tell the truth stronger than my fear of the consequences?
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Wanderer & Wonderer: A Q&A With Victoria Chang
The author of With My Back to the World talks about the importance of staying true to who we are while allowing the writing to tell us where to go, and how she views her work as a mapping of her changing mind and perception.
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The Ardors of the World Will Speak to Us: A Conversation With Dan Beachy-Quick
The author and translator discusses his process of translating Sappho, the lessons that ancient poetry holds for contemporary life, and the gifts of a life steeped in practicing poetry and translation.
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It Takes a Lot of Nerve: A Q&A With Bonnie Jo Campbell
Award-winning author Bonnie Jo Campbell discusses magical realism, balancing hot button issues, and the resilient and rascally women in her latest novel, The Waters.
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Rigor and Openness: A Profile of Jenn Shapland
From her home in Santa Fe, the celebrated author of the new essay collection Thin Skin discusses queer identity, what it takes to write against capitalism and climate crisis, and the arts of rest and beekeeping.
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Rethinking Erasure: A Q&A With Nicole Sealey
The poet discusses erasure as process and metaphor, how she spent six years turning a report on police racism into poetry, and the inspiration of wild animals.
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Surgeons of the Soul: An Interview With Georgi Gospodinov and Angela Rodel
The recipients of the 2023 International Booker Prize discuss the Bulgarian author’s obsession with memory, growing up in the former socialist state, and the intricacies of translating the award-winning novel, Time Shelter.
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Writing Prompts for Beginners
A selection of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction writing prompts that are perfect for creative writers just starting out, and for teachers and workshop leaders who want to inspire their students.
Resources for Young Writers
Undergraduate writing programs, books on writing, literary organizations, summer workshops, events, contests, and other resources for those who are driven to put thoughts, emotions, and ideas into words at a young age.
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The Great Lie That Tells the Truth: A Q&A With Abraham Verghese
The author of the novel The Covenant of Water discusses the interplay between his work as a writer and his work as a physician, the epic novel as a vessel for storytelling, and geography as character.
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The Art of Reading Gary Paulsen: How “Boy Books” Taught Me to Write
As a child the author idolized the sharp prose and arresting images of survival in Gary Paulsen’s young adult novels. Now, as an adult novelist, that love is complicated by questions of who gets to tell what stories—even as her admiration endures.
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Literary Magazines That Pay
A curated list of twenty-two literary magazines that pay writers cash for their creative contributions.
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Vision Loss and the Ekphrastic Novelist: Revising My Identity as a Writer
Faced with two separate causes of potential vision loss, an author reconsiders her identify as a “visual writer,” which has been integral to her mode of creating.
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2022 Disability Futures Fellowship Recipients Announced
Seven poets and writers are among the class of 2022 Disability Futures fellows.
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Ada Limón Named U.S. Poet Laureate
Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden has named Ada Limón the next poet laureate of the United States.
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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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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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Wildness and Containment: A Conversation on Formal Structure and Poetic Surprise
Jay Hopler and Kimberly Johnson discuss their new books, the techniques and craft decisions they used in writing these collections, and the occasion to which both books respond: Hopler’s diagnosis of terminal prostate cancer in 2017.
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Stories Around the Campfire: A Q&A With Leigh Newman
Leigh Newman discusses her short story collection, Nobody Gets Out Alive, and the wild terrains of parenthood, Alaska, and the emotional lives of her characters.
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The Superpower of New Zealand Poetry: A Q&A With Kate Camp
The 2021 guest editor of Ōrongohau: Best New Zealand Poems 2021 discusses the editorial process behind the anthology and what it reveals about contemporary New Zealand poetry.
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Finding and Amplifying New Voices: Affecting Change as an Editor
Sally Kim, senior vice president and publisher of G. P. Putnam’s Sons, on amplifying her own voice to amplify the voices of others.
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