Where Big Books Are Born: Danez Smith on the Millay Colony
The author of Don’t Call Us Dead on the retreat in Austerlitz, New York.
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Article Archive
Articles from Poet & Writers Magazine include material from the print edition plus exclusive online-only material.
Craft Capsule: The Craft of Humility, the Craft of Love
A poet and essayist recalls his personal introductions to poetry and its craft during his younger years.
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Craft Capsule: Every Novel Is a Journey
Authors share their notes on writing in this series of micro craft essays. In the latest installment: Tayari Jones completes the journey of writing her novel An American Marriage.
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Craft Capsule: Finding the Center
Authors share their notes on writing in this series of micro craft essays. In the latest installment: finding the center of your story.
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Craft Capsule: The Scourge of Technology
Authors share their notes on writing in this series of micro craft essays. In the latest installment: writing around tech in contemporary fiction.
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Craft Capsule: Finding Your Story
Authors share their notes on writing in this series of micro craft essays. In the latest installment: finding the story that challenges you.
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The Darkness Within: In Praise of the Unlikable
How important is it for characters to be likeable? A look at a controversial question, and how literature’s darker actors can pose useful lessons about both the craft of writing and ourselves.
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The Whole Self: Our Thirteenth Annual Look at Debut Poets
A look at some of the most exciting first books of poetry published in 2017, including WHEREAS by Layli Long Soldier and Calling a Wolf a Wolf by Kaveh Akbar.
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Agent Advice: Annie Hwang of Folio Literary Management
A literary agent answers readers’ questions—from how seriously agents consider a writer’s previous sales to how to responsibly seek new representation.
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Bullets Into Bells
Poets, activists, and survivors respond to gun violence in a new anthology of poems and essays from Beacon Press.
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Making Connections Through Books
In celebration of ten years, sixty-five million users, and sixty-nine million book reviews, a history of Goodreads—from its beginnings as a tool for readers to its growth into an important platform for book promotion.
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The American Prison Writing Archive
A free online archive collects writing from more than 1,200 incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people, as well as correctional officers and prison staff, from across the country.
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The Written Image: The Poets Series
Melanie Janisse-Barlow turns the tables on a long tradition of poets finding their muse in visual art through her Poets Series project, a collection of painted portraits of poets.
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Why We Write: The Unwilling Suspension of Disbelief
Writing through trauma isn’t always a healing experience. A poet and novelist investigates the complexities and challenges of writing with post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Literary MagNet: Danielle Lazarin
Fiction writer Danielle Lazarin discusses five journals that have published her short stories, some of which appear in her debut collection, Back Talk, forthcoming from Penguin Books in February.
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Reviewers & Critics: Leigh Haber of O, the Oprah Magazine
The books editor at O, the Oprah Magazine discusses how she got her start in the literary world, the selection criteria behind Oprah’s Book Club picks, and her favorite books of the year.
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Small Press Points: Saddle Road Press
Small Press Points highlights the innovation and can-do spirit of independent presses. This issue features the Hilo, Hawai’i–based Saddle Road Press.
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The Many Faces of Inspiration: A Q&A With Edward Carey
Illustrator and author Edward Carey talks to the editor in chief of Poets & Writers about art, hope, and seeing the light amid darkness.
Page One: Where New and Noteworthy Books Begin
Page One offers the first lines of a dozen new and noteworthy books, including Wild Is the Wind by Carl Phillips and No Time to Spare by Ursula K. Le Guin.
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Q&A: Sokolowski’s Inspiring Word Work
Merriam-Webster’s editor-at-large, Peter Sokolowski, discusses how the popular dictionary is driven by both definitions and data, and reveals the 2017 Word of the Year: feminism.
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Polite Need Not Apply: A Q&A With Mary Gaitskill
“There are very few rules that can’t be broken,” says the author of six books of fiction and one essay collection in this wide-ranging interview.
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Whiting Foundation Announces New Prizes for Literary Magazines
Three Whiting Literary Magazine Prizes totaling up to $120,000 will be given annually for print and digital publications. The new awards program is intended to support both “nimble upstarts as well as established journals.”
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The Heart of the Novel: Nicholas Montemarano and Eric Puchner
Two fiction writers discuss scandals and second chances, finding the heart of the novel, and blurring the personal and political.
Where the Past Begins: An Interview With Amy Tan
Novelist Amy Tan talks about her approach to memoir and how this shift in process changed the way she views her fiction writing.
Aligning Literature and the News
A new book subscription service sends members a novel every two months, along with food, recipes, and related ephemera, to help readers engage with other cultures.
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