November/December 2020

Sidney Clifton, the eldest daughter of poet Lucille Clifton, has purchased her childhood home in Baltimore with plans to recreate the space as a haven for emerging and established artists.

The first lines of a dozen noteworthy books, including Dearly by Margaret Atwood and Memorial by Bryan Washington. 

Big Shoulders Books publishes writing from and about Chicagoans whose stories are overlooked—and then gives its books away for free.  

For the first time in its 113-year history, MacDowell launches a virtual residency in an effort to build artistic community and fellowship during a time of social distancing.

Two new notable anthologies, And We Came Outside and Saw the Stars Again and African American Poetry, published in the second half of 2020.

The Texas press publishes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction that is “not only invested in self but also community” by writers from the United States, Latin America, and beyond.

The fiction writer on five journals that published stories from her debut collection, If the Body Allows It. 

In response to libraries shutting down during the pandemic, artists Katie Garth and Tracy Honn have collected a series of short artists’ books that can be downloaded for free and printed at home. 

Dr. Gloria House, a longtime editor at Broadside Lotus Press, discusses the publisher’s future and role in the literary community.

Write a poem considering the beauty of a vestigial organ, a story in which the main character is reflected in the setting, or a lyric essay on memories of intimacy from the past. 

The author presents his theory of the writing life as a “toilsome, magical, unpredictable road,” and illustrates the hurdles an ambitious writer might encounter.

The author finds solace in rereading George Saunders’s novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, while mourning the death of her father during the pandemic.