Capturing Sacred, Secular Imagery
The author of Cord Swell (Norton, 2025) reflects on offering reverence to ordinary objects in poetry.
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Article Archive
Articles from Poet & Writers Magazine include material from the print edition plus exclusive online-only material.
Ten Questions for Bianca Stone
“Advice for poets should be poems.” —Bianca Stone, author of The Near and Distant World
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Crafting the Artifact of Voice
The author of Cord Swell (Norton, 2025) considers how memory can be mined for particular phrases and pronunciations to guide poetry.
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Academy of American Poets Names Robert Casper President, Executive Director
Casper, who has worked at a number of literary arts organizations over the last twenty-five years, most recently as head of Poetry and Literature in the Literary Initiatives Office at the Library of Congress, will start in his new role on January 26.
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Ten Questions for Xiaolu Guo
“Many unknown things are possible, many unexpected turns of events will arise.” —Xiaolu Guo, author of Call Me Ishmaelle
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Toward the Sensuous Form: Transing the Essay
The author of Voice of the Fish: A Lyric Essay (Graywolf Press, 2022) reflects on what a trans essay might look like.
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Toward the Sensuous Form: Embracing New Forms of Knowing in the Essay
The author of Voice of the Fish: A Lyric Essay (Graywolf Press, 2022) considers what it would mean for the essay to embrace new kinds of meaning-making.
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Q&A: Sze Named U.S. Poet Laureate
The newly appointed U.S. poet laureate discusses how he learned his craft as a literary translator and his plans for promoting poetry in translation.
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Dare to Defamiliarize: In Praise of Fluidity
The acclaimed fiction writer, essayist, comic book writer, and screenwriter cautions against growing too rigid in your practice and suggests kicking down some doors and using writing as a multi-tool.
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Truing the Narrative: Revising for Symmetry to Make Your Manuscript Sing
When a memoirist studies her manuscript for patterns in theme and style, the symmetries she cultivates bring powerful shape to her book.
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A Computer-Free Day: How One Small Mistake Changed My Perspective on Productivity
A writer of fiction and nonfiction forgets her laptop on a mini writing retreat and discovers new and productive paths through creativity without the constant pull of technology.
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The Written Image: Ediciones Vigía
Based in Matanzas, Cuba, Ediciones Vigía has transformed over forty years from an informal gathering of creatives into an inventive artisan book press and publishing workshop.
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Literary MagNet: Patricia Q. Bidar
Flash fiction writer Patricia Q. Bidar highlights journals, including Ghost Parachute and Flash Frog, that embrace the shortest of short fiction and have published her work.
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Writers’ History Lessons
The Depression-era Federal Writers’ Project enlisted writers to tell a nation’s stories. Now the People’s Recorder podcast explores the history of the project and its continued relevance.
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Study Shows Reading on the Decline
A study in iScience found a 43 percent drop over the last twenty years in the number of Americans who report reading for pleasure daily.
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The Literature of Illness, Healing
Bellevue Literary Review celebrates twenty-five years of platforming creative writing about health and the world of the body.
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Page One: Where New and Noteworthy Books Begin
The first lines of a dozen noteworthy books, including The Palace by Andrés Cerpa and The Flower Bearers by Rachel Eliza Griffiths.
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Three-Day Writing Detox: Tips for Starting the New Year With Confidence
A poet recommends a three-day program to examine your writing, where you write, what you write with, and what your goals are as a way to refresh your spirit and energize your writing practice.
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Inspiration, Imagined
Since 2010 we have asked graphic designers and artists to create new, surprising, and uniquely inspiring covers for the first issue of the year; in this portfolio we look back at their work.
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Small Press Points: Half Mystic
Founded in Singapore in 2015 and now based in New York City, Half Mystic Press publishes two books each year that engage with music—in theme or in spirit—as well as an annual journal.
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New Ways of Seeing: Our Twenty-First Annual Look at Debut Poets
Ten debut poets, including Gbenga Adesina and Kalehua Kim, share the inspiration, advice, and writers block remedies that have sustained their literary practices.
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Brave New Metaphors: Lessons From Science Fiction
The celebrated writer shows how science fiction’s “novums”—the futuristic or fantastical developments a writer invents in their work—can delve into philosophical questions, explore contemporary issues, and help us see worlds that are not yet real.
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Seek the Unknown in the Familiar: Lessons From Historical Fiction
The best historical fiction “vibrates with a past that is in the present” and reveals the unseen in stories thought we knew—craft skills any writer can bring to their work.
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The Time Is Now: Writing Prompts and Exercises
Write a poem that reflects on the passing of time, a story that uses anonymity to build themes of disappearance and loneliness, or a personal essay about your relationship to a specific technology.
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Cultivate Suspense: Lessons From Thrillers
The author of Winter Counts offers a masterclass in building suspense, whether your character is planning a heist or planting a garden.
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