Alice James Books (Alice James Award Editor’s Choice) There is no country for me except the body. And my mother’s body. —from “Exaltation” How it began: Oh, who knows! My lived experience. A burning desire. I know I got serious about the oldest poems

In anticipation of a new year of writing, we asked some of our favorite authors—who also happen to be some of the most inspired and inspiring people around—to share exactly what moves them to write. The result is a veritable sea of ideas and recommen

Graywolf Press (Cave Canem Poetry Prize) I crept to mom ’n’ pops where bells above doors snitched to mention my entrance.But I tolled them bells. I was toys to be bothered. I had made such toyish mistakes.In any Black sentence, you’d love nothing mor

This past fall Ada Limón began her tenure as the twenty-fourth U.S. poet laureate, succeeding Joy Harjo, who served two terms. Limón’s main task during her 2022–2023 term will be to raise awareness and appreciation of poetry at a national level—a res

Autumn House Press (Rising Writer Prize in Poetry) (no wrestler has ever used anAnnie Lennox song as entrymusicfor fearthe whole world might weep,splitapart at its belt, whistle itsconscience to make itself cry) —from “bar trivia: no wrestler has eve

YesYes Books (Pamet River Prize) How has love brought you here? My head is heavy from the crown. —from “For the Living in the New World” How it began: After ending a decade-long queer relationship, I wrote to make sense of the heartache. I gave mysel

Top tweets, Instagram posts, and other social media ephemera Proving there really is no wrong way to use Poets & Writers Magazine, as long as it’s in the service of writers, reader Leslie Lindsay (@leslielindsay1) shared an Instagram Story showcasing

Changes Press (Bergman Prize) A relationship is only that— the space between two shapes. A shape. —“Tempelhof” How it began: I started this book a few months after finishing my MFA at NYU. I moved out of New York City after eleven years and moved in

Copper Canyon Press you ask the moon for your reflection she gives you her last breath —from “Scrying” How it began: I was compelled to write this book because I knew it had potential to speak to people in the same way that writing the poems spoke to

School and public libraries across the United States have banned books at a blistering pace in the last year amid heated political debates about whether young people should have access to certain narratives—particularly those exploring themes of quee

Milkweed Editions (National Poetry Series) …we listen to grandmother talk about shedding. And for the dark pit of her mouth, we have reverence. —from “About the effects of shedding skin” How it began: Hawaiians have been writers and lovers of poetry

University of Arkansas Press (Etel Adnan Poetry Prize) don’t makean amenablesaint. —from “How to Lazarus Yourself” How it began: I was drawn to writing this book out of a deep curiosity about our technologies, especially the ways we are creating such

WHAT if poetry were a kind of medicine, or a salve for the problems of daily life? The thought occurred to me in 2020, a few months after the outbreak of COVID-19, which I’d been covering for the Washington Post in Berlin. Like most reporters, I inha