In this issue

Our annual Literary Agents Issue features profiles of eleven agents on what they want to read and how to query them; an in-depth look at the growing trend of agents representing poets; an interview with former poet laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Natasha Trethewey; our twentieth annual roundup of the summer's best debut fiction; special reports on the effects of COVID-19 on the business of books, indie bookstores, literary festivals, and authors' creativity in quarantine; writing prompts; and more.

Save Indie Bookstores

Writers tend to have their favorite local book-stores. The one where the staff members are mostly poets.

4 mins

Secrets Hidden in the Stacks

When University of Virginia (UVA) professor Andrew Stauffer sent his class to the library in the fall of 2009, he expected them to focus on the printed text of the books they brought back.

5 mins

Kuipers Leads Poetry Northwest

In January the oldest literary magazine in the Pacific Northwest welcomed a new editor to the helm.

3 mins

What We Found in Writing

ON THE evening Denver went into lockdown, I was fishing. The South Platte runs right through the city, and if you’re into urban fly-fishing, you can cast for huge carp among the wrecked grocery carts and old tires.

10+ mins

A Poetics Of Resilience

In her new book, Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir, former poet laureate and Pulitzer Prize Winner Natasha Trethewy contends with persistent trauma, both personal and cultural, going beyond witnessing to seek truth in all its complexity.

10+ mins

First Fiction 2020

In our twentieth annual roundup of the summer’s best debut fiction, Lauren Groff, Bryan Washington, Paul Lisicky, Sue Monk Kidd, and Sarah Gailey introduce first books by Ashleigh Bryant Phillips, Jean Kyoung Frazier, Corinne Manning, Megha Majumdar, and John Fram.

10+ mins

Read all stories from Poets & Writers Magazine

Poets & Writers Magazine Description:

For more than twenty years, Poets & Writers Magazine has been a trusted companion to writers who take their vocation seriously. Within its pages, our readers find provocative essays on the literary life, practical guidance for getting published and pursuing writing careers, in-depth profiles of poets, fiction writers, and writers of creative nonfiction, and conversation among fellow professionals.