LETTER

Feedback from a reader

William Ferris’s letter to the editor (May/June 2020) regarding the contemporary publishing world, specifically how to navigate it, struck a chord with me, perhaps because we are of the same demographic. I am a published writer of nonfiction and poetry dating back to the early 1970s. I have a proposal for the world of publishing, both public and private, born of what I think might be the impending global postpandemic downturn in literary publishing as a business—higher costs, struggling-tosurvive small presses, decreasing paying readerships, etc. It behooves us, in all sectors, to think carefully about how we return to a postpandemic society. I propose we move away from the notion of writing contests. Can we reorganize around the theme of Recognition, not Competition? “$1,000 for a single poem,” as advertised in some contests, seems outrageous. What if that prize was shared among a small number of poets declared excellent and deserving? It might even result in a larger number of readers, for both winners and publishers. Let’s think outside the box.

MARY L. GARDNER

Skaneateles, New York