A Jubilee Year
From Poets & Writers, Inc.
The year 2020 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Poets & Writers. As we look back on a half century of service to writers—and forward to decades more of bringing you the inspiration, information, and guidance you count on from Poets & Writers Magazine, plus expanded online resources and growing national programs—we want to share a few stories that authors have told us over the years:
“Poets & Writers is a great leveler of the playing field. The magazine—easy to find, affordable to purchase—gives a beginning writer living in a small town the same access to information as a connected veteran living in Manhattan. Poets & Writers gave me, a young writer, a crash course in the writing life, giving me access to the opportunities that changed my life.” —Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage.
“Having once been a young, unpublished writer myself, the idea of having any kind of life in letters—or, for that matter, of publishing so much as a single story—felt a little like trying to fly to Jupiter in a spacecraft made entirely of whatever happens to be around the house. Poets & Writers was a crucial resource for me, in terms of the otherwise-mysterious process by which a story or novel gets, as it were, to Jupiter. It remains every bit as crucial to the new generation of the young and unpublished.” —Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours.
“When I first started writing I used to pore over the back pages of Poets & Writers Magazine. I entered lots of contests that way. When at last I placed in a contest and my name was listed in the back of Poets & Writers Magazine, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I walked around my apartment clutching a copy of the magazine in my arms. I remain grateful to P&W for giving me hope when things felt rather hopeless.” —Min Jin Lee, author of Free Food for Millionaires and Pachinko.
“My most important connection with Poets & Writers has been through the Readings & Workshops program, which has for years supported events that I’ve participated in, both in California and New York. One of the touchstones of this program is making sure that writers get paid for their work. Another is helping to create a range of experiences in which writers meet and engage with audiences. Both—the money and the encounters with audiences—are invaluable.” —Quincy Troupe, author of ten volumes of poetry, including Errançities, and six nonfiction works, including Miles and Me.
Finally, when Joy Harjo received the 2019 Jackson Poetry Prize—just days before she was named U.S. poet laureate—she said, “Poets & Writers has accompanied me on my whole journey to becoming a poet and writer.” As you pursue your writing in the years ahead, we’ll be here to help you along your journey too.
Learn more about Poets & Writers’ programs at pw.org.