The Best New Poets series consists of annual poetry anthologies, each containing fifty poems from poets without a previously published collection. The first edition of the series appeared in 2005, and was published, as all later editions have been, by Samovar Press. In 2006, the University of Virginia Press began distributing the anthology.
Poems are nominated for the series by creative writing programs and literary magazines, though poets can also self-nominate through an online submission system. The poems to be included in the anthology are selected by a guest editor. Previous guest editors include George Garrett (2005), Eric Pankey (2006), Natasha Trethewey (2007), Mark Strand (2008), Kim Addonizio (2009), Claudia Emerson (2010), D. A. Powell (2011), Matthew Dickman (2012), Brenda Shaughnessy (2013), Dorianne Laux (2014) Tracy K. Smith. [1] (2015), Mary Szybist (2016), Natalie Diaz (2017), Kyle Dargan (2018), Cate Marvin (2019), Brian Teare (2020), Kaveh Akbar (2021), Paula Bohince (2022), Anna Journey (2023), and Anders Carlson-Wee (2024).
The series, begun by University of Virginia professor Jeb Livingood in 2005 (edited by poet Jazzy Danziger from 2011 to 2015), has published a number of notable writers since its inception, including Diana Vlavianos, Deborah Ager, Craig Blais, Christina Duhig, Cynthia Lowen, Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet, Jennifer Militello, Kerri French, Seth Abramson, Stephanie Rogers, Rhett Iseman Trull, Anna Journey (2008 National Poetry Series winner), Zach Savich (2008 Iowa Poetry Prize winner), Michael McGriff (2007 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize winner), Julie Larios (2006 Pushcart Prize winner), Alysia Nicole Harris, recent Stegner Fellows Keith Ekiss, Robin Ekiss, Kai Carlson-Wee, Edgar Kunz, Chelsea Bunn, Martha Greenwald, Dina Hardy, Sara Michas-Martin, Peter Kline, and Kimberly Grey, as well as Tarfia Faizullah, Ocean Vuong, Sam Sax, Leila Chatti, Phillip B. Williams, Tiana Clark, Peter LaBerge, Jameson Fitzpatrick, Fatimah Asghar, Anders Carlson-Wee, and Kaveh Akbar. To date, the youngest poets to be included in the series are Aidan Forster, Christina Im, and Lily Zhou, who were all included in the 2017 edition as high school seniors.
Of the 2013 edition, Publishers Weekly wrote:
The work, much of it nominated by university writing programs and literary journals, is diverse in voice and subject matter, providing an effective barometer of contemporary American poetry...The poems seem to owe as much to 20th-century traditions as to the spirit of invention, and, as such, are a reminder that contemporary poetry is not only alive and well but continuing to evolve. [4]
According to The Virginia Quarterly Review :
The youthfulness of the anthology, combined with the wide scope of its contents, is apparent in the poems, which are edgy and daring. Emerging, whether intentionally or not, as a younger sibling to the Best American Poetry anthologies, this series breaks new ground and provides fresh treasures. [5]
Poet and critic David Wojahn has said of the series,
It's a nervy thing for an anthology to label itself Best New Poets, but...this collection lives up to its name. It's a rich and readable selection, reflecting no party-line aesthetic, and attesting to the formidable promise of the emerging generation." [6]
Of the 2006 edition, ForeWord Magazine wrote,
With an alert ear for new voices, this anthology offers a different kind of validation: that of being well-heard. The result is a vibrant smorgasbord..." [7]
Dorianne Laux is an American poet.
Kim Addonizio is an American poet and novelist.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Mary Szybist is an American poet. She won the National Book Award for Poetry for her collection Incarnadine.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Camille T. Dungy is an American poet and professor.
Christina Duhig is an American poet.
Cynthia Lowen is the producer and writer of the 2011 documentary film Bully and director and producer of the 2018 documentary film Netizens.
Kerri French is an American poet.
Robin Beth Schaer is an American poet.
Stephanie Rogers is an American poet from Ohio who now lives in New York City. Her work has appeared in The Southern Review, Pleiades, Cream City Review, Madison Review, and The Pinch. She co-founded the feminist film review website Bitch Flicks
Jeanne Marie Beaumont is an American poet and author of the four poetry collections Letters from Limbo, Burning of the Three Fires, Curious Conduct, and Placebo Effects. Her work has appeared in Boston Review, Barrow Street, Colorado Review, Court Green, Harper’s, Harvard Review, Manhattan Review, The Nation, New American Writing, Ploughshares, Poetry Northwest, Witness, and World Literature Today, and she has had poems featured on The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor.
Beth Bachmann is an American poet.
Jeb Livingood is an American essayist, short story writer, editor, and academic.
Steve Kistulentz is an American novelist, poet, and screenwriter. He is the founding director of the graduate creative writing program at Saint Leo University in Florida. He is no longer serving as the Poet Laureate of Safety Harbor, FL. after admitting to transmitting child pornography.
Jazzy Danziger is an American poet and editor.
Diane Lockward is an American poet. The author of four full-length books of poetry, Lockward serves as the Poet Laureate of West Caldwell, New Jersey.
Tyler Mills is an American poet, essayist, editor, and scholar. She is Editor-in-Chief of The Account, an Assistant Professor of English at New Mexico Highlands University and the author of Hawk Parable, winner of the 2017 Akron Poetry Prize and Tongue Lyre, winner of the 2011 Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award. She is also an editor and teacher and lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Kaveh Akbar is an Iranian-American writer.
Janine Joseph is a Filipino-American poet and author.
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