Poetry Nominated for National Magazine Award

CHICAGO — The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is proud to announce that the magazine is a finalist for a National Magazine Award in the category of “General Excellence, Print.” Poetry shares distinguished company with fellow finalists MIT Technology Review, Mother Jones, The New Republic, and The Paris Review in the group classified as “Literary, Political and Professional Magazines.”

This is the second National Magazine Award nomination for Poetry magazine, and the fourth total for the Poetry Foundation. The Chicago Poetry Tour and the Poetry magazine podcast were nominated for Digital Ellies in 2010 and 2011, respectively. In 2011 the Poetry magazine podcast won the National Magazine Award for Digital Media in the “Podcasting” category and the print magazine won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence, Print.

The National Magazine Awards are administered by the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) and have been presented each year since 1966. The awards, sponsored by ASME in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, are regarded as the “most prestigious in the magazine industry,” according to the New York Times.

“Poetry has just celebrated 100 years of continuous publication, so to be named a finalist for a National Magazine Award is particularly timely and gratifying,” said magazine editor Christian Wiman. “We’re all very honored, especially given the quality of the other nominees.”

Founded in Chicago by Harriet Monroe in 1912, Poetry is the oldest monthly devoted to verse in the English-speaking world. Poetry’s editorial mission is to discover new voices, present new work by internationally recognized poets, and enliven discussion about and readership for contemporary poetry. The magazine established its reputation early by publishing the first important poems of T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, H.D., William Carlos Williams, Carl Sandburg, and other now-classic authors. In recent years, more than a third of the authors published in the magazine have been writers appearing for the first time.

“For a century now, never missing an issue, Poetry has been home to the best writing of and about poetry,” said Poetry Foundation president John Barr. “We are all delighted by the honor of this nomination.”

By showcasing both established and emerging poets alongside provocative reviews, essays, and criticism, Poetry sparks conversation, brings new readers to the art form, and presents the best poetry “being written today, regardless of where, by whom, or under what theory of art it is written.” This approach is outlined in Harriet Monroe’s original “Open Door” policy, delivered in the magazine’s second issue.

“Receiving this recognition for work published during Poetry magazine's centennial year is a special honor,” said senior editor Don Share. “Harriet Monroe would be proud!”

In celebration of Poetry’s centennial, commemorated in 2012, a selection of poems from the magazine’s last 100 years were included in several issues alongside remembrances of those poets by their admirers—Gerald Stern discussed Muriel Rukeyser, Patricia Smith reminisced about Gwendolyn Brooks, and Maxine Kumin recalled Howard Nemerov; a new “Back Page” feature was introduced to present curious artifacts from the magazine’s history; and the magazine’s Pegasus logo was reimagined on each 2012 cover by different artists—including Cathie Bleck, Milton Glaser, and Alex Nabaum.

Throughout 2012 new voices were featured alongside recognized names—original work was presented by poets as varied as David Ferry, Jim Harrison, Joanna Klink, Nate Klug, Yusef Komunyakaa, David Lehman, Hailey Leithauser, Patricia Lockwood, Anthony Madrid, Idra Novey, A.E. Stallings, and David Yezzi.

Standout prose from 2012 included reporter Eliza Griswold’s dispatch from the politicized island of Lampedusa, Adam Kirsch’s review of two new volumes of T.S. Eliot’s letters, contributions from Sven Birkerts and Vera Pavlova, and meditations on poetry and life from regular contributors Adam Kirsch and Clive James.

* * *

About Poetry Magazine
Founded in Chicago by Harriet Monroe in 1912, Poetry is the oldest monthly devoted to verse in the English-speaking world. Monroe’s “Open Door” policy, set forth in Volume I of the magazine, remains the most succinct statement of Poetry’s mission: to print the best poetry written today, in whatever style, genre, or approach. The magazine established its reputation early by publishing the first important poems of T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, H.D., William Carlos Williams, Carl Sandburg, and other now-classic authors. In succeeding decades it has presented—often for the first time—works by virtually every major contemporary poet.

About the Poetry Foundation
The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience. The Poetry Foundation seeks to be a leader in shaping a receptive climate for poetry by developing new audiences, creating new avenues for delivery, and encouraging new kinds of poetry through innovative literary prizes and programs. For more information, please visit www.poetryfoundation.org.

Follow the Poetry Foundation and Poetry on Facebook at facebook.com/poetryfoundation or on Twitter @PoetryFound.

POETRY FOUNDATION | 61 West Superior Street | Chicago, IL 60654 | 312.787.7070
Media contact: Kristin Gecan, 312.799.8065; [email protected]