Poets and Writers

I recently stumbled upon a magazine unlike many of the literary magazines I find myself browsing through in my down time at the library. Still, despite its differences, I found this magazine, Poets and Writers, to be an extremely useful reference as an aspiring writer. Poets and Writers did not include the published fiction and poetry that make up most of other literary magazines’ content. Instead, it was designed much like what I like to call “grocery store magazines,” that is the magazines at the check out line with articles, celebrity interviews and special insert sections.

Its cover layout stands out from literary magazines and is more along the lines of these “grocery store magazines,” which was what first attracted me to the magazine. On the cover of the March issue is Lawrence Ferlinghetti, proclaimed by Poets and Writers as poetry’s godfather in the cover headline. In addition to this headline are others, all aligned on the left hand side of the cover; one even advertises a special section within. Right off, I got the impression that this magazine wouldn’t contain too much fiction and poetry selected from aspiring writers, but I had no idea of the wealth of information until I really got into reading it.

What I found to be the most helpful part of Poets and Writers was actually near the back, after all the main articles and interviews. The magazine lists contest information for grants and awards, including deadlines and recent winners. Supplementing the work I have sent off to literary magazines with contest entries seems like a good idea to help me move forward in the writing community. Would you agree? Do you send your work off to contests? Have you had any luck with them? I have heard that publishers essentially use contests to generate enough money through entry fees to print the winning manuscript, but are not especially helpful beyond the basic printing of a book. Still, I suppose I remain rather optimistic that this means will prove itself to be helpful to me. Am I merely being a naïve writer?

Poets and Writers seemed to be sponsored primarily by MFA programs, as there were many advertisements for programs at universities throughout the country. Additionally, the magazine provided a list of (in addition to a few larger advertisements for) conferences held throughout the country and even in Europe; this issue focused on those held in the summer. This information felt inarguably helpful to me.

For the most part, I felt that the parts of this magazine that invited writers to join a community, whether it be at a writing conference, through a MFA program, or even by submitting work to a contest, were the most helpful. The magazine also included interviews and columns, which seemed to give readers more of a glimpse into a community rather than inviting them to join it. Where do you go to find information on various writing communities?