Poems for the New Year, Announcing 2021 Poem-a-Day Guest Editors, Poets Laureate Fellowships

December 23, 2020

Poems for the New Year

As we reflect on a difficult year, we continue to hold on to hope. Rejoice in the possibilities of a new year with these poems from Poets.org:

“The Old Year” by John Clare
“When I Rise Up” by Georgia Douglas Johnson
“Hope.” by Alice Dunbar-Nelson
“Burning the Old Year” by Naomi Shihab Nye
“Cento Between the Ending and the End” by Cameron Awkward-Rich
“Elegy in Joy [excerpt]” by Muriel Rukeyser
“Never Ever” by Brenda Shaughnessy

Announcing Twelve Poem-a-Day Guest Editors for 2021

The Academy of American Poets is pleased to announce twelve new Poem-a-Day guest editors who will each curate a month of poems in 2021. The guest editors are all award-winning poets who represent wide-ranging editorial perspectives and live in eight different states across the country. Subscribe to the free email version of the series at poets.org/poem-a-day.

American poetry lost some major voices in 2020.
Please join us in remembering these poets through their words.

2021 Poets Laureate Fellowships

Submissions are now being accepted for the 2021 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowships. The $50,000 fellowships will honor Poets Laureate of states, cities, counties, U.S. territories, or Tribal nations, enabling them to undertake impactful and innovative projects that will engage their fellow residents and address important issues with poetry. The fellowship program, made possible by a generous gift from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is now in its third year.

#PoetryNearYou Pick of the Week: The Poetry Project’s 47th Annual New Year's Day Marathon

A 24-hour virtual celebration featuring 250+ performers, poetry readings, archival media, short films, a special broadcast from the clocktower of St. Mark’s in New York City, and more. December 31 at 11 p.m. EST to January 1, 2021 at 11 p.m. EST; free with registration.

Inaugural Poem Contest for Students

Submissions are still being accepted for the 2021 Inaugural Poem Contest for Students through December 30, 2020. Three students’ poems will be selected by this year’s judge, Presidential Inaugural Poet and Academy of American Poets Education Ambassador Richard Blanco. And, thanks to an anonymous donor who has doubled the prize money, the first place-winning student will receive $1,000; second place, $600; and third place, $300.

Awards for Books in Translation

The Academy of American Poets is accepting submissions for the Ambroggio Prize, given to a book-length poetry manuscript originally written in Spanish and with an English translation; the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award, recognizing a poetry collection translated from any language into English and published in the previous calendar year; and the Raiziss/de Palchi Fellowship, given for the translation into English of a significant work of modern Italian poetry. Submissions are open through February 15, 2021.

Opportunities for Poets

Abrams in New York City is seeking a full-time Editorial Assistant to work remotely in providing notes on manuscripts and layouts, route invoices and contracts, prepare materials for marketing, and more.
Forward Arts Foundation in United Kingdom is seeking an Executive Director to develop the organization’s “role as the national charity that promotes knowledge and enjoyment of poetry.”
University of Houston-Downtown in Houston, Texas, is seeking a full-time Assistant Professor in Creative Writing to begin teaching August 2021.

Brian Blanchfield Recommends Poems from the Archive

“There’s so much I love about Justin Phillip Reed’s ‘What’s Left Behind After a Hawk Has Seized Another Bird Midair.’ As a former student of Carl Phillips’s myself, I guess first I acknowledge a family feel, in how Carl’s particular poetics, even his signature images, are extended in Reed’s own dynamic of desire and power and damage.”

—Brian Blanchfield, author of A Several World (Nightboat Books, 2014), and Poem-a-Day Guest Editor for the month of December.

Last Week’s Poem-a-Day

Revisit last week’s Poem-a-Day selections with us on Poets.org:

December 13: “Revery” by Fenton Johnson
December 14: “Then” by Aditi Machado
December 15: “Family Solo” by Eric Ekstrand
December 16: “The Keeping Room” by G.E. Patterson
December 17: “Pedal” by Jenny Johnson
December 18: “So Call it Grace” by Michael Wasson
December 19: “The Winter Bird” by Jones Very

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Poems for the New Year, Announcing 2021 Poem-a-Day Guest Editors, Poets Laureate Fellowships

Poems for the New Year

Announcing Twelve Poem-a-Day Guest Editors for 2021

2021 Poets Laureate Fellowships

#PoetryNearYou Pick of the Week: The Poetry Project’s 47th Annual New Year's Day Marathon

Inaugural Poem Contest for Students

Awards for Books in Translation

Opportunities for Poets

Brian Blanchfield Recommends Poems from the Archive

Last Week’s Poem-a-Day

Older messages

"echium swallows" by Noah Ross

"Hiatus" by Ely Shipley

Opening more doorways for poetry

"Wisterical" by Genya Turovskaya

"A Winter Twilight" by Angelina Weld Grimké

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