New York, NY (September 10, 2019)— The Academy of American Poets is pleased to share that Poem-a-Day, the organization’s daily digital poetry series featuring previously unpublished work by today’s poets, is the number one source of selected work for the 2019 edition of the Best American Poetry anthology. Poem-a-Day features more than 250 new, previously unpublished poems by living poets each year, and close to 200,000 readers now subscribe to the email version of the series. It reaches an additional 300,000 readers daily through Poets.org, social media, and syndication, making it one of the largest platforms in the United States for a poet to share new work.
Congratulations to the following poets whose work was selected from Poem-a-Day by Major Jackson to be featured in the 2019 edition of the Best American Poetry anthology:
Rosa Alcalá, “You & the Raw Bullets”. Selected by Poem-a-Day guest editor Dawn Lundy Martin and originally published in Poem-a-Day on February 5, 2018.
Chen Chen, “I Invite My Parents to a Dinner Party”. Selected by Poem-a-Day guest editor Tracy K. Smith and originally published in Poem-a-Day on April 19, 2018.
Natalie Diaz, “Skin-Light”. Selected by Poem-a-Day guest editor Matt Shenoda and originally published in Poem-a-Day on May 4, 2018.
Yona Harvey, “Dark and Lovely After Take-Off (A Future)”. Selected by Poem-a-Day guest editor Ross Gay and originally published in Poem-a-Day on October 18, 2018.
Ruth Ellen Kocher, “We May No Longer Consider the End”. Selected by Poem-a-Day guest editor Ross Gay and originally published in Poem-a-Day on October 19, 2018.
Nabila Lovelace, “The S in 'I Loves You, Porgy'”. Selected by Poem-a-Day guest editor Rigoberto González and originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 6, 2018.
Kamilah Aisha Moon, “Fannie Lou Hamer”. Selected by Poem-a-Day guest editor Tracy K. Smith and originally published in Poem-a-Day on April 4, 2018.
Kevin Young, “Hive”. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on December 29, 2017.
To read the eight selected poems, visit: poets.org/anthology/best-american-poetry-2019-poem-day
To sign up for Poem-a-Day and receive a free daily poem in your inbox each morning, visit: poets.org/poem-a-day
About Poem-a-Day
Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today's talented poets each year. Launched in 2006 by the Academy of American Poets, Poem-a-Day is distributed via email, web, and social media to 500,000+ readers free of charge. The series highlights classic poems on weekends, and weekday poems are accompanied by exclusive commentary and audio by the poets. The series' weekdays are curated by twelve poets from across the country who have wide-ranging expertise and editorial perspectives.
About the Academy of American Poets
The Academy of American Poets is our nation’s leading champion of poets and poetry with members in all fifty states. Founded in 1934, the organization produces Poets.org, the world’s largest publicly-funded website for poets and poetry; National Poetry Month; the popular Poem-a-Day series; American Poets magazine; Teach This Poem and other award-winning resources for K-12 educators; an annual series of poetry readings and special events; and awards more funds to poets than any other organization. It also coordinates and supports the work of a national Poetry Coalition, an alliance of more than twenty poetry organizations working to promote the value poets bring to our culture and the important contribution poetry makes in the lives of people of all ages and backgrounds.