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| American Poetry Review | |
|---|---|
| Title | American Poetry Review |
| Category | Poetry |
| Frequency | Bimonthly |
| Firstdate | 1972 |
| Country | United States |
| Based | Philadelphia |
| Language | English |
American Poetry Review is a bimonthly literary magazine founded in 1972 that became a prominent venue for contemporary verse in the United States. It has published work by a wide range of poets associated with movements and institutions across North America, and played a role in shaping conversations that involved figures from the New York School, Beat Generation, Black Arts Movement, Confessional poetry, and small-press networks. The magazine has maintained ties to Philadelphia while reaching readers affiliated with major universities, cultural centers, and literary festivals.
The magazine was established in 1972 in Philadelphia during a period marked by the influence of editors and poets connected to University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, Columbia University, University of Iowa, and the emerging small press scene centered in New York City and Boston. Early decades saw engagement with poets linked to Allen Ginsberg, Frank O'Hara, John Ashbery, Elizabeth Bishop, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning as historical touchstones, while also publishing work related to younger networks around Diane di Prima, Amiri Baraka, Adrienne Rich, and Lucille Clifton. The magazine navigated cultural shifts of the 1970s and 1980s, interacting with institutions such as the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Arts, and regional series in Philadelphia and San Francisco. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s it responded to debates sparked by figures associated with The New Criterion, Poetry Magazine, The Paris Review, and university-affiliated journals from Harvard University and Yale University.
From its founding, the journal emphasized accessibility and broad readership, aligning editorial priorities with practices found at small presses like City Lights Booksellers & Publishers and periodicals such as The New Yorker and The Atlantic. Each issue typically combined individual poems, themed portfolios, and critical notes, resembling formats used by The Dial and Poetry (Chicago). Guest editors and recurring staff often drew on networks that included faculty and alumni from Iowa Writers' Workshop, Stanford University, Princeton University, and Brown University. The magazine published both established poets associated with awards such as the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and emerging voices from MFA programs and regional workshops funded by organizations like the PEN America and state arts agencies. Visual presentation and pagination reflected innovations pioneered by alternative magazines such as The New York Review of Books and avant-garde journals tied to the Beat Generation.
Contributors over decades included a wide spectrum of American and international poets, from figures linked to the Black Arts Movement and Harlem Renaissance legacies to those connected with contemporary academic networks. Names appearing in its pages have included poets associated with T.S. Eliot's legacy, heirs to William Carlos Williams, and contemporaries who have won the MacArthur Fellowship and the Bollingen Prize. Editors and guest editors have ties to institutions such as Swarthmore College, Temple University, Rutgers University–Camden, New York University, and arts organizations including Academy of American Poets and the Poetry Foundation. The magazine published work by poets who also appeared in anthologies from Vintage Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and Norton Anthologies and by translators connected to projects involving Saint-John Perse, Anna Akhmatova, and Pablo Neruda.
Published on a bimonthly schedule, the magazine established distribution through independent bookstores, academic subscriptions, and national distributors used by magazines such as The Believer and Harper's Magazine. It maintained a physical office in Philadelphia and engaged with book fairs and festivals including the Brooklyn Book Festival, the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, and regional events in Chicago and Seattle. University libraries at Columbia University, University of Chicago, New York Public Library, and state historical societies collected back issues. Circulation strategies sometimes paralleled marketing approaches used by literary nonprofits and fundraising campaigns associated with the National Book Foundation.
Over its run the magazine helped bring wider recognition to poets who later received major honors such as the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the MacArthur Fellowship, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. The journal's anthologized selections appeared in the annual Best American Poetry series and in textbooks published by academic presses including Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. Its impact extended into classrooms, readings, and public programs at institutions like Carnegie Mellon University and Barnard College, and into critical debates hosted by journals such as Modern Poetry Studies and Contemporary Literature.
The magazine faced critiques common to established literary outlets: debates over editorial selection comparable to controversies at Poetry Magazine and The New Yorker; questions about representation akin to discussions involving the National Endowment for the Arts funding debates; and disputes over reprint rights and compensation similar to issues raised at independent presses and university-affiliated reviews. At moments, critics referenced tensions present in literary communities tied to Iowa Writers' Workshop and MFA cultures at institutions such as Johns Hopkins University and University of Michigan. Responses involved engagement with readers, contributors, and cultural institutions including panels at Kennedy Center-affiliated series and colloquia at regional colleges.
Category:Literary magazines published in the United States