Poetry journal publishes new issue

Tue, October 13, 2009 |

The Valparaiso Poetry Review, Valparaiso University's online journal of contemporary poetry, is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a special 21st issue that features the work of one of the nation's foremost poets, Charles Wright, and a significantly expanded selection of new poetry.

The fall/winter issue is available online at http://www.valpo.edu/english/vpr. Wright has won many of the most prestigious honors for poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, National Book Critics' Circle Award and International Griffin Poetry Prize.

The roster of writers offering work for this anniversary issue includes a number of the nation's most prominent award-winning poets, including Susanna Childress, whose first volume of poems, "Jagged with Love," won the 2005 Brittingham Poetry Prize; Katharine Coles, recipient of awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, among many other organizations; Kwame Dawes, distinguished poet-in-residence at the University of South Carolina; Susan Donnelly, author of Morse Prize-winning poem "Eve Names the Animals;" Claudia Emerson, author of "Late Wife," winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for poetry; Daisy Fried, author of "My Brother is Getting Arrested Again," a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and Catherine Tufariello, whose first full-length collection of poems, "Keeping My Name," was a Booklist Editor's Choice selection for 2004 and the winner of the 2006 Poets' Prize.

The current edition of Valparaiso Poetry Review also features reviews of the works of poets Jericho Brown, Stephanie Brown, William Greenway, Cathy Park Hong and Charles Wright. Additionally, Gregg Hertzlieb, director of Valpo's Brauer Museum of Art, reviews American artist Georgia O'Keeffe's painting "Rust Red Hills," which serves as the current issue's cover art.

Dr. Edward Byrne, professor of English and editor of the Valparaiso Poetry Review, said that readership for Valparaiso Poetry Review has soared far beyond his expectations since the journal's first issue was published in October 1999.

"I am confident VPR's readers can look forward to more exceptional work in the future with poems, essays, interviews, reviews and commentary that visitors to Valparaiso Poetry Review will find equally as entertaining, engaging and enlightening," Dr. Byrne said.

Valparaiso Poetry Review has been listed by Google as one of the nation's most relevant and highly regarded online poetry magazines, and two poems that first appeared in the journal were among works selected for publication in the anthology "Best of the Web 2008."

Complementing the journal is "One Poet's Notes," an editor's blog by Dr. Byrne. The blog, online at http://www.edwardbyrne.blogspot.com, features regular postings about notable recent books of poetry and general poetry news.

Valparaiso Poetry Review includes a list of recently received and recommended books of poetry, as well as guidelines for poetry submissions. All past issues of the journal and an archive of poems, essays, interviews, reviews and commentaries on art are available on the Web at http://www.valpo.edu/english/vpr.