WELCOME to Beltway Poetry Quarterly
Since January 2000,
Beltway Poetry Quarterly has published poetry by authors
who live or work in the capital of the United States. Kim Roberts edits
two to three issues a year. One issue is typically a themed issue with
an open call for entries, and one issue is guest edited by another area
writer (who has previously been featured in an issue). Each issue (other
than the themed issues) typically features four to eight poems by five
authors. We strive to showcase the richness and diversity of Washington
area authors in every issue, with poets from different backgrounds,
races, ethnicities, ages, and sexual orientations represented. We have
included Pulitzer Prize winners and those who have never previously
published. We publish academic, spoken word, and experimental authors--and
also those poets whose work defies categorization.
Three special issues honor the history
and legacy of poets who once resided in Washington: the Memorial
Issue, the Profiles
Issue and the Forebears
Issue include essays and interviews celebrating DC's rich literary
history. We aim to publish a history issue every other year.
Five other special issues are arranged
around themes. The Whitman Issue is an anthology
of 38 poems that examine the poet's life and the themes of his writing,
published in 2005 to honor the 150th anniversary of the first publication
of Leaves of Grass. The Whitman Issue was co-sponsored by the
Washington Friends of Walt Whitman, and co-edited by Kim Roberts and
Saundra Rose Maley. The Wartime
Issue, guest edited by Sarah
Browning, is an anthology of poetic responses to the ongoing
conflict in Iraq. The DC Places Issue
features a poetic geography of the city, co-edited by Roberts and
Andrea Carter Brown. The
Evolving City, co-edited by Roberts and Teri
Ellen Cross, includes poetic responses to construction,
preservation, gentrification, the identity of neighborhoods--all the
myriad ways cities change over time. A fifth themed issue, celebrating
museums, was published in January 2009, co-edited by Roberts and Maureen
Thorson.
In addition to the journal, we are pleased
to provide information and extensive links.
The
Poetry News section is updated monthly. This
section lists new book publications and new issue releases by DC-area
presses and journals, calls for entries open to DC-area writers, poetry
readings, and other events of interest occuring during the present month.
(The months of July and August are always a combined listing.) Phone
numbers will be listed if available; please contact the sponsoring groups
directly to verify the accuracy of this information. Please note that
the Poetry News section only lists readings and performances in the
greater DC region, although listings of Calls for Entries and Special
Events include the whole Mid-Atlantic.
The
Resource Bank offers extensive links for poets and their audiences in
DC, MD, VA, WV, and DE. We include listings of organizations that give
grants to writers, membership
organizations that offer writing classes and other services, reading
and performance series, small presses
and literary journals, conferences
and festivals, and literary blogs from
the Mid-Atlantic, as well as a more geographically-restricted listing
of DC-area libraries, museums
and bookstores.
A special
feature of the Links section is a listing of other web sites devoted
to individual area poets past and present
from the greater DC area, from such historical figures as Langston
Hughes and Sterling A. Brown, to such contemporary
writers as Jane Shore and Hilary
Tham. Another link lists Artist Residency
Programs, and I believe ours in the most complete listing of this
kind to be found anywhere. With programs across the US and in many other
countries, these links can help artists of all disciplines find a place
away from home to create new work.
Subscribe!
Subscriptions are free.
There are two options.
JOURNAL ONLY.
If you would like to get email notices four times a year with announcements
of new issues, please join our subscription list at Mutual Aid. Go to:
http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/beltwaypoetryquarterly.
DC LOCAL LISTINGS. Want more? If you
would like a subscription PLUS information about readings, calls for
entry, and other literary events in the greater DC region, please join
our DC list at Mutual Aid. Go to: http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman./listinfo/beltway.
Submissions, Masthead, and More
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HERE for information about Submissions and
Forthcoming Issues
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for information about Staff and Volunteers
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for Acknowledgements and Press Coverage of Beltway Poetry
Quarterly