Creative Support: April 2026
New books, events, workshops, and publishing advice for poets.
Hello and happy April, poets!
On my mind lately …
It’s National Poetry Month—and this is the millionth time you’ve been reminded, right? I feel resistant to it this year. That may have more to do with the state of the world and my general internet burnout than it has to do with poetry, because I also feel that there couldn’t be a more important time to honor the counterbalance poetry offers to our culture. Yet I feel an ever-growing pressure to boil it all down to snapshots and witticisms, to do-do-do as everyone does—without pause.
This is unsustainable. So here’s a permission slip for National Poetry Month—for forever: Do what feels genuine and joyful. Keep at your own poetry. Lift up the good work of others. Ignore anything that feels performative.
To that end, I am genuinely joyful to be reading in person on April 28th at one of Boulder’s oldest bookstores with two wonderful poets. Details below. If you’re local, I’d love to see you there.
New Books
Singing Under Snow by Anne Haven McDonnell, “is full of radiant, intimate poems with their own unique mycelial logic: metabolizing grief into meaning and reacquainting us with the deep intelligence of the earth.”
Breathe, by Bob Hicock. “Hicok’s poetry has long been distinctive for its compassionate breadth of feeling, curiosity, and play. In Breathe, he meets the social and cultural moment, soothing distress with tenderness while meditating on the persistence of love.”
A Third Commonness: Essays on Poetry, Poetics, and the Natural World by Robert Hass, “seems to suggest we may hope for more: poetry, being inherently political, may help us grasp and appreciate the reality of what we are doing and of what can and must be done.”
Workshops, Events & More
The Trident Poetry Series: Poetry of Place and Ecology– a celebration of Earth Month with three poets whose work explores our complex relationship to nature and place. I’ll be reading with Anne Haven McDonnell and Erin Robertson from our collections that engage with wilderness, changing landscapes, and the wonder and fragility of ecosystems. Tuesday April 28, 6:30-7:30pm.
LITFEST REGISTRATION IS OPEN. Reserve your seat in these classes at Lighthouse Lit Fest 2026: Borrowed Structures: Finding Poetic Form in Unexpected Places, Saturday, June 13 through Sunday, June 14th; 1:00 to 4:00pm. Re/vision: Nurture Your Inner Poetry Editor - Sunday, June 14; 9:00 to 11:00am. Both will take place in-person at Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver.
Poets for Science Gathering– Along with poets Sarah Giragosian and Maggie Greaves, I will be co-leading Scale as Poetic and Scientific Playground: From Gut Flora to Supernovae at the Poets for Science Gathering. From gut flora to cosmic events written in trees, from molecular agencies to the vast temporalities of galaxies, scale is rich territory for both scientists and poets. Session date/time TBD. November 12-14, 2026 at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio.
Finesse and Publish Your Poetry Manuscript
It’s time to complete your poetry manuscript and get it to the right editors. I will be offering several workshops to help you get there. Be the first to know when registration opens by joining the direct mailing list. When you sign up, you’ll get instant access to 50 Recommended Presses, a curated list of opportunities for first and second books.
Upcoming Deadlines
April 30 — Chesnut Review
April 30 — Texas Review Press
April 30 — Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize
April 30 — Iowa Poetry Prize
May 31 — The Black River Chapbook Competition
June 15 — New Measure Poetry Prize
July 1 —The Orison Chapbook Prize
July 15 — Driftwood Press Adrift Chapbook Contest
July 31 — Press 53 Award for Poetry
August 31 — Howling Bird Press Book Prize
December 1– Hollis Summers Poetry Prize
Advice
“Am I grasping—or am I receptive? I let much of my process—getting down close to language and diction, and all of those choices—I let them come to me.” –Jami Macarty, in her recent Poet to Poet interview
As always, I’m deeply grateful for your presence here.
Yours,
Radha