In celebration of The Evolution of Fire: Essays on Crisis and Becoming, we sat down with Angela Pelster to discuss meaning in suffering, whether the world is a safe place, and to honor community building as the most sacred part of creating a rich life.

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Kamra Heldman: The dream that our perception of our story’s narrative arch will perfectly align with how the people who are a part of it would depict the same events is a true impossibility. How do we reckon with the truth that our understanding of any relationship or experience is singular?

Angela Pelster: Every experience is singular, and I…

In celebration of his newest poetry collection, Nocturama, we spoke with Will Brewer about his experience with critical mentorship from Louise Glück, listening for the lightning strike, and the hope for a poem to exist as a flash that echoes beyond its reading.

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Milkweed Staff: Henri Cole likened your voice to Robert Frost’s, whose America was lonely, bewildered, and grieving. What are the characteristics of your America? How does your relationship with the United States influence your poetics?

Will Brewer: I never think about “poetics,” period! As for America, I never sit down and think to…

In celebration of our newest National Poetry Series Winner, Milkweed hosted a reading featuring Keith S. Wilson and his debut poetry collection, Games for Children on September 24th. While here, Keith was joined in conversation with graphic designer and Milkweed Fellow Alex Guerra to discuss the creation of his book cover. Later, Keith took the stage alongside poets Chaun Webster and Douglas Kearney to discuss graphic design, poetry, and how they’ve blurred the boundaries between the two disciplines.

Within minutes of his arrival at Milkweed, Keith S. Wilson and Milkweed Fellow Alex Guerra…

On Thursday, February 26th, local author Jessica Nordell partnered with Milkweed Editions and The Loft Literary Center on a benefit reading for the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota responding to the current, ongoing tensions within the Twin Cities and our surrounding communities. They were joined by writers Curtis Sittenfeld, Sarah Ghazal Ali, Michael Kleber-Diggs, Chaun Webster, Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay, Claire Wahmanholm, Halee Kirkwood, Lara Mimosa Montes, and Jessica Nordell for a night of collective healing. All proceeds benefitted the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. 

All around…

Following a night of poetry with Minnesota Writers Respond, PEN America and Milkweed Editions presented “On Bread, Borders, and Belonging,” offering a pulse-check on the tensions in the Twin Cities during Operation Metro Surge. Panelists included PEN America President Dinaw Mengestu, PEN International president Burhan Sönmez, Emmy-nominated Taste the Nation host Padma Lakshmi, and Out of the Sierra author Victoria Blanco, guided in conversation by Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf. Opening the event was children’s author Monica Rojas with a reading of Nana and Abuela, while poet Ollie Schminkey closed…

As we pass the perihelion of National Poetry Month, Milkweed Editions celebrated the launch of Chris Santiago’s newest poetry collection, Small Wars Manual, on April 16th. There, he was joined by poets that have each tackled small wars of their own: Kathryn Nuernberger, MC Hyland, and Rebecca Lehmann. Between the four of them—they alchemized militant warfare with poetry, prose, and shared community.

Around the room, poetry peeks from purses and palms. Signed copies curl into the crooks of elbows. In honor of National Poetry Month, poets from around the world strike pen to paper, writing a…

On February 27th, Milkweed Editions and the University of Minnesota Press hosted a book launch to celebrate Creature Needs: Writers Respond to the Science of Animal Conservation, in collaboration with the nonprofit organization Creature Conserve.

“Before we read, I want a moment to breathe with you.”—Claire Wahmanholm

“Before we read,” Claire Wahmanholm—author of Meltwater and—began, “I want a moment to breathe with you.” Under her instruction, she coaxed the crowd into a gentle meditation of hummed breath. Within three exhales, she transformed the room into a living, vibrating singing bowl. By…

Upon their return from the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai, authors Diane Wilson and Erin Sharkey asked themselves: What do conversations about climate change mean for us as writers?

Hello, friends, and welcome to another edition of Deep Cuts. In this series, we’ll be diving in with some of our authors and discussing the behind-the-scenes work that goes into the composition and production of their books. This time around, I am beyond thrilled to be in conversation with the winner of the 2020 Max Ritvo Poetry Prize, Allison Adair.

Her recently-released poetry collection, The Clearing, is a hypnotic exercise in tangible language that verbs us through reflections on motherhood, on imagination, on desire, on flora and fauna, and more. Her poems ask readers to consider how…

Welcome, friends, to the latest installment of 5 Reasons to Teach This Book! In this interview series, we examine what we can learn from Milkweed’s titles by discussing our books with educators, authors, and booksellers. This month, we’re featuring Éireann Lorsung’s recently-released collection, The Century.

These poems navigate cross-continental histories as best they can with the flawed vehicle we have collectively inherited: language. “I need a language more open / than the language of forms, more / spacious than the language poetry / can be,” Lorsung writes, cueing readers to this book’s…