''Beltway Poetry Quarterly'' is an English-language, online

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

based in Washington, D.C., United States. As its name suggests, it has featured poetry from the "Beltway" region of the Washington, DC area. The publication has "showcased the richness and diversity of Washington area authors in every issue." Special themes have included issues on

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...

, "DC Places," and "The Evolving City." In 2004 the quarterly featured a "Wartime Issue" covering poetic responses to the Iraq War. The quarterly was founded in 2000 by Washington poet Kim Roberts. Indran Amirthanayagam became the editor in early 2019. Sara Cahill Marron serves as associate editor. The journal now has both an international and domestic American focus, publishing poets from all over the world. It also now features translations and reviews as well as poems written in English.

History

''Beltway Poetry Quarterly'' has published poems and essays on poets with strong regional ties. Featured poets have included:

Kwame Alexander Kwame Alexander (born August 21, 1968) is an American writer of poetry and children's fiction. His verse novel ''The Crossover'' won the 2015 Newbery Medal and was selected as an Honor book for the Coretta Scott King Award. Personal life and educ ...

Francisco Aragón Francisco Aragón is a Latino poet, editor and writer. Life Born in San Francisco, California, Aragón's parents migrated from Nicaragua in the 1950s. is a graduate of Archbishop Riordan High School. He studied at the University of California ...

, Naomi Ayala,

Holly Bass Holly Bass is a Washington, D.C., Washington DC-based performance artist, poet, dancer, arts educator and cultural activist. Education Bass studied modern dance (under Viola Farber) and also creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College (Class o ...

Richard Blanco Richard Blanco (born February 15, 1968) is an American poet, public speaker, author and civil engineer. He is the fifth poet to read at a United States presidential inauguration, having read the poem " One Today" for Barack Obama's second in ...

, Sarah Browning,

Regie Cabico Regie Cabico is a Filipino American poet and spoken word artist. He has been featured on two seasons of ''Def Poetry Jam'' on HBO (produced by Russell Simmons) and has been called the Lady Gaga of spoken word. He is an "out and proud" gay man. ...

, Kenneth Carroll,

Grace Cavalieri Grace Cavalieri is an American poet, playwright, and radio host of the Library of Congress program '' The Poet and the Poem''. In 2019, she was appointed the tenth Poet Laureate of Maryland. Education * BS - Education: English and History, The ...

, Michael Collier, Teri Ellen Cross,

Kyle Dargan Kyle Dargan is an American poet. He is the author of five poetry collections. Dargan is currently an Associate Professor of literature and the Assistant Director of creative writing at American University. Biography Dargan was born in Newark, N ...

, Joel Dias-Porter,

Cornelius Eady Cornelius Eady (born 1954) is an American writer focusing largely on matters of Race (classification of human beings), race and society. His poetry often centers on jazz and blues, family life, violence, and societal problems stemming from questi ...

David Gewanter David Gewanter is an American poet. Life He teaches at Georgetown University, and lives in Washington, D. C., with his wife, writer Joy Young, and son James. His work has appeared in ''Ploughshares''. Awards * 1980: Hopwood Award, University of ...

Martin Galvin Martin J. Galvin (born January 8, 1950) is an Irish American lawyer, publisher and activist, and former director of NORAID. Background Galvin was born on January 8, 1950, the son of a fireman. He attended Catholic schools, Fordham University an ...

Brian Gilmore Brian Phillip Gilmore (8 July 1933 – 29 November 1959) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Footscray in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1950s. Gilmore was a follower in Footscray's 1954 premiership side and h ...

Patricia Gray Patricia is a female given name of Latin origin. Derived from the Latin word ''patrician'', meaning "noble"; it is the feminine form of the masculine given name Patrick. The name Patricia was the second most common female name in the United State ...

Rod Jellema Rod Jellema (1927–2018) was an American poet, teacher, and translator. Life Jellema held a B.A. from Calvin College and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland). He began teaching at the University of Maryland, College Park in 1955, w ...

, Chungmi Kim, Barbara Lefcowitz, Merrill Leffler, Reb Livingston,

Mark McMorris Mark Lee McMorris (born December 9, 1993) is a Canadian professional snowboarder who specializes in slopestyle and big air events. A three-time Olympic bronze medallist, he placed third in each of the 2014 Winter Olympics, 2018 Winter Olympics, ...

, E. Ethelbert Miller,

Linda Pastan Linda Pastan (born May 27, 1932, in New York) is an American poet of Jewish background. From 1991 to 1995 she was Poet Laureate of Maryland. She is known for writing short poems that address topics like family life, domesticity, motherhood, the fe ...

Richard Peabody Richard Peabody is a poet, editor, and publisher, based in Washington, D.C. Biography A native of the Washington DC metropolitan region, Peabody received a B.A. in English from the University of Maryland in 1973 and a M.A. in Literature from Am ...

Stanley Plumly Stanley Plumly (May 23, 1939 – April 11, 2019) was an American poet and the director of University of Maryland, College Park's creative writing program. Plumly grew up in Ohio and Virginia and was educated at Wilmington College in Ohio and at ...

, Myra Sklarew,

Jane Shore Elizabeth "Jane" Shore (née Lambert) (c. 1445 – c. 1527) was one of the many mistresses of King Edward IV of England. She became the best-known to history through being later accused of conspiracy by the future King Richard III, and compelled ...

, Rod Smith, Sharan Strange,

Hilary Tham Hilary Tham (August 20, 1946 – June 24, 2005), also known as Hilary Tham Goldberg, was a Malaysian-born American poet. Tham studied English literature in Malaysia before marrying an American Peace Corps worker. She then converted to Judais ...

, Maureen Thorson,

Dan Vera Dan Vera (born South Texas) is an American poet and editor. Career Vera is the author of ''Speaking Wiri Wiri'', (Red Hen Press, 2013) and ''The Space Between Our Danger and Delight'', (Beothuk Books, 2009). His manuscript ''The Guide to Imagi ...

, Joshua Weiner,

Reed Whittemore Edward Reed Whittemore, Jr. (September 11, 1919 – April 6, 2012) was an American poet, biographer, critic, literary journalist and college professor. He was appointed the sixteenth and later the twenty-eighth Poet Laureate Consultant in P ...

, and

Terence Winch Terence Patrick Winch is an Irish-American poet, writer and musician. Biography Winch was born in New York City in 1945. He grew up in an Irish neighborhood in the Bronx, the child of Irish immigrants. In 1971, he moved to Washington, DC, where h ...

. Guest editors have included

, Naomi Ayala, Sarah Browning, Andrea Carter Brown,

, Terri Ellen Cross,

, Merrill Leffler, Saundra Rose Maley, and

. Since mid 2019, under its new editor Indran Amirthanayagam, the journal has cast its nets beyond the Beltway to embrace poets from all over the world. It also now publishes translations and reviews in every issue. For a more extensive list of poets featured in the quarterly, see the archives section of ''The Beltway Poetry Quarterlys official site.''Beltway Poetry Quarterly'' Archives
/ref> In addition to the journal, the web site offers a Resource Bank with extensive links, useful to authors and their audiences in the Mid-Atlantic. Granting organizations, reading series, publishers, libraries, museums, bookstores, blogs, and conferences are all covered. The site also provides the most complete listing available of artist residency programs in the US and the rest of the world. The journal publishes a Poetry News page, updated monthly, with new book and journal releases, calls for entries, and area readings.

Critical reviews

The ''Washington Post'' has called ''Beltway Poetry Quarterly'' "a poetry journal with a yen for things Washingtonian" and writes, "These days a tasty verse morsel is just a mouse click away, thanks to Beltway." ''Beltway Poetry Quarterly'' authors have won "Best of the Net" awards, and the journal has been supported by grants from the DC Commission on the Arts and the Humanities Council of Washington, DC. The editor was a finalist for the DC Mayor's Arts Awards in 2009 and won the 2008 Independent Voice Award from the Capital BookFest. Press coverage of the journal has appeared in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', ''

Washington Blade The ''Washington Blade'' is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) newspaper in the Washington metropolitan area. The ''Blade'' is the oldest LGBT newspaper in the United States and third largest by circulation, behind the ''Philadelphi ...

'', ''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...

'', ''Chickenbones: A Journal for Literary and Artistic African American Themes'', ''

The Chronicle of Higher Education ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals (staff members and administrators). A subscription is required to rea ...

'', ''

Sojourners ''Sojourners'' is a progressive monthly magazine and daily online publication of the American Christian social justice organization Sojourners, which arose out of the Sojourners Community. It was first published in 1971 under the original titl ...

'', and other publications.

Themes

The journal publishes four issues a year, often exploring particular themes. Recent issues have focused on Art in Times of Crises and the current The Dream Retuned. Past themes have included: Museums, The Evolving City, DC Places, Wartime, and poems inspired by Walt Whitman. The journal has published an Audio issue, and several issues have been compiled by guest editors. Every other year, Beltway Poetry publishes a special literary history issue, with tributes, interviews, and essays on influential poets who have lived or worked in Washington, DC. Poets in history issues range from contemporary authors to poets living in the city in its early years. They include:

Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – ) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. His book ''The Devil's Dictionary'' was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by t ...

Sterling A. Brown Sterling Allen Brown (May 1, 1901 – January 13, 1989) was an American professor, folklorist, poet, and literary critic. He chiefly studied black culture of the Southern United States and was a professor at Howard University for most of his caree ...

, Ed Cox, Léon-Gontran Damas,

Owen Dodson Owen Vincent Dodson (November 28, 1914 – June 21, 1983) was an American poet, novelist, and playwright. He was one of the leading African-American poets of his time, associated with the generation of black poets following the Harlem Renaissance ...

Paul Laurence Dunbar Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American C ...

Roland Flint Roland Henry Flint (February 27, 1934 - January 2, 2001) was an American poet and professor of English at Georgetown University. Life Born in Park River, North Dakota, he attended the University of North Dakota before joining the United States Ma ...

Angelina Weld Grimké Angelina Weld Grimké (February 27, 1880 – June 10, 1958) was an African-American journalist, teacher, playwright, and poet. By ancestry, Grimké was three-quarters white — the child of a white mother and a half-white father — and consi ...

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...

Georgia Douglas Johnson Georgia Blanche Douglas Camp Johnson, better known as Georgia Douglas Johnson (September 10, 1880 – May 15, 1966), was a poet. She was one of the earliest female African-American playwrights, and an important figure of the Harlem Renaissance. ...

May Miller May Miller (January 26, 1899 – February 8, 1995) was an American poet, playwright and educator. Miller, who was African-American, became known as the most widely published female playwright of the Harlem Renaissance and had seven volumes of po ...

, Gaston Neal,

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

Reetika Vazirani Reetika Gina Vazirani (9 August 1962 – 16 July 2003) was an Indian/American immigrant poet and educator. Life Vazirani was born in Patiala, India, in 1962 and went to the United States with her family in 1968. After graduating from Wellesl ...

, and

References

External links

''Beltway Poetry Quarterly'' official site
{{italic title 2000 establishments in Washington, D.C. Magazines established in 2000 Magazines published in Washington, D.C. Beltway Poetry Quarterly Beltway Poetry Quarterly Quarterly magazines published in the United States