Who are the first readers this year?

Pick mine, then call it done :)

I believe there may only be one reader or two, because while previous editions of BNP contain read-worthy poems, the collective voice is noticeably singular.

There are six readers this year (seven if you include me), but I think it is inappropriate for me to announce their names while the selections are ongoing. If you read the intros to to past editions, the number of readers is in each of them. Don't know about the "singular" claim ... not how we see it on this end where we try to pass along a range of poems to the editor. After that, it's somewhat our of our hands.
---- Series Editor

Thanks, Series Editor!! Perhaps the collective voice comes from each editor selecting what style personally appeals. But that happens with all contest editors. I mean, we like what we like. :)

I don't know about "singular", but just like any journal, Best New Poets has a particular voice. Of course, that voice is shaped by not only the series editor and his staff, but also the contest editor they bring in from the outside. Does the voice change from anthology to anthology? Sure . . . but how much can certainly be debated. Not that any of this is bad or good, it's just the way things are when you have the same series editor year after year. A similar thing could be said for many book contests that use a comparable vetting process.

Maybe audience is mistakingly calling consistent readability "collective voice" as the weeding out of lesser work is obviously the norm here. I couldn't find an inferior poem in all of 2007 BNP, even if I didn't like a few due to personal taste, even those few were well-crafted, good poems.
--NK

Maybe bloggers are mistakingly calling consistent readability a "singular voice" as the weeding out of lesser work is obviously the norm here. I couldn't find an inferior poem in all of 2007 BNP, even if I didn't like a few due to personal taste, even those few were well-crafted, good poems. Though I did notice there were no poems in staggered format, nor poems without punctuation.
--NK

Sorry for double blog entry; I hadn't realized the first was actually sent before I edited it.
--NK

No inferior poems for sure. But "personal taste" lends itself to singular voice. "consistent readability" is not the same thing, as quality can come in many forms.

Here it comes, one month until the final decision. Will our superhero submitters attain the much needed affirmation of publication or fall further into the stacks of rejections that will no doubt send us the way of Plath, Stanford, etc...
--P

I just wanted to be sure Series Editor, but it is my understanding that if one of our Best New Poets Open contest poems is published elsewhere this late in the competition, that all we need to do is delete it from manuscript hub. Do you need written notification to take it out of the contest? Please excuse crazy sentence structure and grammar.

--P

Yes, you can withdraw poems using ManuscriptHub, but as far as Best New Poets is concerned, they are still eligible. The OTHER publication might want them withdrawn, but we have no issues with a poem being in the book and also in another publication.
---- Series Editor

Thank you kindly
--P

I see I have had one reading and I guess I am still alive, but should I have a lil mo' hope?

yes now quit beggin

If you check your status on Manuscript Hub, will you actually find out if your poems have been rejected after one (or two) readings, or will everyone's status be presented as "Open"?

That is the question. In this case open would mean tossed in an open boat as the cruiser goes by to pick us up again next year? Happy drifting...o fellow bobbing head...

All entries will stay in an "open" status until we hear back about the final 50 from this year's editor, Mark Strand.
---- Series Editor

I'm confused by last couple blog entries. I thought if any of our poems made it to Strand, we were notified that we got that far, even if he doesn't choose one of our poems. Is this incorrect. We never find out if we made it to Strand.
--Anon

Sorry about lack of question marks in last entry, but the questions were for series editor.
--Anon

Sorry about lack of question marks in last entry, but the questions were for series editor.
--Anon

They will tell you nothing about your status other than open...for fear of poetical retribution and poet serial killers that may target the judge once they learned of the awful fate of rejection. You will know nothing until this deal is over kids.

Misinformation or information...you decide

any updates on when decisions will be revealed?

Has Strand received anything yet?

there has been no updates and according to what we were last told, Strand has nothing because it's about a week, maybe less, before the preliminary reading is complete.

i think the WORD VERIFICATION letters are hard to decipher.

I think the series editor should provide us with a new update before someone blows a gasket.

I just blew my O-ring

O- Ring, Schmo-ring
Gabba gabba go-ring
Make another blog post
But don't be bo-ring.

Wheeee!!!!