Editor's Note
Submissions for the 2026 Porchlight Prize in Poetry are now open. The winner will receive a minimum $300 award, as well as publication in Porchlight and a planned anthology. The deadline for submissions is May 31.
And speaking of deadlines, it’s not too late to apply for this year’s Young Writers’ Workshop, held at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville and open to students age 14-18. Applications are accepted through May 15.
This week at the site, Chris Scott takes a look at American Bacon: The History of a Food Phenomenon. The book by historian Mark A. Johnson “recounts the saga of one of our country’s favorite and most controversial foods” and “details how bacon became part and parcel of the American experience.”
Flesh of a different sort makes an appearance in “Bugs Bunny, Postmodern Postmortem,” a poem from Cartoons for the Chaos, a new collection drawn from five decades of work by Sewanee writer Richard Collins.
Rounding out the week, we honor poetry month with a look back at Sara Beth West’s 2023 interview with Ada Limón, who talks about music, dance, and the experience of being U.S. Poet Laureate.
News Roundup
- Victoria Schwab and Cat Clarke discussed their new collaborative novel and the realities of the publishing world with The Times.
- Jay McInerney’s latest novel was reviewed in The Nation.
- Hampton Sides wrote a guest post for the Library of Congress blog Timeless.
- An essay by Alan Lightman appeared in The Atlantic.
- David George Haskell talked flowers with Atmos.
