THE JOURNAL
Poetry East, edited by Richard Jones since 1980, is committed to an art that is immediate, accessible, and universal. Poetry East—described by Choice as “one of the best current journals of poetry”—is ranked by London’s Poetry Review as one of the top 20 literary journals in the United States.
Poetry East is an international magazine of poetry, translations, criticism, interviews, and art. Poetry East is an independent magazine affiliated with DePaul University and based in Chicago, Illinois.
“I have never heard literary magazines, or poetry collections for that matter, referred to as ‘page turners,’ but there is a kind of lightness in these poems that leads to precisely this end. Edited by acclaimed poet and professor of English at DePaul University, Richard Jones, Poetry East is fit to stand alongside top tier literary magazines.”
—New Pages“Poetry East is a magical anthology.” —Bloomsbury Review
“Unmitigated joy.”
—Home News Tribune“A heartening reminder of the kind of magic language can work in poetry.”
—Great River Review“A model literary journal for poetry.”
—The Chronicle of Higher Education
THE EDITOR
Richard Jones has edited Poetry East for 44 years. The first volume of Poetry East was published in 1980; in 2020, Poetry East celebrated 40 years of publication with its 100th issue. In the spring of 2024, a special volume devoted to the art of Claude Monet will be published. As the Small Press Review proclaims, “anyone accustomed to Richard Jones’s Poetry East comes to expect excellence with every issue.” Poetry East is not merely a journal, but truly a series of book-length anthologies. Over the years, Jones has curated such volumes as Bliss, The Last Believer in Words, Wider than the Sky, and Origins, in addition to a series devoted to the world’s great cities, including Paris, London, Kyoto, Rome, Barcelona, and Chicago. Jones also edits the free worldwide poetry app, “The Poet’s Almanac.”
When asked why he has dedicated his life to poetry, Jones compares himself to the last believer in words: “I believe in things that take a long time to make, like trees and books.”
Richard Jones is the author of many books of poems, including Country of Air, At Last We Enter Paradise, A Perfect Time, 48 Questions, The Blessing, Apropos of Nothing, and The Correct Spelling & Exact Meaning. His most recent books are Stranger on Earth, Avalon, Paris, and The Minor Key. Anthologized in Garrison Keillor’s Good Poems and Billy Collins’s Poetry 180, his poems have been featured on National Public Radio, BBC Radio, and The Writer’s Almanac. He is a professor of English at DePaul University. Visit his personal website at richardjonespoetry.com/.
