In the Media
The Incredible Sestina Anthology has drawn attention from major newspapers, literary journals, and cultural outlets. Below is a selection of press highlights.
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The New York TimesCoverage of the anthology and its place in the contemporary resurgence of the sestina form.
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Albany Times UnionAn interview with editor Daniel Nester by Elizabeth Floyd Mair, published on November 15, 2013, exploring the vision behind the collection.
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American Book ReviewA feature examining the anthology's roster of contributors and its contribution to formal poetry.
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The Chronicle of Higher EducationA piece highlighting the anthology within the broader context of poetic form in academia.
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GeekadelphiaAn interview discussing the intersection of pop culture, geek sensibility, and the sestina.
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largehearted boyA feature connecting the anthology to the music-and-literature blog's readership.
Additional Highlights
A Q&A with contributor Erika Dreifus and Daniel Nester appeared in April 2014, offering further insight into the editorial process and the poets behind the sestinas.
The sestina, a form often described as one of poetry's most demanding and rewarding challenges, has found a devoted champion in this anthology. With its intricate six-end-word pattern and its unyielding structure, the sestina demands both discipline and invention from every poet who takes it on. The collection celebrates the full range of what the form can do, from comedy to tragedy, from the sacred to the profane, from tender confession to wild nonsense. Readers new to the form and longtime devotees alike will discover how this ancient structure continues to surprise, delight, and move those who encounter it on the page.
Beyond the poems themselves, the anthology has sparked a wider conversation about formal poetry and its place in contemporary literary culture. Through interviews, reviews, and features in major publications, the collection has drawn attention to the many poets who are pushing the sestina in bold new directions. The project reflects a larger resurgence of interest in craft and constraint among modern writers, who find in the form's rigorous boundaries a surprising freedom. For anyone curious about where poetry is heading, this anthology offers a compelling snapshot of a form being reinvented for a new generation.