We’re excited to welcome Jonathan Edwards to the Poetry Wales team as editor this October. His debut collection My Family and Other Superheroes (Seren, 2014) was recently chosen by booksellers as one of their top 25 favourite poetry books of the last 25 years following a survey by National Poetry Day, taking its place amongst collections by Maya Angelou and Alice Oswald. His second collection Gen (Seren, 2018) won Wales Book of the Year People’s Choice 2019. Long-time subscribers may know that Jonathan Edwards’ poetry career started at Poetry Wales where some of his first published poems appeared in Volume 43 Number 3. Bringing with him a deep respect for the 55-year heritage of the magazine, he writes,
“It is a huge honour to be appointed as the new editor of Poetry Wales. I am a very proud Welshman and, when one looks at the lineage of poets our country has produced, I believe that we are the most exciting poetry nation in the world. Poetry Wales is one of the most inclusive, outward-looking poetry magazines there is, and it will be an honour to continue the work of my predecessors. I want every issue to be a party, a celebration – hey, a riot! – and I want it to be about all of us, our gorgeous poetry community, stretching as it does from Denbigh to Gdansk, from Bala to Brussels, from Cwmcarn to Kolkata. I heartily welcome submissions of poems and ideas for articles for the magazine. Poetry needs you! Let’s make something wonderful.”
We look forward to seeing where his editorial vision takes us and welcome you to enjoy the next wave of Poetry Wales under his editorship. To receive our upcoming winter issue — and Jonathan Edwards’ first as editor — subscribe now.
If there is a feature you would like to pitch to Poetry Wales, an article you would like to write, or if you are interested in writing reviews for the magazine, please contact the editor at editor@poetrywales.co.uk