The Reactionary Politics of “The Best American Poetry” – with guest Nick Sturm. E07

We invited Nick Sturm to join us to tell us about his recent Defector article, “Good Riddance to The Best American Poetry.” Nick tells us about the reactionary ideals which shaped the poetry anthology series and how these reactionary ideals influence American politics and the wider world of poetry. Nick Sturm teaches at Georgia State University in Atlanta. His book “Publishing the New York School: Small Press Communities and American Poetry” will be published by Columbia University Press. Nick is also in the research stage on another book-length project, “The Poetry Business,” that examines the role of the state, nonprofits, universities, and philanthropy in the professionalization of American poetry. A few other forthcoming projects include a chapter on poet Frank O’Hara’s publishing history in “Frank O’Hara in Context” from Cambridge University Press; editing “The Collected Poems of Jim Brodey” for Nightboat Books; and a chapter on the relationship between federal arts funding and small press editorial practices in “The Bloomsbury Handbook of Literary Editing.” You can find Nick’s article, “Good Riddance to The Best American Poetry” here: https://defector.com/good-riddance-to-the-best-american-poetry In our conversation, Nick mentions Jonathan White’s article, “Thinking Generations:” https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/49483/1/White_thinking_generations.pdf   — Header image based on photo by Gary Coronado: https://tinyurl.com/kdzxt5k Pod logo based on photo by Ted Timmons, Edited by Colin McLaughlin-Alcock Creative Commons License: https://tinyurl.com/y9dj772p Music from #Uppbeat https://uppbeat.io/t/night-drift/pastel License code: KRQMGNARPJLX0ICN