Dear Friends and Fellow Lovers of Poetry:
My name is Kevin Nance, and I’m the new Managing Editor of Yearling: a poetry journal for working writers. It’s an honor to have been selected by Christopher McCurry to replace my friend Manny Grimaldi.
I grew up on a farm in North Carolina and began writing poetry as a teenager. I spent 25 years as a staff writer in newspapers in Lexington, Nashville and Chicago, followed by several years as a freelance journalist and photographer. After a 15-year hiatus from writing poetry, I moved back to Lexington in 2019 and rediscovered the amazing literary community we have here. Since then, buoyed by your support and feedback, I’ve returned to an almost daily practice of the art and published three poetry collections. I’m also co-host (with my friend Jay McCoy) of the Kentucky Writers Roundtable podcast on MediaLex, which gives local writers—most of them poets—a chance to share and promote their books.
The past few years have served to reinforce how necessary poetry is—writing it and reading it—in my life. When the world seems to have gone mad, as it often does as I scan the headlines each morning, I find solace in poetry. Writing it, I can access parts of my deepest self, say things that are unsayable any other way. Reading it, I feel less alone, more connected to the world. More connected to you, my fellow poets, especially in a time when so many forces conspire to tear us apart.
I know from my own participation in Lexington Poetry Month (which is coming up in June!) that many of you are producing terrific work—far more than we have room to publish in just one issue a year. Chris and I would like to increase the audience for that work.
What would that look like? It could include publishing Yearling on a more frequent basis, doubling the opportunities for us to showcase great poetry, most of it produced right here in Central Kentucky. It could also include paying contributors. The honorariums we envision offering would be small in monetary terms but large in symbolic value, signifying our keen appreciation for the skill and dedication you bring to the craft.
To expand Yearling’s footprint this way, we need the strong support of our community of writers and readers.
Here are three ways you can help us accomplish this:
Become a subscriber. You can do this for just $4 per month on our Patreon, which you can access by clicking here. My goal is to at least double our subscription base this year, if not triple or quadruple it.
Become a donor. You can make any size contribution to Workhorse earmarked for Yearling. I’m delighted to report that over the past month, we’ve received commitments from two generous donors that will go a long way toward making our dream of a bigger, more muscular presence for Yearling a reality. You can help this process along by setting up a monthly donation on our Patreon here. Even better, consider making a single annual donation, which reduces the amount taken out (about 9%) for bank processing fees. If you’d like to discuss that possibility in greater detail, please contact me at kevinnancepoetry @ gmail.com or Chris at christophermccurry87 @ gmail.com.
Finally, submit. We’re currently accepting submissions for the next issue of Yearling. A few poems have been accepted to date but we still have many spots open. I invite you to read our guidelines and submit your best stuff, which you can do via Submittable here. I can’t wait to read and respond. Knock me out.
Thanks so much in advance for helping to make Yearling stronger.
Yours,
Kevin Nance
Managing Editor
