upstreet nominates Ackerman and Rian for Best New Poets 2008

The annual Best New Poets prize anthology allows eligible literary magazines to nominate two emerging poets (poets who have not published a book-length collection) each year. We have submitted two nominations from upstreet number three for the 2008 anthology: Stephen Ackerman, “Magic Lantern,” and Kirsten Rian, “The Dark Blue Swath Flies Like a Kite.”

Stephen Ackerman works as a lawyer for the New York City Law Department. His poems have appeared in The Antioch Review, Boulevard, Columbia Review, Mudfish, Partisan Review, Seneca Review, and upstreet. He lives in Dutchess County, NY, with his wife, Laurie, and their sons, Nicholas and William.

Kirsten Rian is a poet and educator, and a freelance grant writer and editor. She was a finalist in the last Glimmer Train Poetry Open, and her work has appeared in the literary journal Rhino and in Raising Our Voices, an anthology of Oregon poets against the war. She is a writer in residence through the Writers in the Schools Program in Portland.

The guest editor for Best New Poets 2008 is Mark Strand, who will select 50 poems from nominations made by literary magazines and writing programs, as well as an open internet competition. The upstreet selections were made by Poetry Editor Jessica Greenbaum and Editor Vivian Dorsel. We wish both nominees the best of luck in the competition.