Faculty in the Department of English edit two notable literary journals: the Birmingham Poetry Review and NELLE.

NELLE

Founded in 2001 by Linda Frost under the title poemmemoirstory, NELLE is helmed by Editor-in-Chief Lauren Slaughter, poet, professor, and author of the poetry collection a lesson in smallness, and Managing Editor Anamaria Santiago. Writer and professor Kerry Madden was the previous editor until Slaughter assumed the editorship of the renamed publication in 2017. Today, NELLE continues to be the only major literary publication in Alabama which publishes only women.

Each issue of NELLE is separated into three sections: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Each section is edited by different individuals: for nonfiction, Emily Krawczyk, founder of the online publication The Laughing Lesbian;  and for poetry, Halley Cotton, alumna and instructor at UAB.

NELLE has also recently introduced the “Three Sisters Award,” a $500 award in each section of the publication to the selected winner.

Birmingham Poetry Review

Founded by Robert Collins and Randy Blythe in 1987, Birmingham Poetry Review (BPR) is edited by poet and professor Adam Vines—author and co-author of four collections of poetry—and feature editor Gregory Fraser, winner of a 2015 Guggenheim Fellowship and 2016 James Dickey Prize. BPR publishes original poetry, translations, and reviews. Every issue contains a Featured Poet, an in-depth interview with the featured poet, and a Featured Essay. In the past, our Featured Poets have been such widely-recognized names as Claribel Alegría, Barbara Ras, and Allison Joseph. In the most current issue, the Featured Poet is National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Gerald Sterne.

Poetry published in BPR has also received national accolades, including selection for inclusion in Best American Poetry in 2014, 2016 and 2017.

BPR has published such well-known and acclaimed poets as Betty Adcock, Erica Dawson, Daniel Anderson, David Bottoms, Claudia Emerson, Debora Greger, Mark Jarman, David Kirby, Edward Hirsch, Andrew Hudgins, Allison Joseph, William Logan, Medbh McGuckian, R. T. Smith, Natasha Tretheway, Pimone Triplett, and Sidney Wade.

Both publications are working towards digitizing their collections to make them available online as well as in print.