30 in Their 30s: Afterword.

Dear Readers,

Putting this series together has given me such faith in the poets in my age range. I was spoiled for choice when it came to finding poets who were both talented and hardworking - and I was amazed to discover how very humble nearly everyone I contacted was. Several brilliant poets even turned down my invitation to be on the list, on the grounds that they felt their current work wasn't strong enough.

This project has humbled me, too: I agonized over which poets to include, whether or not I approached people correctly, and whether or not I did their work justice in my write-ups. But I'm happy with the result. I'm so glad so many of you read and followed this, and that you're as excited as I am to discover and celebrate the brilliant people in this field. Please keep it up: read these folks' books, read the awesome journals that publish them (including Muzzle, of course!), and go to their readings when you have the chance. It's my sincere belief that this is a crop of writers that will continue to grow in impressive ways.

If you feel I missed someone I should know about or should better appreciate, don't hesitate to find me and point me towards her, or have the poet in question submit to Muzzle. We're always hungry to introduce our readers to new work.

Below is a cheat sheet of all the listed poets' names. Their bios should enumerate recent or upcoming projects worth looking out for.


--Laura Swearingen-Steadwell, Associate Editor

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1. Aricka Foreman
2. Traci Brimhall
3. Reginald Dwayne Betts
4. Tommye Blount
5. Jessica Helen Lopez
6. Sandra Beasley
7. Tarfia Faizullah
8. L. Lamar Wilson
9. Matthew Olzmann
10. Aimee Nezhukumatathil
11. Jamaal May
12. Kenyatta Rogers
13. John Paul Davis
14. Natalie Diaz
15. Roger Reeves
16. Jennifer Sperry-Steinorth
17. Jason Bayani
18. Bianca Spriggs
19. Tomás Morin
20. Nathan McClain
21. Nandi Comer
22. Ben Clark
23. Jonterri Gadson
24. Suzi Q. Smith
25. Nicky Beer
26. Rico Frederick
27. Nicole Sealey
28. Christina Olivares
29. Marcus Jackson
30. Aracelis Girmay