Ms. Lesser is the Editor of The Threepenny Review, a quarterly and national publication that features both established and unknown authors. She has been editing the magazine since 1980 and has published such famous authors as Anne Carson, David Mamet, Robert Pinsky, Margaret Drabble, Seamus Heaney and many others. For our focus on poetry this month, we decided to ask her a few questions regarding how unknown poets can market and publish their work:

You are the Editor and founder of Threepenny Review. Can you tell us a little bit about your job and experiences?

I started Threepenny when I was 27, back in 1980, and at that point I had just done a little guest-editing/assistant-editing for other small publications. I basically learned on the job. Other than one other employee (or, at times, two), I have run Threepenny pretty much on my own, so I do everything from manuscript-reading to copy-editing to layout to advertising sales. Right now I have an excellent associate editor, Kathryn Crim, and the two of us do everything.

Is it advantageous to submit poetry to you that is unsolicited, or is it difficult to sort through all of the unknown writers trying to create a reputation?

We (Kathryn and I) read all the manuscripts that come in, but it's true that there is a lot of unsolicited material, so something good could certainly pass us by. I don't really know what the alternative is, though -- I mean, unknown people just have to keep trying in this way, and sometimes things jump out at us, so in any given year we publish new poems by completely unknown writers.

The way we write poetry today differs greatly from past adherence to form and rhyme. How do you judge whether a free verse poem is a success or a failure?

By whether it appeals to me on a gut level. That's the only way I have for judging rhyming poetry, too.

Every year thousands of authors have their materials sent to various publications. How do you go about choosing poems to review and what will usually catch your attention?

It helps, I have to admit, if I have heard of the poet before. Blurbs on the book cover from poets I admire also influence me unduly. I generally open the book and take a look at one or two poems, as well. Books from the most prestigious publishing houses (FS&G, Knopf, Houghton Mifflin, Norton) naturally catch me eye more easily than those from smaller presses; that is just the way of the world, I'm afraid. But finally I have to think the individual book has promise if I am to put it on our reviewing shelf -- and then one of our writers has to choose it from there.

Many authors are nervous about submitting their poetry for review, as it is a difficult market to break into. How would you advise a poet to present their materials?

I can only speak for us, but I would say: Send 5 or fewer poems at once (more poems tend to dilute my attention to each). Include a brief cover letter, and list previous credits if there are any. DON'T simultaneously submit (that is, don't send the same poems to another magazine at the same time). And DO enclose SASE if you want a reply.

There is the generalization that Editors can be vicious when it comes to book reviews. What would you say to this?

It doesn't sound true to me. Anyway, I don't think it's true of Threepenny, or of me, or of any of the editors who have worked with me.

We would like to extend our thanks to Ms. Lesser for taking the time to answer our questions. To learn more about The Threepenny Review, including submission guidelines, please visit the website: http://www.threepennyreview.com/index.html.

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