We are sad to announce the departure of Grace Schulman, poetry editor of The Nation since 1972, who is stepping down to devote more time to her writing. Grace’s poems have earned her numerous prizes, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Aiken Taylor Award in Modern Poetry. Like many readers, we look forward to her new book, The Broken String, which will appear this spring. Meanwhile, we honor Grace for her remarkable service to the magazine, which has been greatly enriched by her blend of passion and discernment and by her unfailing kindness and, yes, graciousness. During her tenure, The Nation has published poems by Joseph Brodsky, Derek Walcott, James Wright, Mona Van Duyn, Louise Glück, Pablo Neruda, James Merrill and A.R. Ammons, as well as work by many emerging poets who later achieved wider recognition. Grace’s own essays and reviews have appeared here as well. Fortunately, she will not be leaving us altogether: Grace will continue to judge the poetry contest Discovery-The Nation, which she founded in 1973. A big thanks from all of us, Grace.

Assuming Grace’s duties as poetry editor will be John Palattella, who has been writing about poetry for The Nation since 2002. John’s essays have appeared in many other publications, including The London Review of Books, Boston Review and Bookforum. Writing on an impressive range of subjects, from French Surrealism to the Lower East Side avant-garde, from the Brooklyn waterfront to the jazz-inflected verse of Nathaniel Mackey, John has displayed great gifts as a critic–sensitivity to form, historical erudition and a refusal of the provincial dogmas that so often balkanize the small world of poetry. We believe these qualities will also stand him in good stead as our poetry editor.