A brief history of the Poetry Review

• 1973:    Two poets in a barn-the magazine's humble beginnings:  Poets Michael Egan and Tom O'Grady find fonts of lead type and printing blocks in an old horse barn in rural Maryland and buy them for a few dollars from the owner. They decide to set poems themselves, letter by letter- and perhaps even make their own paper-to publish limited edition chapbooks of poetry.
• 1975: First edition
• ~1977: grants from the VA arts commission
  • wins the NEA Editors' Prize
• 1978: publishes poems by Miklos Radnoti, an Eastern European poet murdered by the Nazis 
• Publishes translations of Czech poet Jaroslav Seifert -the first time in an American magazine
• 1980-82: interviews and essays on poetry by James Dickey, William Styron, Willie Morris, David Ignatow, Mark Strand and Louis Simpson are included in the magazine
• 1984: Seifert wins Nobel Prize for Literature
• 1985: Seifert and Louis Simpson awarded honorary degrees from H-SC
• 1985: College establishes a printing budget and poetry residency position
• 1990: 15th Anniversary Issue
• 2000: 25th Anniversary Issue and Celebration
• 2007: Board approves tenure-track position for new editor/poet-in-residence
• 2007: New Library Celebration Issue
• 2007: On October 31st, 2007, renowned poets Molly Peacock and X.J. Kennedy read from their works.
• 2008: Tom O'Grady edits his last issue
• 2008: Nathaniel Perry takes over as editor.

Acknowledgement:  Thank you to Sarah Hardy and Tom O'Grady for compiling this information about The Review

Molly Peacock and X.J. Kennedy