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Nicole Counts

@nicolecounts

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editorial director @oneworldbooks

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In the latest issue of @poetswritersinc, I sat down with One World’s editorial director, @nicolecounts, and talked about what in a story makes us stand up and pay attention, how capitalism has affected our work as editors, and what we hope to see in the future. Nicole was absolutely generous and thoughtful and we covered so much that we needed more space! So pick up the latest issue and then when you finish, head online for a few bonus questions that we had to move over for space. Thanks again, Nicole, for your wisdom and thoughtfulness and taking the time to speak to me for this column (which I have now done for 4 years!) and, always, to Kevin Larimer for insightful edits.

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“I felt like I wasn’t reading the books I wanted to read, and I found myself wanting more control over who was actually being published. I still think that’s basically my same publishing kind of credo.” —Nicole Counts discusses her road to becoming an editorial director @oneworldbooks. Read more from the Nov/Dec issue in the link in bio. ✨

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Image description: Slide 1: Photo of Nicole Counts with the headline “Agents & Editors.” Slide 2: The quote “I love, love, love a book where you can feel the author trying: trying to dig deeper into some question or some sort of understanding or into what it means to grieve. Trying so hard to find new language and new ways of being, like getting us one inch closer to freedom.”

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#PoetsAndWriters #PoetsAndWritersMagazine #WritingAdvice #Publishing #IndependentPublishing #Writing

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I just need to tell yall that this book is not the book I sold in August of 2020. The book I sold was about how poetry could teach politicians how to write better speeches in order to reach more people. I sat down to write it and felt sick, felt like I was doing something dishonest, felt like I couldn’t recognize myself or my reasons. So I disappeared for a year and went into myself, got undressed, worked the poison out, forced myself to learn to think again, to think differently, to think independently. I went back to Nicole with a new, braver draft and she did not flinch, she made no promises. And what we made is a book that centers Black people, Black political ancestry, Black philosophy…a book that is unabashedly critical of the liberal establishment, of capitalism, imperialism, of global anti-blackness and racial capitalism…and every day I sat down at that computer and cried, panic attack after panic attack, terrified that I would end my career or disqualify myself, terrified that I wasn’t smart enough to make the argument, terrified that I wasn’t smart enough to defend it. So this honor means the world to me because I wrote the most honest thing I could possibly write, because I held onto my integrity and battled shame to make something my ancestors would be proud of, and now I can see that there are days where integrity will cost you, and days when integrity will deliver you, and I’ll never doubt it again. I wrote this to honor my parents and the fighters in my bloodline. No matter what happens, win or lose, this is enough for me.

Eli, my love, you sacrificed and held things together when I couldn’t see past this book and every day I hope to honor you and your love by making you proud.

Nicole, Alice, the whole team at OW, thank you for your faith and for being on my side. Thank you for choosing me!

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NEW YORK!! my fucking little heart exploding!! i’m so grateful to @mcnallyjackson and @chaninicholas and @anaffy and @sheer_awe and @safiyasinclair for helping to usher in this book in the world with one of the most beautiful events i could ask for. i’m so so grateful

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Memories of lately, pt. 2
Appreciation Des + Mike 📷

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I had a great time discussing (and trying hard to not drop spoilers about) “The Fervent Whites,” what we read, and how short we want our books to be (🤣) and much more with friend/colleague Samantha Hunt last night at the Center for Fiction!! The Center treats me well and I appreciate it! 💜📚💜📚

Then we went around the block for 🍸and 🍔 !

📸 cred: pic#1 by @xandthacity

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I went to NYC. I had the stupidest and best time. I didn’t take enough pictures. Everyone thinks their friends are the best, but truly my people are the undisputed heavyweight homies of the world. Happy birthday @_rwinstonsworld.

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proof of life (new poems on the way 🐣)

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In a time when there is little room for what can feel like an indulgence, it was great to be in NYC to celebrate the latest round of Whiting awards. Good to see old friends, reconnect, reaffirm, and note the passage of years during which we all did what we were doing, got to where we are, so forth. Ian Frazier, who gave the best speech of the night (real and funny, not easy), said something about us writers spending years “minding your loneliness, that infinite resource all human beings have,” until we publish works and then...nothing happens. Which drew the kind of laughter only possible among, well, writers and such.

I want to share, therefore - and this is for everyone who is in this world of words or wants to be or dreams of being here - this list of “rejections” that I have received over the last decade. As a way of saying, it takes something to keep taking no for an answer, constantly giving people *a chance* to say no instead of saying no to oneself by never sending work out (!) It’s not self-loathing. It’s self-love. It’s loving what you do enough to keep on doing it. Hour after day after month after year after decade after decade. And being glad to expend a life that way. On Sunday I get to celebrate a few other voices when I host the latest edition of Sunday Salon: From the Dark Tower in NYC. Please come. Say hello. Bring friends. Because supporting other artists is also part of the dream. One of the best in fact.

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Huge congratulations to Alison C. Rollins on winning a 2026 Whiting Award in Poetry! 🎉

From Selection Committee: "@alisoncrollins’s poetry possesses a familiarity across literary traditions that infuses it with depth and striking immediacy. Riveting on the page, it sings when given voice."

We look forward to seeing her next project, her memoir OUTSIDE: FIELDNOTES FOR LIVING BEYOND SURVIVAL, take shape. Framed by Alison’s award-winning poetic sensibilities, it offers an unconventional survival guide for unlearning shame and relearning how to feel safe in one’s own skin.

Congratulations again Alison on this well-deserved honor!

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I have the most amazing agent Annie Hwang @adamantlyannie and editor Nicole Counts @nicolecounts who are patiently, tenderly, and lovingly guiding me as I complete my first nonfiction book. I am an introverted midwesterner at heart so it meant the world to have them in the audience cheering me on at the Whiting ceremony. We are all three moms of young daughters which makes their support even more affirming. I also wanted to thank my partner Nate Marshall @illuminatemics and my mom (a native of Queens who now lives in St.Louis) who came and helped with my two-year old daughter so she could be present. She passed out over two chairs at the reception and then my mom took her back to the hotel. I spent the evening eating a pastrami sandwich from @katzsdeli Katz deli and drinking root beer on the hotel bed with Nate and our little love between us!

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The wonderful Liz Egan writes about Page Break’s weekend retreat featuring @jordyrosenberg’s NIGHT NIGHT FAWN - time well spent! 🌖✨🦌

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