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Wiman Steps Down from Poetry Magazine

Christian Wiman, a 1988 graduate of Washington and Lee, will step down as editor of Poetry magazine on June 30.

Christian has guided the prestigious magazine for a decade, during which Poetry won two National Magazine Awards, including the one for general excellence. In addition, circulation more than doubled during Christian’s editorship.

Christian is making the move to join the faculty of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale Divinity School.

In an announcement released by Poetry, Christian said: “My years at Poetry have been the most exciting and rewarding of my life. As thrilled as I am to be joining the faculty of the ISM and Yale Divinity School, I will certainly miss this magazine, and the people that work so hard on it, and the sense of mission that we have all shared. I will take with me many friends, fond memories, and of course a subscription to Poetry — which I’m very much looking forward to reading simply as a reader.”

The author of three books of poetry, Christian will soon publish a new nonfiction book, “My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer.” Farrar, Straus and Giroux is releasing it in April.

The winner of a Guggenheim, Christian has written and talked extensively in recent years about his Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, an incurable cancer of the blood. Most recently, his essay “Mortify Our Wolves” appeared in the Autumn 2012 issue of The American Scholar.

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