Press
Dark Beds
REVIEWS & MEDIA
Seven Days- “These poems… spin gorgeous, incantatory narratives for readers who prefer their love letters written in heart's blood.”
Literary Mama— “In lush and musical verse, Diana Whitney’s Dark Beds explores the tensions inherent in family life: its attractions and frustrations, the temptations to shatter it, life’s unavoidable dangers, the parents and children and lovers, “‘everyone’s roots / tangled up in each other.’”
The Commons— “A prolific writer in a range of genres, Whitney's work is frank, witty, intelligent, and informed. She writes about subjects others might not touch; she opens doors many would like to look through.”
Independent Book Review (Starred Review)— “Whitney’s poems contain a kind of breathless tension that draws in the reader and compels them through each page, caught up in possibilities and what-ifs. This is poetry of confession, ripe and ready to envelop the senses with its passion.”
The Slowdown — featuring “The Long Goodbye”
Read to Me Podcast— featuring “River House”
Independent Book Review — “Fall 2023 Indie Books We’re Excited About”
INTERVIEWS
Electric Literature: Writing Desire in Middle Age— “Whitney explores the ache of desire that is often the backdrop of the caregiving years—the desire to be on the receiving end of tenderness and to be witnessed as a whole being rather than attendant.”
The Adroit Journal: A Conversation Between Shanta Lee and Diana Whitney— “Diana, in terms of the transference of knowledge and navigating who you wanted to be in the world, what is your first memory of how you decided to commingle your ferality and domesticity?”
AWARDS & HONORS
Ruth Stone Poetry Prize — Three poems from Dark Beds selected as finalists by Natalie Diaz, 2019
Women’s National Book Association Poetry Prize — “Curiosity” from Dark Beds selected as winner by Ellen Bass, 2015
“‘Curiosity’. . reaches out what I call a ‘long arm’ and scoops in a lot that all resonates beautifully together. It has unpredictability, surprise, and lots of what Tony Hoagland calls “thingitude.” It’s personal and cosmic, intimate and grand, and trashy and complex.” — Ellen Bass
You Don’t Have to Be Everything
REVIEWS & MEDIA
“A collection intentionally designed to promote growth, understanding, and self-awareness. Buy it for the young women in your life and share it with the young men.” — School Library Journal, “A Best Poetry Book of 2021”
“The collection pulses with a vital and confident energy, embracing contradictions and complexity.”— The Boston Globe
“Each poem addresses a different complex aspect of coming-of-age struggles while confronting persistent views about femininity. You Don’t Have to Be Everything provides a safe and guiding poetic space for young women to come into their true selves.” — The Root
“A fantastic introduction to poetry for readers of any age and gender. The book captures the growing pains of becoming, learning who we are, and being true to ourselves. A book meant to be shared, Diana Whitney’s curation is not to be missed.” — The Young Folks
“This collection feels like a gift, a pep talk, a shoulder to cry on, and, most of all, a mirror that will captivate its audience.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Don’t you dare, this collection of voices reminds, allow anyone to decide your life for you.” —The Boston Globe
INTERVIEWS
AWARDS & HONORS
Nautilus Award (Silver)
Wanting It
REVIEWS & MEDIA
“Wanting It is a gorgeous collection of poems rendering the experience of American life in a vivid and personal way.”— Rubery International Book Award
“Nature is an open channel to the sensual world in Wanting It, making way for one of the many pleasures of this text. Through these poems, sensuality approaches what Cixous calls “a real liberation of sexuality…” The bold, unashamed lyric of that sexuality and desire is part of this work’s strength.”— Gulf Coast Magazine
“Whitney… opens her soul to anyone who cares to dive through the pages of self-discovery and resurface with a fresh understanding of themselves and of others.”— Glassworks Magazine
INTERVIEWS
AWARDS & HONORS
2015 Rubery International Book Award
2014 Julie Suk Award (Shortlist)
Small Press Distribution (No. 1 Poetry Bestseller, Fall 2014)
Selected Media
Kinkly — “12 Pride Items to Keep the Celebration Going 🌈”
The Keene Sentinel — “Brattleboro poet draws on a lifetime of inspiration”
Mud Season Review — Author interview
The Mighty — “Trauma, women in pain, and healing though writing”
Vermont PBS — “Poets and Their Craft”
A Mighty Blaze — “Poet’s Café with Allison Adair”
All Things LGBTQ — Author Interview
Out in the Open Radio Hour — “Bi-erasure and embracing queerness”
BCTV — “Poets Speak” with Vermont Poet Laureate Chard deNiord
Grants & Awards
Fischer Prize from the Telluride Institute 2022 — for “Acorns,” from Girl Trouble
Vermont Arts Council — 2021 Creation Grant for manuscript-in-progress, Girl Trouble
Virginia Center for Creative Arts — Writing fellow, 2017 & 2019
Vermont Arts Endowment Fund — Vermont Community Foundation 2015 Writing Grant
Sustainable Arts Foundation — 2015 Grant
“Diana Whitney’s poems offer Polaroid- vivid images of family life, school days, and summer fishing trips, but they are always real, never romanticized.”