I.S. Jones Named Editor-in-Chief of Frontier Poetry

The Nigerian American poet I.S. Jones has been named editor-in-chief of Frontier Poetry.

The magazine, focused on emerging writers, is noted for its popular annual contests, including a digital chapbook series. Poets it has published or collaborated with include Kwame Dawes, Ocean Vuong, Kaveh Akbar, Safia Elhillo, Tyehimba Jess, and Matthew Zapruder.

Jones is the author of the chapbook Spells of My Name (Newfound, 2021). Her work in the African literary scene includes an editorial role at the poetry collective 20.35 Africa, guest-editing nonfiction for an issue of the magazine Lolwe, and co-editing an anthology published by the magazine Agbowo. She further hosts a month-long, online poetry workshop called The Singing Bullet.

“I have been so impressed with I.S. Jones, as a poet, a scholar, and a leader,” said Frontier Poetry co-founder and outgoing editor-in-chief Joshua Roark. “We are all excited to see the future she will bring about over the next five, ten, twenty years as editor.”

Jones shared that she had been looking to return to editing in a broader capacity. “Frontier is a literary magazine I have profound admiration for as a space that actively uplifts not only marginalized voices, but also international poets and those that are just starting out in their career,” she said. “This is a great privilege, one that I do not take lightly. I am very fortunate to be at the helm of this ship that values literary art. As I have adjusted to my new role over the last few weeks, it has been a delight to grow with not only the magazine but to be apart of the ever-evolving company that is Discover New Art, and I look forward to serving this wonderful literary community.”

She told Open Country Mag: “I knew editing was something I wanted to pursue since leaving my [MFA] program. My mission is to continue what Frontier is doing—giving a space for both emerging writers, international writers, and writers negotiating themselves between multiple languages.”

Jones is also an essayist and music journalist. Her works have appeared or are forthcoming in Guernica, Washington Square Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Hobart, LA Review of Books, The Rumpus, The Offing, Transition, Shade Literary Arts, Blood Orange Review, and Honey Literary. She was a finalist for the 2020 Sublingua Prize for Poetry.

She is a Graduate Fellow with The Watering Hole and holds fellowships from Callaloo, BOAAT Writer’s Retreat, and Brooklyn Poets. She received her MFA in Poetry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was the inaugural 2019­­–2020 Kemper K. Knapp University Fellowship and is the 2021-2022 Hoffman Hall Emerging Artist Fellowship recipient. She is the Director of the Watershed Reading Series with Art + Literature Laboratory, a community-driven contemporary arts center in Madison, Wisconsin.

We congratulate I.S. Jones.