Douglas Piccinnini – Editor

Douglas is an interdisciplinary artist and author of two full-length collections of poetry 𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭, 𝘚𝘢𝘧𝘦 & 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘦 (New Books), 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘖𝘣𝘰𝘦 (Omnidawn) and 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬: a novella (The Cultural Society), as well as numerous chapbooks. His work has appeared in places such as The Academy of American Poets' Poem-a-day, American Poetry Review, Amsterdam Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Colorado Review, Denver Quarterly, Edible Jersey, Every Day with Rachael Ray, Fence, Lana Turner, MQR, Prelude, NYTimes.com, Tupelo Quarterly, Verse, Volt, and other outlets.

Douglas' work has been supported by The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Art Farm Nebraska, Art Yard, The Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia, The Vermont Studio Center, Sundress Academy for the Arts in Knoxville, TN, The Mastheads in Pittsfield, MA and a United States Artists Grant.

APPROACH

Douglas works as a developmental editor and mentor for writers and professionals who already have strong instincts and want a trusted second opinion. Rather than prescribing fixes, he reflects a writer's own craft back to them — helping them see what's already working, place their work in a broader context, and refine it with honest, direct feedback.

PRAISE

Story Book suspends and electrifies narration mid-creation. Douglas explores narrative of self-imposed amnesia, bloody encounters at home and on the road, Oedipal rage, [...] the anxiety of marriage, male sexuality and therapy sessions gone awry, Catholic school and homosociality, confrontations with love, death, and surveillance, and of course, the purported cure-all of worst-case scenario guides.

-Rita Banerjee, Los Angeles Review of Books

Story Book shows us how the poet's conception of a text as self-sustaining can inform the genre of the novel or novella. Like different sections of a long poem, these chapters form a mosaic that suggests new ways of thinking about thinking about the world and writing.

– Stephan Delbos, BODY

Like Ashbery he sees the basic insufficiency, the crying shame in the peculiar anti-phenomenon called time and in what still receives the name of “self."

- Calvin Bedient, "Best Poetry Collections of 2015"

PERSONAL TESTIMONY

Douglas is an excellent writing coach. He helped me tap into my creativity after a very long drought, boosted my confidence, edited my work gently and meaningfully, focused my thinking, and when necessary, acted as the occasional spiritual advisor. His admirers are many, across all the disciplines he has aimed his talents, due to his strong dedication and commitment to the task at hand, and positive energy. I would strongly recommend him, He is a thoughtful, detailed, excellent wordsmith who can shape whatever editorial content you need. Or he can be the literary guide to help you plan and succeed at your writing project.

– Allison Kopicki, Writer/Researcher at Climate Central, Inc.

Douglas has the ability to distill literary material so that is useful, entertaining and digestible to anyone. His curation of poetic works, and exercises he designs to accompany them, have stayed with me.

– Tom di Mino, Freelance Writer & Marketing Professional