20 must-read recent debut poetry collections

For National Poetry Month, we’ve rounded up a dozen debut poetry collections that have been or will be released in 2024. Since 2019, we have featured countless debut novels, story collections, memoirs, and essay collections but poetry has unfortunately been a blindspot.

While this isn’t correcting that error, we hope it is a step in the right direction and we will open up more poetry coverage moving forward.

Below are collections I have read and loved with a few that were recommended to me as must-reads from poets who know what they’re talking about.

2024 Releases To Buy Right Now

• Besaydoo by Yalie Saweda Kamara (January 9; Milkweed)
• Song of My Softening by Omotara James (January 13; Alice James Books)
• Theophanies by Sarah Ghazal Ali (January 16; Alice James Books)
• Dear Memphis by Rachel Edelman (January 23; RiverRiver Books)
• Asterism by Ah Hee Lee (February 1; Tupelo Press)
• Yaguareté White by Diego Báez (February 20; The University of Arizona Press)
• Girl Work by Zefyr Likowski (March 15; Noemi Press)
• Bad Mexican, Bad American by Jose Hernandez Diaz (March 15; Acre Books)
• The Palace of Forty Pillars by Armen Davoudian (March 19; Tin House Books)
• The Blue Mimes by Sara Daniele Rivera (April 2; Graywolf)

Forthcoming 2024 Releases To Pre-Order Right Now

• Self-Mythology by Saba Keramati (April 29; University of Arkansas Press)
• Coachella Elegy by Christian Gullette (July 1; Trio House Press)
• Ask a Sex Worker! by Stephanie Kaylor (August 20; CLASH Books)
• The Girl Who Became a Rabbit by Emilie Mendel (September 10; Hub City Press)
• Black Pastoral by Ariana Benson (September 15; University of Georgia Press)
• Good Dress by Brittany Rogers (October 15; Tin House)

2023 Releases You Should Go Back In Time and Read ASAP

• Judas Goat by Gabrielle Bates (January 23, 2023; Tin House Books)
• Landlock X by Sarah Audsley (February 17, 2023; Texas Review Press)
• The Border Simulator by Gabrial Dozal, trans. by Natasha Tiniacos (August 15, 2023; One World)
• Tender Headed by Olatunde Osinaike (December 5, 2023; Akashic Books)