I have edited work by Cameron Awkward-Rich, Douglas Kearney, Muriel Leung, Zefyr Lisowski, and many others. These titles have gone on to win the Lambda Literary Award as well as regional and state book awards. They have been long and shortlisted for a variety of prizes and received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly. Hover over the titles below to read endorsements from authors about the experience of our collaborative work.
Diana Arterian’s editorial eye is sharp, fresh and compassionate. I consulted her for guidance on my manuscript after being finalisted at various contests. By restructuring the sequence, and radically working towards concision in individual poems, she illuminated the emotional conflicts that were rather subdued in earlier versions. She also had a clear and precise understanding of the cultural context I write in. My manuscript grew to be more nuanced, and I could see it anew, thanks to her concrete insights. The book found a wonderful home right after!
— PREETI VANGANI
Winner of the Florida Book Award
for Poetry
Diana Arterian is an incredible editor, with an eye for refining the underlying argument of a poem and of a manuscript at large, for pushing your thinking as a poet past what you thought your poems could do. She has a talent for helping you weave the music of your poem seamlessly with the research and logic behind it, a marriage that is difficult to achieve without the support of a great editor. Diana is one of those editors.
— ERIN McCOY
Winner of the Lambda Literary Award
for Transgender Poetry
Diana is such an astute editor—on both the level of book-order concerns (she essentially restructured my whole manuscript) and the individual poem and line. She effectively balanced a deep respect for the work with suggestions to make the work genuinely better: never did I feel we were in anything less than total dialogue. My book would not exist as it does in the world without her input, and certainly not in a shape I’m as proud of.
— ZEFYR LISOWSKI
NATURE FELT
BUT NEVER APPREHENDED
Diana’s masterful editorial guidance helped shape and sharpen my book, while preserving its essential voice. Her careful attention to both detail and the broader political, cultural, and mythological resonances of the work elevated the manuscript immeasurably. Working with her was not only intellectually enriching but also deeply encouraging—she has a gift and skill for seeing both what a text is and what it could become.
— ANGELA PENAREDONDO
Longlist for the PEN/Voelcker Award
for Poetry
Diana Arterian provided the seemingly impossible balance of hands-on/hands-off editing. Allowing Upend space when need be, she was always swiftly available to offer her sharp, thorough mind for several iterations of the manuscript. She generously tracked everything between the smallest inconsistency fixes and big picture, structural questions—all with sensitivity, humility, and patience towards the ethnically, geographically, and intergenerational complexity of the book.
— CLAIRE HONG
Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Gay Poetry
Editing one’s own manuscript is always iffy, but having Diana work on Beseige Me was an awesome experience. Her point of view and opinions elevated my work to another level.
— NICHOLAS WONG
GREYHOUND
Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award
in Transgender Poetry
Diana brought a precise amount of care to my work that emboldened me to fight for the parts of my work that I loved and to accept what could use a fair shake of polishing. There wasn’t a moment where I did not feel that the comments and edits she suggested were brought in without an investment in the work being as clean as it needed to be.
— AEON GINSBERG
WINTER: EFFULGENCES AND DEVOTIONS
Diana Arterian was able to give me extremely insightful and apt line-level edits as well as, invaluably, the details of what my book was like as a book. What it felt like for her to read it, its momentum, tone, movement, where it lagged, or lost its driving question, or disappeared behind a technique. She’s a genius writer, too. It is this writerly-ness that helps make her such a brilliant editor.
— SARAH VAP
GeNTRY!FICATION:
OR THE SCENE OF THE CRIME
Winner of the Minnesota Book Award Winner in Poetry
Diana Arterian’s work as an editor is that of a first reader, not only sharpening work at the level of the line, but also offering interventions I had yet to think of. The opportunity to work with Diana tremendously shaped the project for the better.
— CHAUN WEBSTER
As the editor for my first book, Diana’s editorial eye is truly sharp and incisive, attentive to the textures of language as much as technique. I feel very lucky that such an important debut project of mine is treated with such care.
— MURIEL LEUNG
Working with Diana Arterian on my book Ford Over was a dream. Small-press editorial work is underpaid and undervalued, and Diana went above and beyond: tuned into the energies of the book, passionate about its layout and design, and committed to shepherding the book through the editorial process with a keen eye for detail.
— JADINE PLEUCKER
Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Transgender Poetry
Publishing a first book is always, I suspect, a dizzying, anxious-making endeavor, but was so lucky to have Diana Arterian’s help in bringing my first book to the world. It was largely through Diana’s care for my work—her perceptiveness, her line-level precision, and her general support of my vision—that I came to have confidence that it was, in fact, a book at all. I will always be grateful for what learned from our encounters.
— CAMERON AWKWARD-RICH
Diana helped me make my collection stronger, smarter and braver. She is a thorough and responsible editor full of keen insights and deep compassion.
— ARIELLE GREENBERG
