Grant Chemidlin’s ‘23 (Los Angeles, MFA) will have his new poetry collection, In the Middle of a Better World, published by Central Avenue and distributed by Simon & Schuster on February 3, 2026. Chemidlin describes the book as a defiant celebration of queer love, queer joy, and chosen connection. As he says, “I am incredibly proud of it and excited to release it out into the world, which could use a little more light right now, a little more joy.”
Chemidlin is an alum of the Antioch MFA in Creative Writing, and he was one of six poets selected to participate in last year’s “Poetry Is Democracy” event, in which Antioch commissioned new poems from these working poets and then brought them and the whole Antioch community together for a night of readings and reflection. (This event was part of the larger Antioch Works for Democracy, or AW4D, project.) Chemidlin reports that the poem he wrote for that event, “The Homosexual Agenda,” appears in this new collection.
While the collection won’t be published until February, it is already available for pre-order from online and local bookstores.
