INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An Indiana poet is set to release an anthology-style book full of poetry inspired by Taylor Swift written by poets worldwide.

The book is called “Invisible Strings: 113 Poets Respond to the Songs of Taylor Swift.”

Kristie Frederick Daugherty is the creator and editor of “Invisible Strings: 113 Poets Respond to the Songs of Taylor Swift.” She is a PhD candidate at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Literature Criticism.

Currently, she is a poet and a professor at the University of Evansville. She holds an MFA in Poetry from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

“This is the result of an idea that came to me when I was watching the Grammys and Taylor announced her album The Tortured Poets Department,” Frederick Daugherty said. “How can contemporary poetry grab this moment?”

Each poem in the book is from a different contemporary poet and is inspired by a Taylor Swift song. The goal of the book is to show more people that poetry is for everyone.

The catch is the book will not tell you what song inspired the poem. Frederick Daugherty said there are plans to release a key online to help readers decode and match up each poem to each song. Later editions of the book could see a printed key.

“I give them a song of Taylors and without using any direct lyrics from it and then Swifties can do what Taylor taught hundreds of millions of fans to do and that is to go into a song and close read it,” Frederick Daugherty said.

“I mean she drops easter eggs, known in the literary world as allusions, she drops these all throughout her discography,” Frederick Daugherty said. “And things connect, things go back, they connect, she recontextualizes things and she has taught hundreds of millions of people to close read.”

Frederick daugherty said Taylor Swift writes poetry herself and has a new generation of listeners critically thinking about her lyrics. She wants this book to bridge the gap to written poetry.

“The vision I have for the anthology is to create a readership for contemporary poetry where we’re moving poetry out of what is sometimes viewed as something highly cerebral, high academia, something that is gatekept,” Frederick Daugherty said.

The book is packed with superstars of contemporary poetry.

“It contains poetry from the very best contemporary poets writing today. It includes 6 Pulitzer Prize winners, two national book award winners, one of the poets in the book, Diane Seuss is a finalist for this year’s national book award in poetry which is very exciting,” Frederick Daugherty said. “It also includes Instapoets, emerging poets and one of the aims of the book is to embrace all poetry.”

“The collection showcases a diverse and accomplished array of writers including the 23rd US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, Pulitzer Prize winners Diane Seuss, Yusef Komunyakaa, Carl Phillips, Rae Armantrout, Paul Muldoon, and Gregory Pardlo, National Book Critics Circle Award winners Mary Jo Bang and Laura Kasischke, and bestselling poets Maggie Smith, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Kate Baer, amanda lovelace, Tyler Knott Gregson, and Jane Hirshfield,” the online listing for the book said.

Penguin Random House Publishing is publishing the book and it will cost $26.

It will be released on Dec. 3 of this year.

You can preorder “Invisible Strings 113 Poets Respond to the Songs of Taylor Swift” through most bookstores. You can find more information here.

Penguin Random House is giving away two tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in Vancouver, Canada, Dec. 7, 2024.

All you have to do to enter at this link is preorder the book and send your receipt.

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