The longtime editor of one of the world's oldest literary publications is stepping down. 

J.D. McClatchy, a prize-winning poet and librettist, told The Associated Press he is leaving The Yale Review, effective at the end of this month. Harold Augenbraum, a visiting Fellow at Yale University and the former executive director of the National Book Foundation, will serve as editor until a permanent replacement is found.

"After 27 years as its editor (and for 10 years before that its unpaid poetry editor), it seemed enough," McClatchy, who first informed the school of his decision a year ago, wrote in a recent email to the AP.

Known as "Sandy" to his friends, the 71-year-old McClatchy has published eight books of poetry and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2003 for "Hazmat." He has also written 16 opera libretti, including an adaptation of Stephen King's "Dolores Claiborne" that was performed at the San Francisco Opera in 2013.

Yale President Peter Salovey praised McClatchy for "bringing substantive articles and work of literary distinction to the wider public from a university where fine writing and the literary arts always have mattered. Yale is deeply grateful to him for the high distinction of the journal over so many years and looks forward to ensuring its continuity in a new age." 

McClatchy has a home in Stonington Borough and is co-executor of the James Merrill Estate there.