an award-winning anthology dedicated to publishing new and innovative literary experiences
…who submitted their work for our 2023 issue! Publishing begins this month and we can’t wait to read your words!!
In the meantime, check out our 26th volume–published by an incredible group of assistant editors at Clackamas Community College. We look forward to students working to publish another remarkable volume this year!
The submission window for volume XXVII of our award-winning Clackamas Literary Review is open! We’re accepting prose, poetry, and possibility texts through December 31st. Check out our submissions page for guidelines.
Dear friends,
The 25th volume of our Clackamas Literary Review has arrived!
Our thanks to Brook Johnson for gifting us Cloud Nine for this year’s cover!
And thanks to our incredible assistant editors for their tireless work and commitment to publish another issue of our beloved literary journal! Thanks also to the CCC English faculty, staff, and publishing alumni who volunteered their time as associate editors.
Our thanks especially to the writers and poets for sharing your remarkable work with us—this year, especially, your words keep us going. Contributors include:
Ken Autrey, Diane Averill, Devon Balwit, Nathan Bas, Trent Busch, William J. Cobb, Nicole Cortino, Riley Danvers, Hannah Davis, Susanne Davis, Adam Day, Linda Drach, Bernard W. Duffy, Meli Broderick Eaton, Andrew Rader Hanson, William Heath, Madronna Holden, Wynne Hungerford, Marc Jampole, M. Jennings, Jeffrey Kingman, Robert Krut, Jeffrey Letterly, Mary Makofske, Steven Mayer, Melissa McKinstry, Colton Merris, Cecil Morris, Scott F. Parker, Ricardo Pau-Llosa, Barry Peters, Daniel Pié, Geoff Polk, Vivienne Popperl, Bruce Pratt, Levi Rogers, Mary Rohrer-Dann, Karen Sandberg, Mark Simpson, Geo. Staley, Jeanine Stevens, Robert Stone, Stephanie Striffler, Anannya Uberoi, Peter Vertacnik, John Walser, Francis Walsh, Alanna Weissman, and Darlene Young.
Finally, and as always, thank you to our readers. The 2021 issue of the Clackamas Literary Review is our gift to you. Enjoy!
Our submission window for the XXV volume of the award-winning Clackamas Literary Review is open! We’re accepting prose, poetry, and possibility texts through December 31st. Check out our submissions page for guidelines.
We can’t wait to read your words!
Friends,
Please help us say hello to the 24th volume of our Clackamas Literary Review! 
Our cover artist is Sophie Estrada. Thank you, Sophie, for Healing Hands—it makes for a beautiful cover!
Thanks to our student editors—your hard work and exuberance is why this book exists in the world! Thanks also to the CCC English faculty, staff, and publishing alumni who volunteered their time as associate editors on this incredible issue.
And thanks especially to our authors: the writers and poets who, year after year, trust us with their wonderful words—your work is what drives our commitment to publish. This year’s contributors include:
Chris Anderson, Jacob M. Appel, Rachel Arteaga, Bruce Barrow, Rachel Barton, Nathan Bas, Ace Boggess, Andrea Campbell, S.W. Campbell, Geoff Cannard, Marisa P. Clark, Thomas Cooper, Brian Cronwall, Riley Danvers, Michelle DeLiso, Judith DeVilliers, Erin Doyle, Birch Dwyer, Jack Eikrem, Sharon Goldberg, John Grey, Hilary Harper, Joseph Harris, Suzy Harris, Lisa Higgs, Romana Iorga, Marc Jampole, John P. Kristofco, David Langlinais, Jeffrey Letterly, Sherri Levine, Jennifer Lothrigel, Michael Milburn, Susannah B. Mintz, Cecil Morris, Greg Nicholl, James B. Nicola, Nancy Nowak, Simon Perchik, Paulann Petersen, Vivienne Popperl, Corey S. Pressman, Joel Savishinsky, Alicia Schmidt, Dave Seter, Chet Skibinski, Darcy Smith, David Spiering, Matthew J. Spireng, Elizabeth Stoessl, John Struloeff, Adam Tavel, Jacob D. Thompson, Marty Walsh, John Sibley Williams, and Henry Wise.
Finally, thanks to our readers—simply: you are why we publish.
So, once more, say hello to the 2020 issue of the Clackamas Literary Review! It’s a book made just for you. For just right now.
Our submission window for the XXIV volume of the award-winning Clackamas Literary Review is now open! From September 1st through December 31st we’re accepting prose, poetry, and possibility texts. Check out our submissions page for guidelines.
We can’t wait to read new work from the incredible poets and writers who trust us with their words!
The 23rd volume of the Clackamas Literary Review is available for purchase!
Links to purchase online:
Editors Note:
“Few things bridge distance quite like the written word. Writing can carry ideas beyond cultures, generations, and borders. For writers, those impossible optimists, this journey involves ideas too stubborn to relinquish, shaped by long nights before page or screen-smudged ink, sweaty keystrokes, picky edits, fleeting inspiration, quiet doubts, and even quieter resolve-all to get ideas out to the world.
Some of the writers’ ideas have made their way to us, the editors of Clackamas Literary Review. For the past several months we have come together to read and re-read, discuss, debate, and wrestle through each submission, spending hours dissecting pieces we were unsure about and fighting for the stories and poems we loved. Our discussions stirred deeper thought, challenging us in unexpected ways as we reconciled differing perspectives. Often this allowed us to see things in a new light, as beloved pieces were turned away and ones we did not first appreciate became favorites. Slowly, something that began as many individual efforts became a collaborative experience, reminding us that dissonance and diversity are part of a written work’s journey.
In this world that feels increasingly disconnected and isolated, each piece you are about to read was created by a soul seeking connection. A connection to someone like you. Countless hours have been spent in service of the book you now hold in your hands and the connection is creates. Enjoy the variety of works in this volume; let them sink in and become a part of who you are-part of your journey through the messy, chaotic, wonderful world we live in. And may the experience lead you to find something new of yourself along the way.”
Our published authors this year include:
Jeffery Alfier
Dianne Averill
Simon Anton Niño Baena
Chad Barlett
Larry Beckett
Ace Boggess
Jeffery S. Chapman
Douglas Cole
Nick Conrad
Holly Day
Christine DeSimone
Will Donnelly
Nancy Flynn
Taylor Gaede
Jesse Gardner
Tim Gillespie
LaVonne Griffin-Valade
Suzy Harris
Marie Hartung
Madronna Holden
James Croal Jackson
John P. Kristofco
David Mihalyov
Cecil Morris
Linda Neal
Daniel J. Nickolas
Francis Opila
Ty Phelps
Corey S. Pressman
Will Radke
Susan Bruns Rowe
Mark Rubin
Peter Serchuk
Tara K. Shepersky
Ben Slotky
Matthew J. Spireng
Hollyn Taylor
Chelsea Thiel
Evan Morgan Williams
John Sibley Williams
Congratulations to Adam Tavel, whose poem “Training Fire” was featured in Volume XX of the CLR, and in his new book: CATAFALQUE. This collection also won the 2017 Richard Wilbur Award! Way to go University of Evansville Press for publishing this collection.
Our submission window for the XXIII volume of the Clackamas Literary Review is now open! From September 1st through December 31st we’re accepting prose, poetry, and possibility texts. Check out our submissions page for guidelines.
We can’t wait to read new work from all the incredible poets and writers who trust us with their words!
Two-time contributor Danielle Hanson’s new book, Fraying Edge of Sky, just won the Codhill Poetry Award! Included in the book is her poem “Saints,” which first appeared in our 2012 volume. Congratulations Danielle!!
Between the destruction of angels, creation of philosophers, and use of mythological creatures, Fraying Edge of Sky captures a side of the other-world humans don’t see into very often: “A walking stampede, slow and terrible. / The hospital for nonexistent children. / A mountain devouring clouds.” Hanson’s beautiful lyricism and shocking imagery coalesce in wonderment, in poems that play with the power of light and dark, ultimately haunting the pages that make up her magical book, reminding us over and over of how “We are giants over the fallen.”
CLACKAMAS LITERARY REVIEW 