High Desert Journal Blog

Terry Tempest Williams in Bend

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:12:00 -0800

Tickets are $20 and available at

Camalli Books, 1288 sw Simpson, Bend

Dudley’s Bookshop Cafe, 135 nw Minnesota, Bend

Cowgirl Cash, 924 nw Brooks, Bend

Paulina Springs Books, 422 sw Sixth St., Redmond

Paulina Springs Books, 252 W. Hood St., Sisters

Order by phone: 541 419 9836

At the door ($25)

J.J. Clark finalist in the Western Writers of America 2010

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:01:00 -0800

Outstanding news for High Desert Journal author J.J. Clark: "As Is," published in #10 of High Desert Journal, has been named a finalist in the Western Writers of America 2010 Spur Awards competition for the Western Short Fiction category. Since 1953 the Western Writers of America have honored the best in Western fiction, non-fiction, and film scripting.

A big yippee yi yo congratulations to JJ! It is well deserved.

Welcome Catherine Jones

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:37:00 -0800

I am sending out a big warm welcome to Catherine Jones. She has joined me in “the office” of High Desert Journal as our Outreach and Development Director. Our office is made up of the wide-open space we revere of the interior West as Catherine is in Missoula and I, Thomas Osborne (our designer), and the Board of Directors are in Bend.

Catherine brings depth and experience from working for five years at The Cabin in Boise managing programming and outreach for programs across southern Idaho. She has also reviewed grant applications for the NEA, taught writing, and has consulted on manuscripts.

We all feel positive about High Desert Journal having a presence through Catherine in such a strong literary community as Missoula. In our world today, working long distance has less and less barriers. Yet, I hope to get to Missoula in the near future. And look forward to growing High Desert Journal with Catherine!

What are they up to? HDJ Author and Artist updates

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:18:00 -0800

Good news from past contributor’s of High Desert Journal:

Sid Miller’s (HDJ Spring ’08, #7) first two full length collections of poetry were recently published, Nixon on the Piano (David Robert Books) and Dot-to-Oregon (Ooligan Press). The latter is a collection of 50 poems (one published in HDJ) that take place in the cities, town and monuments of Oregon.

Photographer Bridget McGinn (HDJ Spring ’08, #9) recently accepted the Silver Sierra Award for Filmmaking at the Yosemite Film Festival in California for “Song for the Badlands.”

Work by Christine Bourdette (HDJ Fall ’07, #6) is on the cover of the December issue of Sculpture.

Fall 2010, OSU Press will publish Ellen Waterston’s (HDJ Fall ’07, #6 & Fall ’06, #4) collection of essays on the high desert titled Where The Crooked River Rises.

Laura Pritchett’s (HDJ Fall ’09, #10 & Fall ’06, #4) short story “The Sky Behind the Trees” will be coming out in the fall issue of The Pinch magazine. She has had several essays accepted as well: “The Bird at the Window” will be coming out in The Sun; “Insurance Company, Existentialist” will be coming out in Opium Magazine, “My Brother, the Bear” and “Waves of the Snake” will be coming out in High Country News, “Crack the Egg” and “Over the River” will be coming out in Camus, and several essays coming out in 5280. She also has work coming out in the books A Dozen on Denver, Telling it Real, and How the West Was Warmed. She’ll be teaching at Lighthouse Writers (in Denver) this spring, speaking at the AWP conference, and giving the keynote commencement address for the School of Natural Resources at Colorado State University.

Sean Hill’s (HDJ Spring ’07, #5) first book of poems, The Imagined Field, will be released in early 2010 from Paper Kite Press. Hill also has an Oregon hiking book in the “Moon Outdoors” series coming out next year from Avalon Publishing.

Aaron Gilbreth (HDJ Fall ’08, #8) has new essays in recent or forthcoming issues of North American Review, Mississippi Review, Fourth Genre, Fugue, Passages North, Florida Review, Gargoyle, Alligator Juniper, Hunger Mountain and Alimentum. He is also working on a novel and planning a month camping around southeastern Arizona to brainstorm another.

After taking off a few years to have a child, Joelle Fraser (HDJ Spring ’06, #2) has started writing again. She has an essay about Susanville in Crazyhorse, and another forthcoming in Hawaii Pacific Review. Her essay, printed in HDJ, was the inspiration for the 2007 PBS documentary, Prison Town USA.

Joe Wilkins (HDJ Fall ’07, #6) is living now with his wife and four-month old son on the north Iowa prairie, where he teaches writing at Waldorf College. His most recent work appears in The Sun, the Southern Review, Mid-American Review, Harvard Review, Orion, and Best New Poets 2009. He is as well the 2009 recipient of the Richard J. Margolis Award, which includes a summer residency at a turn-of-the-century lodge in the Adirondack Mountains of New York.

People in the Desert

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:57:00 -0800

High Desert Journal rarely gets art or photography submissions with people in them. Why is that?

We have many stories of people in the interior West, so I know people exist in the place. If you have street photography of people or have thoughts you would like to share about no people in art submissions, send them our way: information@highdesertjournal.com.

Tod Marshall

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0800

Tod Marshall is out with a new collection of poetry, The Tangled Line. The Work Poem published in High Desert Journal #6, fall '07 is included. For a list of his reading schedule go to http://www.canariumbooks.org. Congratulations Tod!

Call for Poetry Submissions

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:05:00 -0800

We at HDJ think Nate Ronniger's images are inspiring, unexpected and playful - perfect fodder for poetry. If you agree, please use his images, the one on the cover of #10 and the one on HDJ online 001 for poetry nourishment. Create a poem based on his paintings and submit to information@highdesertjournal.com with NATE in the subject line. We will choose the best poems and post online. Also know that anything online is far game for us to choose for High Desert Journal #11 due out in April.

Now git along li'l poets and round up them words.

Reflections...

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:06:00 -0800

Collection of Reflections by Benjamin Kinzer