About Us
Cloudbank Books was launched in 2000 with the publication of Millennial Spring: Eight New Oregon Poets, an anthology of contemporary verse, edited by Peter Sears and Michael Malan. Since then, the press has published 17 other books of poetry.
In 2009, the first issue of Cloudbank magazine was published. Issues are currently 96 pages, perfect-bound with color art on the cover. Two or three book reviews are included in each issue, along with at least 65 pages of poetry and short prose. We offer a prize of $200 for one poem or flash fiction in each issue. Contest entries receive a two-issue subscription. We also offer a prize for a full-length book manuscript. See Contest link for submission guidelines.
About Cloudbank’s editors:
Editor Michael Malan is the author of three books from Blue Light Press: Overland Park (2017, poems and flash fiction), Tarzan’s Jungle Plane (2019, prose poems), and Deep Territory (2021, poetry). Recent work has appeared in Lake Effect, Sugar House, Washington Square Review, Tampa Review, Cincinnati Review, Chicago Quarterly, and Poetry East.
Associate Editor Linnea Nelson earned an M.F.A. in poetry from Oregon State University in 2017. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Rattle, Rappahannock Review, The Adirondack Review, San Pedro River Review, Tule Review, and Spectral Lines: Poems about Scientists from Alternating Current Press. Linnea lives in Grand Forks, North Dakota, with her husband.
Rachel Barton is a poet, writing coach, and editor. She is a member of the Calyx Editorial Collective, she edits her own online journal, Willawaw. Find her poems in Oregon English Journal, Hubbub, Whale Road Review, Mom Egg Review, CIRQUE, and elsewhere. Her chapbook, Out of the Woods, was released in 2017. Happiness Comes was released in 2018 by Dancing Girl Press.
Karah Kemmerly grew up in northern California and finished her MFA in poetry at Oregon State University in 2019. Her poems have been published in The Breakwater Review, Emerson Review, THE BOILER, and Roanoke Review. She currently lives and teaches in Portland, Oregon.
Ben Swimm holds an undergraduate degree in Biology from Williams College and MFA in poetry from Oregon State University. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Narrative, Copper Nickel, Alaska Quarterly Review, and Camas, among others. He lives in Palmer, AK, where he works as Farm Manager at Alaska Pacific University and owns a flower farm with his spouse, Mimi.
Tove Hayden is from Tri-Cities, Washington, where she lived until moving to Oregon to pursue a major in Creative Writing with Oregon State University. She loves to read fantasy fiction and has developed a newfound interest in poetry. Tove hopes to one day be a published author and is using her internship at Cloudbank to learn all she can about the process of publishing and editing.
Allie Wood is from Leaburg, Oregon. She is currently a student at Oregon State University, majoring in Creative Writing. She loves writing poetry and fiction, and hopes to have her work published one day. Her poetry has been published in Equatorial Magazine and she looks forward to future publication opportunities. Working as an intern at Cloudbank, Allie is learning more about publishing and editing each day.
Editor Emeritus Peter Sears founded Cloudbank with Editor Michael Malan. His last published book is Small Talk; his three other books of poetry are The Brink, Green Diver, and Tour. He received his M.F.A. from the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa and was the 1999 winner of the Peregrine Smith Poetry Contest. Peter served as Poet Laureate for the State of Oregon. He passed on in 2017.