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 winner of Meridian’s 2024 Editors’ Prize for Fiction. He is also the author of three books from Blue Light Press: Overland Park (2017, poetry and flash fiction), Tarzan’s Jungle Plane (2019, flash fiction), and Deep Territory (2021, poetry). His work has appeared recently in Lake Effect, Puerto del Sol, Chicago Quarterly Review, New World Writing, Crab Creek Review, and Grist.
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 edits her own Willawaw Journal and serves as associate editor for Cloudbank Books. You can find her poems in numerous magazines including Main Street Rag, Across the Margins, SALT, Sleet, and Cirque. Her most recent collection, Jacob’s Ladder (Main Street Rag 2024), and her previous, This is the Lightness (The Poetry Box 2022), are both available on her website; rachelbartonwriter.com..
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 recently earned her undergraduate degree in Creative Writing at Oregon State University and is the recipient of the 2023 Provost Literary Award at OSU. Tove is an Associate Editor at Cloudbank following her two years interning. Over that time she also wrote multiple articles for Cloudbank’s sister magazine, RubberStampMadness. She continues to live in Corvallis after graduating, taking in as much rain as she can.
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.