Buckman Journal is a proudly independent, award-winning publication anthologizing Portland writers and artists of all genres, published twice a year. We are opening submissions to all Portland and Pacific Northwest writers for our 15th installment, Buckman Journal: Cluster, which will be released in January 2026. As always, there is no entry fee. Prose writing of all genres, styles, and lengths (up to ~5,000 words) is welcome. Please adhere to the 5,000-word limit. Please note that we are only accepting prose submissions. (Poets, keep your eye out for our annual Ibby Rivers poetry prize instead.) 

Please submit .docx or .pdf files only, use a readable font, and keep your cover letter brief--when it comes to bios, we'd rather hear about who you are rather than where you've been published. Just be sure to include where you currently live, your pronouns, and perhaps your favorite herb, if you like. 

When it comes to Cluster: think: conglomerates, headaches, brain-matter, trypophobia, compound berries, and all sorts of accumulations. Ultimately, Cluster is a gathering, and also a verb, a coming together--uniting a group of things with common origins; beings or bits held together, growing. Theterm has applications in chemistry, biomedicine, algebra, quantum field theory, urban development, music, Buddhism, astronomy, and linguistics. So tell us your own covens, clumps, and collections. Your interclusters, subclusters, and super assemblies. We want your baest and weirdest, as always. Take the theme loosely, but do take it into consideration. We look forward to reading your work.   

ANSWERS TO A FEW FAQ: 

*Past contributors to Buckman Journal are welcome to submit again here. 

*If you live somewhere else in the Western States that is not listed above, you may still submit, especially with stories especially suited to theme, and/or set in the Pacific Northwest. We are not accepting international submissions. 

*A visual art submission window for the same issue will follow in the second half of July. 

*Multi or Hybrid genre pieces are also welcome, if they involve writing and art, make your best judgment of submitting it to the writing or art category. You may also submit in both the writing and art windows with separate works. 

*Buckman reserves First North American Serial Rights, with the copyright reverting to the author after the initial publication date.

*Accepted submissions receive payment based on word count and a contributor's copy of the journal their work appears in. 

*Submitted works may be considered for publication beyond just Issue 014, for future issues and/or Substack, etc. 

Buckman Publishing is an unorthodox operation that continues the daredevil tradition of literature, printing new sparks that ignite imagination including the local anthology, Buckman Journal and books of all genres. Proudly independent, Buckman’s defiant attitude aims to inspire and increase readership in the greater society.