‘A place where you can be unruly’: Editor Brian Trapp on why Northwest Review and literary magazines matter

The esteemed literary magazine, with a legacy stretching back to 1957, has returned to its University of Oregon birthplace in a digital incarnation.

EUGENE — At a time when the publishing industry grapples with shrinking arts funding, technological affronts, influencer-authors, and questions about the impact of storytelling, Brian Trapp sees a particular urgency in bringing back the literary magazine.

Founded in 1957 at the University of Oregon, Northwest Review has spent much of its history moving among literary prominence, controversy, and an uncertain future. Its early issues included work by Ken Kesey, and the journal later drew controversy by publishing provocative texts, including an interview with Fidel Castro and poetry by Charles Bukowski. Over the years, the magazine has featured writers such as Ursula K. Le Guin, Barry Lopez, Joyce Carol Oates, and George Saunders, whose first published short story appeared in a 1986 issue. Under longtime editor John Witte, the journal became known for fearlessly publishing unconventional voices.

Financial pressures ended its original run in 2011, but the magazine resurfaced in Portland in 2020 under S. Tremaine Nelson, current Northwest Review translation editor, only to shutter again in 2023. After that revival ended, Northwest Review returned this year to Eugene, where University of Oregon faculty members Brian Trapp and Jason Brown are giving the journal new life as a digital magazine rooted in a university setting.

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