Voices of the River Journal Submissions

Deadline: April 15, 2025

In Fall 2021, we announced a new project—the Voices of the River journal. Since then, we’ve been honored to print beautiful pieces of art, research, poetry, and creative nonfiction paired with stunning covers by Tommy Greyeyes, Chanti Manon, and Kitana Connelly.

The first volume of Voices of the River was an open submission call. Our second volume centered on “Legacy of Dams and the Return of the Salmon.” The third volume focused on “Side Channels: Healing and Resilience.”

The fourth volume calls for submissions that consider how we come together for Indigenous futurities. Our 2025 Lead Editor, Rachel L. Cushman (Chinook Indian Nation) asserts, “Indigenous futurities are shaped by the past and take form in the present through the continuation and resurgence of Indigenous knowledge, philosophies, value systems, and practices, giving life to dreams and possibilities for futures not shaped by colonial imaginings.” We invite contributors to consider what your insights, research, and creative work tell you about collective efforts promoting Indigenous futurities.

Scroll below for more information on the theme, submission guidelines, and the editorial team. We look forward to your pitches!

Warmly,
Lily

Team (Read More About the Team)

Lead Editor: Rachel L. Cushman

Rachel Cushman—is an enrolled citizen of the Chinook Indian Nation, where she is both an elected and hereditary leader. In 2017, Cushman was elected to the Chinook Tribal Council, but her role as a leader stems from her ancestor, Clatsop Tyee Wasilta. Cushman is an Indigenous knowledge practitioner, activist, educator, and canoe skipper. For over 20 years, Cushman has fought to protect Chinook and Indigenous lands, waters, rights, and sovereignty. She is a published scholar and former contributor to Voices of the River (Volumes 1 and 2). Her scholarship engages with the resurgence of Indigenous ways of being/ knowing, Indigenous futurities, pigmentocracy, non-colonial economies, Indigenous land stewardship, and the practice of radical sovereignty. Currently, Cushman is a doctoral candidate in Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies at the University of Oregon.

Advising Editor: David Lewis

David G. Lewis, PhD, is a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, a descendant of the Takelma, Chinook, Molalla, and Santiam Kalapuya peoples of western Oregon. David has engaged in research on the tribal histories of Northwest Coastal peoples, specializing in the Western Oregon Tribes. David served as the director of the Southwest Oregon Project Collection at the UO, and was the Culture Department manager of the Grand Ronde Tribe for 8 years. David has a PhD in anthropology from the University of Oregon (2009) and teaches full time in Anthropology and Native Studies at OSU. David’s research essays about the histories of the tribes are published on the blogsite ndnhistoryresearch.com. David was Lead editor for volume 2 of the journal. As Advising Editor, he helps lead the editorial committee and offer support to the Lead Editor and Managing Editor.

Submission Guidelines

Our waterways were our first highways. People around the world have traveled and maintained relationships through them. The millions of watersheds that pour into our oceans and lakes are a physical manifestation of our kinship ties. A confluence is where rivers come together. We invite contributors to look to our waterways as teachers and think about how we come together for Indigenous futurities.

Our Lead Editor, Rachel L. Cushman (Chinook Indian Nation), asserts that “Indigenous futurities are shaped by the past and take form in the present through the continuation and resurgence of Indigenous knowledge, philosophies, value systems, and practices, giving life to dreams and possibilities for futures not shaped by colonial imaginings.” In this volume, we ask contributors to consider how we, as Indigenous people, can and do come together to imagine our futures not determined by colonial systems and structures.

Because our waterways teach us of our interconnectedness, we invite submissions from Indigenous peoples from the Columbia River basin and beyond.

We invite a range of submission genres: research articles, op-ed pieces, creative nonfiction, fiction, artwork, photography, and, if doing physical art (carvings, for example), a photo of the piece.

At Confluence, we foster a community editorial process. We highly encourage accepted contributors to attend two meetings. In the first meeting, we will get to know each other, including your fellow contributors. In the second, offer light feedback to each other. Pieces are edited by the editorial committee, however, we also invite authors to act as peer editors to each other to build a lasting workshop community. Authors will also be invited to participate in the launch party and panel in October.

For any questions, email Lily Hart.
Deadline: APRIL 10, 2025

SUBMIT HERE