A message from the editor
After a seven-year run, in which we featured the wilderness-centered work of more than 300 writers in a thousand-plus pages of “wild words,” Deep Wild Journal has suspended publication. The journal was produced by a small, dedicated team of editors (with a lot of help from friends along the way). It was a labor of love, as all such endeavors are, and it was time- and energy-intensive. In the past year, two of these editors–myself being one–have found it necessary to step away from the Deep Wild immersion, and after a meeting of all the editors, we agreed it was best to finish our term with Deep Wild 2025.
We harbor hopes of finding a new team of editors who, while embracing the journal’s wilderness-centered ethic, will take it into new territory according to their vision, and we would welcome queries from any interested parties at deepwildjournal@gmail.com.
Back issues of the journal are available, and they make excellent gifts for lovers of wild places and good words. We will be taking stock of what we have and preparing “bargain bundles” that we will begin offering by the end of this October, in time for the 2026 Holiday season.
Wherever you are, here’s hoping you enjoy this beautiful fall season.
Rick Kempa
Deep Wild 2025 has hit the trail!
Well-made words from wild places: That’s what each issue of Deep Wild: Writing from the Backcountry holds: 160+pages of stories, essays, and poems by dozens of writers, in celebration of and in defense of places where there are no roads. The journal is printed on FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) paper in a compact, durable format. It wants to go camping! Click here to read the Contents and Foreword of Deep Wild 2025.
From the glacier fields of Alaska to the churning rapids of the Colorado, from the lush rainforests of Hawaii to the parched Sinai Peninsula, from the Andean highlands, the Mongolian steppes, and the familiar wilds of one’s backyard, the 54 contributors to Deep Wild 2025 invite us to share in their journeys to places where there are no roads. Join them!
Click here for ordering options. Postage paid anywhere in the U.S.!
It’s the perfect gift for your outdoor-loving friends and fam–or for yourself!
Wild Words Await You!
If you love wild places and good words, please consider supporting our mission. We are a not-for-profit journal funded entirely by subscriptions and donations. To read excerpts, subscribe to our blog, or check out our archive page. Students and teachers, we have a special page for you. Follow this link to see our Holiday Sale options.
Books from Deep Wild Press
Deep Wild Press publishes one or two titles a year, currently by invitation. Our goal is to bring high-quality literature true to the mission of Deep Wild Journal into the hands of readers at affordable prices. Currently, we offer four titles. To learn more about Deep Wild Books and their authors, and to read some choice excerpts, visit https://deepwildjournal.com/books/
The results are in for our 2025 Student Contest!
Click here for the winners list of our “Waking to the Wild 2025 Student Contest.” Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to all the student writers from throughout the United States and beyond who sent us work. We wish we could have honored more.
