River Road: The Anthology, Volume Two celebrates nine remarkable years (2014-2023) of the River Road Reading Series (RRRS) in Eugene, Oregon-a beloved monthly literary gathering that brought together some of the Pacific Northwest's most gifted poets, fiction writers, essayists, and storytellers. Edited by Amanda Powell, Dianne Dugaw, Erica Goss, and Joan Dobbie of the Emerald Literary Guild, this second volume gathers original work from contributors whose first names begin with K through Z.
An abundant diversity of genres fills these pages: formal and free verse poetry, song, memoir, fiction, hybrid forms, and essay. Themes span love and loss, nature and the environment, social conscience and political outrage, queer experience, homelessness, transcendence, and the everyday.
Contributors include Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita Paulann Petersen, the late University of Oregon Creative Writing co-founder Ralph Salisbury, Oregon Book Award winners Penelope Scambly Schott and Willa Schneberg, Sufi poet Tiel Aisha Ansari, and many more distinguished Pacific Northwest voices.
Volume Two contributors (K-Z): Karen McPherson, Keli Osborn, Kelly Cressio-Moeller, Kelly Eastlund, Kelly Terwilliger, Ken Zimmerman, Kit Sibert, Kristin Berger, Laura LeHew, Lauren Kessler, Leah Stenson, Lex Runciman, Lina White, Lissy Irions, Lotus Unfolding, Louisa Lindsay, Lynn Levin, Lynn Otto, Margaret Chula, Margaret Robertson, Marguerite Taliaferro Garrison, Marianne Szlyk, Marilyn Johnston, Martha Gatchell, Maxine Scates, Melissa Kwasny, Mia Vance, Michael Hanner, Michael Schein, Mike Maggio, Miriam Gershow, Nancy Carol Moody, Nancy Nowak, Nicole Taylor, Nils Peterson, Octavio Quintanilla, Paulann Petersen, Pedro Brown Hoffmeister, Penelope Scambly Schott, Quinton Hallett, Rachel Barton, Ralph Salisbury, Rhonda Zimlich, Risa Bear, Robert Hill Long, Robert Leo Heilman, Rodger Moody, Rodney Bloom, Roy R. Seitz, Sabena Stark, Sam Roxas-Chua, Scot Siegel, Scott Lubbock, Shannon Applegate, Sharon Lask Munson, Sheila Fiona Black, Sherry Wellborn, Solala Towler, Stacie C. Smith, Susan Kay Anderson, Susan Whitney, Theo Czuk, Tiel Aisha Ansari, Tim Hicks, Tim Shaner, Tim Whitsel, Tom Titus, Toni Hanner, Ty Connor, Ulrick Casimir, Willa Schneberg, Yola Gomez.
Published by the Emerald Literary Guild Press, Eugene, Oregon. EmeraldLiteraryGuild.org
Paired with Volume 1 (authors A-J).
The Emerald Literary Guild is a nonprofit supporting writers and readers in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Proceeds benefit the Guild's literary community programs.
Joan Dobbie is President of The Emerald Literary Guild, a board member, Curator of River Road: The Anthology, and co-editor of both volumes. A poet and storyteller, she co-hosted the River Road Reading Series (RRRS) for 9 years and now co-hosts the Windfall Reading Series at the Downtown Eugene Public Library. Her poetry books include Woodstock Baby (The Unforgettables Press, 2013), The Language of Stone (Uttered Chaos Press, 2019), and Zenyatta/Joanna (Finishing Line Press, 2023). She has 2 well-grown children and 6 nearly grown grands. Find her at JoansPoetry.blogspot.com.
Erica Goss is Treasurer of The Emerald Literary Guild, a board member, Curator of River Road: The Anthology, and co-editor of both volumes. She is the author of Night Court (2017) and Landscape with Womb and Paradox (2026). She has received numerous Pushcart Prizes and Best of the Net nominations, and a 2023 Best American Essay Notable. Publications include The Colorado Review, The Georgia Review, Creative Nonfiction, and North Dakota Quarterly. Erica teaches, writes and edits the newsletter A Writer's Homestead.
