Tethered Literary is a new digital publication that seeks to support the growth of under-published writers and artists and foster community. Founded by COVID-era graduates of the Oregon State University-Cascades Creative Writing program from across the US and Canada, Tethered Literary was developed while holding close a conviction of interconnectedness.

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We are excited to provide space for writers and artists to get their work out into the world and know it won’t just be a one-time thing. Following initial publication, Tethered Literary will follow up with contributors down the road to specifically invite them to submit again. This may be in the form of new creative pieces, book lists and reviews, or interviews. In this way, we hope to nurture a literary community with tangible ties. As working writers, we know how overwhelming it can be to find homes for our creative work. We hope our model eases this burden for those who land with us.

 

While Tethered Literary is open to contributions from all kinds of writers, we are especially interested in providing a home for work by writers with few to no current publications and by those from traditionally marginalized backgrounds whose voices are too often neglected. This is a space where writers who aspire to be heard can converge. 

 

We are committed to seeing each piece we receive for what it is and not coercing it into categories the creator may not feel fit. Tethered Literary will invite authors to define the genre of their work in their cover letter, but this will never be a requirement. Your submission can be as short as you want it to be, or up to 10,000 words. 

 

Naturally, some forms of writing will tend to use fewer or more words; for example, poetry tends to concentrate meaning. However, we want to encourage contributions from mixed genres or hybrid forms of writing, too. Imagine a braided essay where one braid is written in poetry while the other braids are narrative and non-fiction. Or maybe one braid consists of visual art. This excites us as writers to read, but we don’t currently see so many outlets accepting this kind of work.   

 

The founders of Tethered Literary look forward to curating the first issue based on themes that organically rise from the submissions we receive. The expected publication will be in Winter 2025, with a second issue in Summer 2025.