About

Left Fork is a small press based in Southwest Oregon. One of our primary goals is creating books celebrating the people and culture here (and here is defined loosely–maybe let’s say we span the full Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion of Oregon and Northern California). If you’re a local author or your work focuses on this region, Left Fork might be a good fit.

That said, we also seek to publish the best possible writing, particularly the highest quality poetry through our Flowstone imprint. If that brings us strong authors and artists from elsewhere, we’re excited to meet you and share your work with the world. We work closely with authors to create a book they can be proud of. We also have a strong focus on supporting young writers, by publishing their work alongside that of more seasoned writers (the literary journal Cobra Lily being one such place).

Why Left Fork? For one, our international headquarters is presently situated overlooking the West Fork of Oregon’s Illinois River, and West is Left. Also, we are an unashamedly progressive press and do not shrink from people calling us Lefty. Finally, we think forks, whether in roads or rivers, provide opportunity for conscious choices. As a press, we are conscious of what and how we create, as well as what we leave behind. As one example of this mission, we utilize print-on-demand technology, to hopefully minimize the number of unwanted books in the world.

Submission guidelines are available here. You can also learn more about us on our Facebook and Twitter pages (though maybe don’t look so much at the Twitter, as we really don’t update that any more).

Please note that most of our books are available from our Bookshop.org store (adding more as we can).

 


Editorial Staff / Masthead

Ryan Forsythe photo
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Ryan Forsythe

PUBLISHER / DESIGNER / WEBMASTER

Ryan is originally from the suburbs of NE OH, though when not traveling, he lives off-grid in the woods of SW OR. He is a writer, editor, teacher, artist, and dad, with an MFA in Creative Writing from San Diego State, where he served as Associate Editor for Fiction International. In another life, he and wife Kaci ran the #1 hostel in the world (in Redwood National Park).

Michael Spring photo
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Michael Spring

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF,  FLOWSTONE PRESS 

Michael is a martial arts instructor and poet. His awards include an honorable mention for the 2012 Eric Hoffer Book Award (for Root of Lightning), the 2013 Turtle Island Poetry Award (for Blue Wolf), and the Robert Graves Award (for a selection from Mudsong). He is also a poetry editor for The Pedestal Magazine.