The Summer 2026 theme is Precarity. 

The theme for our Summer 2026 edition is Precarity: an exploration of the instability that threatens every aspect of our lives in this current moment and that - at the same time - has always underpinned life in the West. The West is a region whose self-mythologization relies on unstable ground and unsteady work: the get-rich-quick scheme, exploitative gold rushes both historical and modern (minerals or high tech or cannabis or Hollywood, isn’t it all the same?), the drifter, the cowboy, the ski-bum, the dirtbag, the aquifers and rivers drained dry to feed the expansion of Sunbelt metropolises, the clearcut forests and the abandoned mines. Out West, young people move from city to city - trading LA for Vegas for Boise for Phoenix for Austin for San Diego and so on and so on and so on, drifting from underpaid job without benefits to underpaid job without benefits, living in apartments thrown up across the landscape in the last thirty years to meet the boom of migration from the East Coast and being forced out by rising rents just as soon as they make a home.

Meanwhile our democracy wobbles as secret police murder protestors in the street, and our climate systems grow more precarious with each passing year, flooding some cities all winter longer and leaving others bare of snow. 

We want to see your work that engages with all of this - with the joys and griefs and angers of living in this precarious moment, the realities of precarious lives, the history of our shared home in the West’s precarious foundations, and the precarity of our entire world. We look forward to hearing what you have to say, and to sharing stories that might guide us all towards the better world that we know is possible.

Limit: 5,000 words. Please note that we only accept one fiction piece per writer per submission period. Submissions are read with identifying information concealed from our readers, so please ensure that your name does not appear anywhere on your document. We are unable to accept changes or edits to pieces once they have been submitted.

We ask for a small fee ($2 per submission) to help us publish the magazine. If this fee is a barrier to you submitting your work, please let us know and we can waive the fee on a case by case basis. Email us at CAMAS@mso.umt.edu. 

We print only previously unpublished works. If your piece is accepted for publication, Camas is granted first serial rights, archival rights, and non-exclusive reprint rights.

The Summer 2026 theme is Precarity.

The theme for our Summer 2026 edition is Precarity: an exploration of the instability that threatens every aspect of our lives in this current moment and that - at the same time - has always underpinned life in the West. The West is a region whose self-mythologization relies on unstable ground and unsteady work: the get-rich-quick scheme, exploitative gold rushes both historical and modern (minerals or high tech or cannabis or Hollywood, isn’t it all the same?), the drifter, the cowboy, the ski-bum, the dirtbag, the aquifers and rivers drained dry to feed the expansion of Sunbelt metropolises, the clearcut forests and the abandoned mines. Out West, young people move from city to city - trading LA for Vegas for Boise for Phoenix for Austin for San Diego and so on and so on and so on, drifting from underpaid job without benefits to underpaid job without benefits, living in apartments thrown up across the landscape in the last thirty years to meet the boom of migration from the East Coast and being forced out by rising rents just as soon as they make a home.

Meanwhile our democracy wobbles as secret police murder protestors in the street, and our climate systems grow more precarious with each passing year, flooding some cities all winter longer and leaving others bare of snow. 

We want to see your work that engages with all of this - with the joys and griefs and angers of living in this precarious moment, the realities of precarious lives, the history of our shared home in the West’s precarious foundations, and the precarity of our entire world. We look forward to hearing what you have to say, and to sharing stories that might guide us all towards the better world that we know is possible. 

You may submit up to five poems. Submissions are read with identifying information concealed from our readers, so please ensure that your name does not appear anywhere on your document. We are unable to accept changes or edits to pieces once they have been submitted.

We ask for a small fee ($4 per submission) to help us publish the magazine. If this fee is a barrier to you submitting your work, please let us know and we can waive the fee on a case by case basis. Email us at CAMAS@mso.umt.edu. 

We print only previously unpublished works. If your piece is accepted for publication, Camas is granted first serial rights, archival rights, and non-exclusive reprint rights.

The Summer 2026 theme is Precarity. 

The theme for our Summer 2026 edition is Precarity: an exploration of the instability that threatens every aspect of our lives in this current moment and that - at the same time - has always underpinned life in the West. The West is a region whose self-mythologization relies on unstable ground and unsteady work: the get-rich-quick scheme, exploitative gold rushes both historical and modern (minerals or high tech or cannabis or Hollywood, isn’t it all the same?), the drifter, the cowboy, the ski-bum, the dirtbag, the aquifers and rivers drained dry to feed the expansion of Sunbelt metropolises, the clearcut forests and the abandoned mines. Out West, young people move from city to city - trading LA for Vegas for Boise for Phoenix for Austin for San Diego and so on and so on and so on, drifting from underpaid job without benefits to underpaid job without benefits, living in apartments thrown up across the landscape in the last thirty years to meet the boom of migration from the East Coast and being forced out by rising rents just as soon as they make a home.

Meanwhile our democracy wobbles as secret police murder protestors in the street, and our climate systems grow more precarious with each passing year, flooding some cities all winter longer and leaving others bare of snow. 

We want to see your work that engages with all of this - with the joys and griefs and angers of living in this precarious moment, the realities of precarious lives, the history of our shared home in the West’s precarious foundations, and the precarity of our entire world. We look forward to hearing what you have to say, and to sharing stories that might guide us all towards the better world that we know is possible. 

Upload up to five works in your submission. You will only be able to make one submission. Submissions are reviewed with identifying information concealed from our reviewers, so please ensure that your name does not appear anywhere on your document. We are unable to accept changes or edits to pieces once they have been submitted.

We ask for a small fee ($4 per submission) to help us publish the magazine. If this fee is a barrier to you submitting your work, please let us know and we can waive the fee on a case by case basis. Email us at CAMAS@mso.umt.edu. 

We print only previously unpublished works. If your piece is accepted for publication, Camas is granted first serial rights, archival rights, and non-exclusive reprint rights.

The Summer 2026 theme is Precarity.

The theme for our Summer 2026 edition is Precarity: an exploration of the instability that threatens every aspect of our lives in this current moment and that - at the same time - has always underpinned life in the West. The West is a region whose self-mythologization relies on unstable ground and unsteady work: the get-rich-quick scheme, exploitative gold rushes both historical and modern (minerals or high tech or cannabis or Hollywood, isn’t it all the same?), the drifter, the cowboy, the ski-bum, the dirtbag, the aquifers and rivers drained dry to feed the expansion of Sunbelt metropolises, the clearcut forests and the abandoned mines. Out West, young people move from city to city - trading LA for Vegas for Boise for Phoenix for Austin for San Diego and so on and so on and so on, drifting from underpaid job without benefits to underpaid job without benefits, living in apartments thrown up across the landscape in the last thirty years to meet the boom of migration from the East Coast and being forced out by rising rents just as soon as they make a home.

Meanwhile our democracy wobbles as secret police murder protestors in the street, and our climate systems grow more precarious with each passing year, flooding some cities all winter longer and leaving others bare of snow. 

We want to see your work that engages with all of this - with the joys and griefs and angers of living in this precarious moment, the realities of precarious lives, the history of our shared home in the West’s precarious foundations, and the precarity of our entire world. We look forward to hearing what you have to say, and to sharing stories that might guide us all towards the better world that we know is possible.

Limit: 5,000 words. Please note that we only accept one fiction or nonfiction piece per writer per submission period. Submissions are read with identifying information concealed from our readers, so please ensure that your name does not appear anywhere on your document. We are unable to accept changes or edits to pieces once they have been submitted.

We ask for a small fee ($4 per submission) to help us publish the magazine. If this fee is a barrier to you submitting your work, please let us know and we can waive the fee on a case by case basis. Email us at CAMAS@mso.umt.edu. 

We print only previously unpublished works. If your piece is accepted for publication, Camas is granted first serial rights, archival rights, and non-exclusive reprint rights.