August 6, 2025
Dear Friends,
We're happy to announce Roots & Words, the new Substack from Iron Oak Editions and West Trade Review. We’re so excited about this new platform and all the new developments for the journal and the press that are on the horizon.
Previous subscribers to our Mailchimp newsletter will soon start receiving new posts in their email inboxes, taking the place of our former newsletters in a fresh, updated medium. We've already transferred your account.
As always, our newsletter will remain free for all subscribers, and now, you can also log into the Roots & Words site to read the full archives or access a clean, ad-free reading experience in the Substack app.
Our Substack will officially launch September 2nd. Be sure you subscribe, so you can access all the great new content for monthly and annual subscribers like new weekly poems, new essays that explore creativity and the creative life, weekly generative creative writing prompts, and live conversations (craft talks, book club discussions, etc.).
Click “subscribe now” to view all of the perks of becoming a monthly or annual subscriber or a Deep Roots founding member. All options include a copy of the annual West Trade Review spring print edition, but Deep Roots founding members also receive an additional book from the Iron Oak Editions catalog and IOE or WTR merch.
With Roots and Words, we expect to build upon our history as a literary journal and press by connecting you to some of today’s most important new and established literary voices as we always have—while our new platform presents us with myriad opportunities to develop more deeply rooted relationships with our writers and our readers. We imagine an ecosystem of creativity, a place for important conversations, and a home for the strong literary community we’ve developed over the past several years.
As always, we’ll keep our focus on foraging new connections centering a shared belief in the value of the literary arts as well as creating a deeply engaging place to be inspired, moved, and to grow. Above all, we’ll continue to seek out, publish, and champion the best fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and visual arts we can find from a range of voices and perspectives, keeping true to our motto: fearless, crafted, and impassioned.
We’re so happy to have you as a member of our literary tribe, and we're excited to connect with you on Substack!
In the meantime, continue to enjoy all of our completely free online quarterly editions, video poems, book reviews, and interviews on our West Trade Review website.
Best,
Ken Harmon
Editor, West Trade Review
Publisher, Iron Oak Editions
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Roots & Words: The New Substack from Iron Oak Editions & West Trade Review
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© 2025 Iron Oak Editions
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