2019 (Volume 31)

Welcome to our 31st issue of The Briar Cliff Review.  We are living in a time of crisis, and with this crisis comes fear of losing everything.  Loss brings loneliness as people shut down inside and keep their fears, hurt and anger to themselves.  Fittingly, in this issue we see the themes of loss, grief, loneliness, and reminiscence.

2018 (Volume 30)

Welcome to our 30th year. In this day of print venues folding up and closing their doors and of deciphering fake news from real news, we have kept going, telling the truths that literature and art can tell.

Volume 29

Every year we increasingly see why our mission is so important. As we live in a world of fake news, online publishing with a blink-of-an-eye shelf life, and short-short news cycles, we know our work has value. 

Volume 28

This year we witness not only our contest winners, but many of our other writers dealing with reminiscing and regretting. As Henry David Thoreau said, "To regret deeply is to live afresh."

Volume 27

The theme of loss and change is everywhere in our 27th edition. Change is inevitable in this fast-paced world, a truth we discovered — and embraced — as we accepted electronic entries for the first time in our history.

2014

Volume 26

In this issue we go global. We have connections to Thailand, Peru, Dubai, Ehtiopia, Paraguay, Syria, France, Italy, Japan and Pakistan. Yet these works still have themes that we see on our own native soil.

2013

Volume 25

Many of the works in this issue deal with reflection and reminiscence, appropriate for our 25th anniversary issue.

2012

Volume 24

Our community came together during the summer's Great Flood. One of our themes is community: how we need it, feel adrift without it, long to be connected to it and sometimes lose it.

2011

Volume 23

Our themes deal with the need for connection. "Perceiving the world as a web of connectedness helps us to overcome the feelings of separation that hold us back and cloud our visions," says Emma Restall Orr.

2010

Volume 22

This year our stories, essays and poems have themes dealing with memory, mystery and the secrets of people and the universe.

2009

Volume 21

One of our themes in this issue centers around relationships — dissolving, strained, betrayed, lost and sometimes regained.

2008

Volume 20

The theme of war dominates this year's Review. When we are in a war, we think of war and write about war. Why does it seem we mark our lives according to war?

2007

Volume 19

You'll find a thread throughout many of the works — the theme of letting go. "You don't need it anymore," Todd calls out to Lorraine in our prize-winning story. "Let it go."

2006

Volume 18

A prominent theme in this issue is loss. "Loss is commonplace to the race," wrote Alfred Tennyson. But so are change, growth and new beginnings.

2005

Volume 17

This year we expanded our contest to include creative nonfiction and the theme of lack of communication pervades many of our essays.

2004

Volume 16

In this year's issue the theme of displacement — the act of moving from your usual place (homeland) to another place — is prevalent in many of the pieces.

2003

Volume 15

In this issue you'll see the theme of fear surfacing in many works. As the threat of war with Iraq hangs over our heads, we all feel fear at the unspeakable loss that war brings.

2002

Volume 14

Change stands out as the theme in this issue. Everything changes — in love, in relationships, in war, in nature, in families and in loss.

2001

Volume 13

Much of the writing in this issue deals with remembering the past, whether it be romanticizing it or simply viewing it with new eyes.

2000

Volume 12

This year the presence of the "running Missouri" in our lives dominates. The Big Muddy that runs through our center has been our atmosphere — our source of vitality and our conduit to others.

1999

Volume 11

Life and death, beginnings and endings surround us. Look at the selections in this issue, and see the cycle of life. Poems, stories and essays show the themes of birth and death and the passion of relationships.

1998

Volume 10

We moved away from our region in this issue, and a theme of our connectedness to other worlds emerged.We are always east or west or north or south of something. 

1997

Volume 9

Our magazine this issue shows the diversity of Siouxland. We all know the stereotypes of this place — flat land and flat people. Yet we know this isn't true.

1996

Volume 8

A thread forms between this year's submissions, like a web unifying the disparate points of view, the different genres. You'll sense a drift into memory, an attempt to re-evaluate and even redeem the past.

1995

Volume 7

We have themes of Siouxland in many of our works. See the isolation and ruggedness of this "strange, troubled land" in Ron Johns' "Three Trees," "Ice Storm" and "Nevada" and the simple beauty in "Bailey's Sunflower."

1994

Volume 6

Most of our writers in this issue are from Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota. We welcome contributions from other places, too, but we build from the excellence we know is here in Siouxland and the Midwest.

1993

Volume 5

This issue is dedicated to Sister Clo Weirich, who was with us from the beginning. She once said, "My poetry rises out of my love of life, my depth of feelings, and my reactions to what others experience."

1992

Volume 4

The pride in Mom's home-grown, fresh, made-with-loving-hands strawberry preserves and Grandma's chicken dumplings seems to be disappearing … but it isn't. There are still people who take pride in their work, who give care and attention to things they make with their hands. 

1991

Volume 3

"If we have to declare who we are, let us do it with art and not with bombs," says Poet Phil Hey. Thus, we continue on with a deeper sense of the importance of what we do.

1990

Volume 2

In our leaving we need to keep our ties with home; we need to feel a connectedness. In this year's Review, you'll find that lifeline to home, family, community, nature and the past.

1989

Volume 1

It started with the question, "What if … ?" What if we had an all-college magazine? What if we asked for only the best writing/art from students, faculty, administration, staff, alumni and friends? And what if we got it?