The Owen Wister Review is the University of Wyoming’s Art and Literature Journal produced through the Student Media department. The editorial staff is comprised entirely of undergraduate and graduate students who have nuanced yet supportive tastes in art and writing and strive to publish the best quality creative non-fiction, poetry, fiction, and art submitted from both emerging and established authors and artists. We encourage work that challenges itself, that is naturally surprising.

The OWR published its first edition in 1978, with the goal of producing a magazine “that reflected the talents of writers and artists in our community, recognizing them in the great tradition of Western literature and art.” The review was named for Owen Wister, who set the first modern western novel, The Virginian, not far from Laramie in the town of Medicine Bow. While the OWR has roots in and a long history of promoting western themes, we do not make it our primary focus whatsoever. Do not worry if your poetry, prose, or art is lacking references to Big Horn Mountain or the Buckhorn Bar, descriptions of Elk or open land, or images that capture the Minerals’ Industry, or is set during Frontier Days; we want to read it and consider it for publication regardless of its location or theme.

In 2009, the Owen Wister Review was awarded a Magazine Pacemaker Award by the Associated College Press for General Excellence and Outstanding Achievement. Past contributors have included G.C. Waldrep, Virgil Suarez, Jon Billman, Robert Roripaugh, Denise Duhamel, William Missouri Downs, Samuel Western, Ryan Van Cleave, Alyson Hagy, and Garry Wallace, whose work is quite often selected as a Notable Essay of the Year for the Best American Essay series.