When I wrote CLOISTERED, I wanted to create something immersive and cinematic. Something that slipped between 3rd person limited viewpoints of people and animals like a camera in a movie. Where universal truths and intimate details hold equal space on the page.
The resulting collection of flash fiction comes out Feb. 17, 2026 from Unsolicited Press. For a free sample, check out Not My Style. You can order CLOISTERED anywhere books are sold, or purchase online from places like Bookshop.org.
Welcome to my new book, The River People, out Jan. 2025 from Unsolicited Press. Order from bookshop.org
“A sensitively crafted history of pioneers and immigrants for American history enthusiasts.” – Kirkus Reviews
The River People by Liz Kellebrew is a haunting and lyrical exploration of 19th-century westward expansion into the Pacific Northwest. Through the intertwined journeys of Marilla, John, and Walter—each navigating rivers that serve as both roads and unforgiving forces—the book weaves together fiction, historical documents, memoir, and poetry. As these characters face hardships and triumphs, their choices and loves reverberate through generations. Kellebrew delves into the myths and realities of migration, revealing the harsh lessons the West has to offer. This powerful, evocative story of love, loss, and survival exposes the relentless nature of the land where nature shows no mercy.
Early praise for The River People:
“Profound and moving, Liz Kellebrew’s The River People is a miraculous collage of history, memory and imagination. With rare and clear-sighted grace, Kellebrew examines the intersecting lives of her ancestors, their journeys of survival and resilience, love and transcendence. Kellebrew’s deep compassion and her gorgeous prose create characters so vividly alive that it is impossible not to love them. I can’t remember when I last read a work this beautiful.” – JoAnne Tompkins, author of What Comes After
“When the river takes you,” writes Liz Kellebrew in this exquisite work of compassionate genius, “you will know.” Unflinching, insightful, and utterly original, Kellebrew’s The River People lays bare wounds and truths on an incantatory journey flowing deep into the heart of ourselves. – Eliza Tudor, author of Wish You Were Here
“Kellebrew honors everything she touches. She is an innovative storyteller, guiding her readers further into the river’s depths with each page. If you are seeking lyrical, meditative prose that defies genre, look no further.” – Lauren Davis, author of When I Drowned
“Kellebrew layers historical accounts, stories, and personal reflection in prose that courses with the assuredness of a river through time and perspectives, resulting in a lyrical and engaging account of family in the mid-19th century Pacific Northwest.” – Gail Folkins, author of Light in the Trees
“The delicate construction of The River People makes me love it all the more—a kaleidoscopic portrait of Western Expansion, it is at once intimate and interrogating.” – Sarah C. Townsend, author of Setting the Wire: A Memoir of Postpartum Psychosis
“Reading Liz Kellebrew’s The River People is like taking a ride down the river itself. Sometimes gentle and other times roaring, its lyricism and mixed forms carry your heart through the flow of time. Run, don’t walk, for your copy now!” – Sarah Cannon, author of The Shame of Losing
Read an excerpt from my forthcoming book, The River People (Unsolicited Press), published in the latest edition of The Pitkin Review: https://www.blurb.com/b/12028772-the-pitkin-review-event-horizon
More about The River People:
When the river takes you, you will know. That’s why my brother Henry didn’t make a sound. One moment he was fording the wagon across the river, next he was yanked down under, at the mercy of the current made mighty by autumn rain.
Rivers have no mercy. This is what the West has taught me.
Marilla travels the Oregon Trail against her will and marries at age fifteen. John, an Irish teenager, flees an abusive father and sails across oceans to the west coast of North America. Walter deserts the U.S. Army for Canada and a chance to redeem himself in the love of a First Nations woman.
Fiction, historical documents, memoir, and poetry weave together to tell these migrant stories. In a land where the rivers are the roads, each journey is marked by adversities and triumph, and love, choice, and chance impact the lives of generations to come. Haunting and lyrical, The River People excavates the myths and truths behind the 19th-century westward expansion into the Pacific Northwest.
Not My Style published my flash fiction stories, “Hunt” and “Burst,” in their debut issue! These stories will be included in my forthcoming book, Cloistered (Unsolicited Press, 2026).
Can’t get enough of live poetry readings, or want to get your hands on a discounted copy of Water Signs? I’ll be reading with poet Jerrod E. Bohn at SoulFood Coffeehouse in Redmond, WA on Jan. 18, 2024 at 6:00 PM. There’s an open mic after the featured readers, too, if you want to share your own work. (I’d love to hear it!) More details here.
Friends, I hope to see you at one or both of the following author events on Sat., Nov. 4, 2023!
I’ll be reading with other Catamaran contributors 6 PM Friday, June 2 at Roots on Orcas Island. The Lit Walk readings are free to attend. More info: https://www.oilf.org/festival-schedule-2023
If you love trees as much as I do, you might enjoy my latest essay about Doug fir forests and wildfires in the corner of Washington where I grew up. https://gaialit.weebly.com/issue-four-liz-kellebrew.html
Huge thanks to Chelsea Biondolillo for teaching the science writing class where I wrote most of this, and thanks also to Gaia Lit for publishing it!
Read “The Hungry Days,” my essay about coming of age, hunger, and the hunger to choose one’s own path in life. Thanks to HerStry for publishing it! https://herstryblg.com/true/2023/2/8/the-hungry-days
Liz Kellebrew 
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