For Contributors
Half Wild is a field journal of the living coast. It is a home for stories, sounds, and encounters that rekindle wonder and belonging in the West Coast bioregion, from Baja to Alaska.
We publish work that arises from direct relationship with place. Writing and sound that begin in attention. Language shaped by listening. Pieces that feel both attentive and embodied, grounded in ecological reality and alive to mystery.
We are drawn to work that:
Evokes felt experience of place through sensory, specific observation
Reflects ecological literacy, including accuracy in species, processes, and interdependence
Demonstrates literary or artistic care, with precise language, formal intention, and rhythm
Conveys integrity of voice, meaning work that could only have come from this observer
Our editorial sensibility lives somewhere between field journal and prose poem, and between science and song. We value beauty and clarity in equal measure.
Half Wild publishes essays and field notes, poetry and micro-prose, profiles and conversations, as well as songs and soundscapes rooted in field experience. Across forms, we favor depth, humility, and attention over opinion or persuasion.
We do not lead with advocacy, catastrophe, or prescription. Ecological crisis may be present, but the work must center what remains alive, complex, and worthy of care.
Publishing with Half Wild means joining a community of attention, a shared practice of careful noticing and listening. It is a collective field journal for the living coast.
A full version of our editorial guidelines is available for contributors seeking deeper alignment.