Hello! I’m Sam Olson.
Writer & educator in the Pacific Northwest, I hold an MFA in Poetry from Oregon State University, where I’m currently on faculty. With family roots from Montana to Oregon, I call the Columbia River Watershed home. Want to collaborate? Reach me at s.monroe.olson@gmail.com.
Publications
- Portland Review: “To J., Who Picked Us Up Hitchhiking” (2025)
- Magic Canoe: “In the Breath Between Islands: Five Poems” (2026)
- Dogwood Literary Journal: “Civic Tributaries,” “Into Poison Oak,” “Wedding Creek” (Forthcoming, 2026)
- Cascadia Works, Empty Bowl Press: “Ranger” and Bridge” (Forthcoming, 2026)
- Bluestem: “Bear Follows” (2026)
- Watershed Review: “Basin” & “Tumtum” (2025)
- Denver Quarterly: “Three Times Over the Blue Mountains” & “Two Doors in Montana” (Forthcoming in print, 2025)
- Radar Poetry: “Gratitude” (2025)
- The Soliloquist: “Practice” & “After School” (2025)
- Midway Journal: “Ranger” & “Unincorporated” (2025)
- Traverse/Write Place: “Dreams of a Portland Watershed” (2025)
- Flyway, Journal of Writing and Environment: “To Paint Salmon” & “Phone Notes” (Forthcoming, 2026)
- Boudin (McNeese Review): “In the Strawberry Mountains” (2025)
- The Swannanoa Review: “Lucidum” (2025)
- Red Rock Review: “First Fish” (Print, 2025)
- Trace Fossils Review: “Ruffed Grouse” (2024)
- HeartWood Literary Magazine: “Missoula Floods” (2024)
- River Heron Review: “Altar” (2024)
- Deep Wild Journal: “This Moment Named Fenn” (Print, 2023)
- Any River— Chapbook by Blue Creek Press (Print, 2022)
- Cutbank Literary Journal: “Cannonball” (Print, 2018)
- Camas: Nature of the West: “Chinook, MT, Valentine’s Day” & “Bull of the Woods” (Print, 2022)
Selected Experience
- Instructor: Science Writing, Environmental Writing, and Poetry | Oregon State University- 2023- Current
- Summer Fishtrap Fellow | Fishtrap, Writing and the West— 2026
- Voices of the Wilderness Artist in Residence | US Forest Service, Sitka, AK— 2025
- Creative Writing and Arts Teacher | Free Verse Project- 2020 – 2023
- Writer in Residence | Missoula Writing Collaborative– 2022- 2023
- Summer Trails Program Coordinator | Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness– 2022
- Wilderness Ranger | Daughter of the Sun Backcountry Services- 2022
- Fall Trek Leader | University of Montana Wilderness and Civilization Program 2020, 2021
- Trail Crew Coordinator | Holden Village 2019
- Outdoor School Instructor | Multnomah Education Service District- 2015- 2016, 2019, 2021
- Resident Artist in Ecology, Social Justice, and Spirituality | Holden Village– 2019
- Mountain School Program Instructor | North Cascades Institute– 2018
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Selected Portfolio (and other old projects)
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The Libby Letter Writing Contest
In honor of my grandfather, who was raised and buried in Libby, Montana, a rural community impacted by industrial asbestos poisoning, I teamed up with the Western News to launch the Libby Letter Writing Contest in September 2020. An experiment to source the town’s creative, pithy spirit, we asked this question: In uncertain times, what do you love about Libby?
Made possible with the financial support of the Matthew Hansen Endowment.
The Holden Village Podcast
Recorded as part of my 2019 Artist’s Residency in Ecology, Social Justice, and Spirituality, this episode of the “Holden Village Podcast” captures spoken-word paired with improvised guitar work by multi-instrumentalist Sam Genualdi.
Ink Prints
Five poems about the Olympic Peninsula, this series was written as part of my 2019 artist’s residency at Holden Village using a Royal Typewriter with handmade charcoal ink and presented beside the bisected segments of an ink-printed Chum salmon (found deceased at Bacon Creek, 2018).
Unless otherwise noted, all content by Sam Olson.
Our Feet On Earth 