It starts high in the Rocky Mountains. Meltwater joins runoff, joins stream, and a journey begins. The most thunderous rivers are fed by the collective whispers of a million rivulets. So, too, is the Story of the West formed – the voices of many become one. We are all Tributaries.

We are the West: Tributaries is the second annual anthology from Twenty Bellows, bringing together more than fifty writers, poets, and artists from across Colorado and Wyoming. Within these pages, we have collected voices as diverse as the land itself.

Featuring fiction, nonfiction, essay, poetry, and visual art from a wide range of voices, We are the West: Tributaries showcases the best of the Modern West, opening the floodgates to a new generation of creatives waiting to be heard.

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“A quintessential, contemporary collection of work from some of the keenest minds writing the west today. Our favorite mountains and rivers are here shaping fixed granite spines and the contours of our flowing minds. The spirit of these writers migrates from the head to the heart to the hand to the page and out into the community. Tributaries is a testament to the rich caliber of writers in the west, bringing their vulnerability and a passion for deep beauty and truth of life—even in its erosion, loss and demise to this stand-alone collection.

“Bravo, Twenty Bellows. This collection of some of the best contemporary poets and writers of the west is a stunning and carefully curated collection of well-crafted work from a body of writers as diverse and colorful as these western lands themselves. Tributaries, truly lives up to the Twenty Bellows’ motto, ‘We Are The West!’”

— David Anthony Martin, Middle Creek Publishing.

“Prepare to be wowed by the talent, heart and fire of the writers, poets, and artists featured here. Having had the honor to work with members of this team and the artists they serve, I am happy to say Twenty Bellows exemplifies how amplifying the words and experiences of community members who call the Modern West home, creates space for all of us.”

— Cat Jensen, Center for Colorado Women’s History