Ice Box & Permafrost Journals
The UAF English Department hosts two journals of creative writing: Ice Box and Permafrost. Both journals are staffed entirely by student volunteers, who gain experience in editing, production, and publishing. Whereas Ice Box features works from the UAF community, Permafrost is a national journal. In recent years, Ice Box and Permafrost have been produced with financial support from the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Activity, the UAF Alumni Association Benefactor Fund, and the Provost Office's People Endowment Fund.
Ice Box
Ice Box is the undergraduate literary journal of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Published annually in the spring, it features fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, hybrid work, and artwork from current UAF undergraduate students. The journal is staffed by students enrolled in ENGL 475: Practicum in Literary Publishing (spring semesters). Ice Box is also an official student group on campus.
Volume 20 of Ice Box was published in Summer 2024. It features creative writing and artwork from 31 UAF undergraduate students. Our cover artist this year was BFA student Vanya Gillette. This issue also includes an interview with founding editor Alicia Wyneken and a "Forget-Me-Nots" section of reprinted archival work. The journal was distributed to faculty, students, university stakeholders, local high schools, statewide arts organizations, and beyond. To purchase a copy of Ice Box, please contact the UAF English Department.
Submissions for Ice Box are now open. We're considering poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, hybrid writing, and visual artwork for Volume 21, which will be published in Summer 2025. Please submit your creative work using this Google Form. For poetry, please submit no more than three poems (uploaded as a single document). For fiction and nonfiction, please limit your submission to 6,000 words. For visual art, submit up to three works (uploaded as a single document if possible). Students are welcome to submit in multiple genres. Finally, because we review submissions blindly, please do not include your name anywhere in your file. The only requirement for submission is that you are enrolled in at least one UAF undergraduate course during this academic year. Students from our rural, community, and Native Education campuses are eligible and encouraged to submit work as well.
History of Ice Box
Ice Box began as an annual zine published by graduate students. In 2001, Professor Cindy Hardy agreed to serve as faculty advisor, and Ice Box morphed into a more traditional literary journal. Hardy served in that position until 2014, when the journal transitioned to an online format. The 2019 issue, volume 15, marked the return of Ice Box as a print journal. Back issues are available for viewing and purchase from the main English office in Gruening 850.
Permafrost
Permafrost is the national literary journal edited by MFA students at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. It publishes twice per year: a winter print issue and a summer online issue. In addition to the journal, Permafrost also hosts an annual book prize in collaboration with the University of Alaska Press. Student editors will sometimes receive internship opportunities with the press as well.
To learn more about submissions, contests, subscriptions and the editorial staff, please visit the full Permafrost website.
History of Permafrost
Permafrost was founded in 1977 and has published continuously ever since. It prides itself as being the northernmost literary journal for writing and the arts, located at 64° 50′ N (198 miles from the Arctic Circle). Although Permafrost's perspective is shaped by the unique environment of Alaska, the journal publishes original voices from all over the world.