Projects
Inlandia: A Literary Journey through California’s Inland Empire
“The new voices in lnlandia represent the best of my hopes and dreams and literary desires, the eloquent renderings of how the old worlds and new have collided and melded in this place like no other.” —Susan Straight, from the Introduction
Coyotes howling at the moon, gang warfare, neighborhoods of tract homes for an exploding population, miles of orange groves now abandoned, the prattle of military training guns jarring the desert quiet, a landscape rich with the stories of Native American tribes.
These disparate images are inspired by one of the fastest growing regions in America, California’s Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, the so-called Inland Empire. A land of juxtapositions in geography, ethnic diversity, and wealth, compounded by the dramas of opportunity and loss in a burgeoning region, the Inland Empire is becoming much more than "the area east of Los Angeles." Unique in its own history and a microcosm of America at large, it is a land of startling racial, socio-economic, and ideological diversity that has long produced innovative and passionate writing.
Inlandia is a fascinating study of the journey of a people bound by geography yet striving for self-identity and artistic recognition, and of a land that is becoming both more prosperous and endangered. Over eighty writers are represented in the anthology, with material ranging from Indian stories and early explorers’ narratives to pieces written by local emerging authors. Showcasing poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and other literature by such luminaries as Joan Didion, Raymond Chandler, M.F.K. Fisher, and others, Inlandia puts a new literary region on the map.
See the Inlandia Map
Take a tour of the Inland Empire as seen through the lens of the Inlandia Anthology. Our interactive map will allow you to see the locations mentioned in the Anthology stories.
About the Editor
