Ice Box & Permafrost Journals
The Â鶹Դ´F 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 Â鶹Դ´F 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 Â鶹Դ´F Alumni Association Benefactor Fund, and the Provost Office's People Endowment Fund.
Ice Box
Ice Box is the undergraduate literary journal of the Â鶹Դ´. Published annually in the spring, it features fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, hybrid work, and artwork from current Â鶹Դ´F undergraduate students. The journal is staffed by students enrolled in ENGL 475: Literary Editing and Publishing (spring semesters). Ice Box is also an official student group on campus.
Volume 22 of Ice Box was published in Summer 2026. At 166 pages, it's the biggest Ice Box yet. It features creative writing and artwork from 26 Â鶹Դ´F undergraduate students. This issue includes a number of special features: special illustrations for poetry, a profile of the editors' pets, an overview of the journal's online era (2014–18), and an interview with Alaskan poet and essayist Carolyn Kremers. Our cover artists this year were Amanda and Renée Kurka. The journal was distributed to faculty, students, university stakeholders, local high schools, statewide arts organizations, and beyond.
Ice Box will reopen for creative submissions in Fall 2026. To purchase a copy of Ice Box, please contact the Â鶹Դ´F English Department. For questions about the project of Ice Box, contact faculty advisor Joseph Holt. The Ice Box digital archives (Volumes 3–22) are hosted by .
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 Â鶹Դ´ 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 . 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.