CALYX, A Journal of Art and Literature by Women was begun in Corvallis in 1976, more than 100 years after feminist Abigail Scott Duniway began her Portland "human rights" weekly, the New Northwest. CALYX was the first West Coast literary journal with women editors publishing women's works. The word "calyx" refers to the outer covering of the flower, which falls away as it blooms.

The journal is recognized by its impressive art, and praised for its outstanding literary quality. In its 22 years of existence, assisted by many knowledgeable and committed volunteers, it has provided an opportunity for almost 2,000 women's voices to bloom in its poetry, prose, art, and book reviews. The CALYX Books are also works of art in every sense. The journals and books have won many awards.

Yet through the years the staff has had to struggle to continue, as government funding for the arts has been cut drastically, and as independent booksellers have been forced out of business by corporate chain bookstores.

CALYX was founded by four energetic and visionary women dedicated to feminist publishing: Barbara Garden Baldwin, a poet and secretary at Oregon State University; Margarita Donnelly, a free lance reporter, then working at Special Services Consortium at Oregon State University; Elizabeth McLagan, a poet and bookkeeper; and Meredith Jenkins, a painter and graphic designer for the City of Corvallis. The first issue was produced during late nights on borrowed equipment in the Corvallis City Hall's graphics department. Since then, a collective editorial board, a large group of volunteers, and a small staff have nourished CALYX into a nationally recognized literary journal.

From the more than 140,000 manuscripts received since 1976, the journal collective has recognized many writers and artists who now are well known nationally and internationally. These include Sharon Olds, Ellen Bass, Colleen McElroy, Paula Gunn Allen, and Diane Glancy.

A few of the other many contributors include:

Julia Alvárez, author of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Barbara Kingsolver, author of Animal Dreams and High Tide in Tucson, Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones, Molly Gloss, author of Jump-Off Creek and The Dazzle of Day, Linda Hogan, author of Solar Storms and Seeing through the Sun, Betty LaDuke, author of Compañeras, Cherríe Moraga, editor of This Bridge Called My Back, Sandra Scofield, author of Beyond Deserving and Plain Seeing, Charlotte Watson Sherman, editor of Sisterfire: A Black Womanist Anthology, and author of One Dark Body and Killing Color, Chitra Divakaruni, author of Arranged Marriage, Ann Nietzke, author of Natalie on the Street, Barbara Scot, author of The Violet Shyness of Their Eyes: Notes from Nepal, and Kathleen Alcalá, author of Mrs. Vargas and the Dead Naturalist.

CALYX now produces five books and journals annually. Since 1976 this Oregon press has published more than 1,400 writers and artists. CALYX publications have reached an audience of more than one million readers internationally.