Northwest Review was first published by the University of Oregon in 1957. The inaugural issue sold for fifty cents and included Oregonian Ken Kesey’s first publication, a short story called “The First Sunday in September.” In its 54-year history, the University of Oregon’s Northwest Review published multiple winners of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Booker Prize, and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

The University of Oregon stopped publication after its Fall 2011 issue. From 2020 to 2024, a new editor and publisher, S. Tremaine Nelson, took over the publication. Those issues can be viewed at nwreview.org.

The Creative Writing Program plans on relaunching the publication soon.