​Penumbra (pəˈnəm brə): A space of partial illumination (as in an eclipse) between the perfect shadow on all sides and the full light.

Penumbra was born in 1989 thanks to the efforts of Professor Rofiah Breen and her students in the English Department at California State University, Stanislaus. More recently, Penumbra Online now expands its reach for both contributors and readers into the virtual world. Through our yearly spring print edition, fall single-author chapbooks, and rolling online movie and book reviews, Penumbra and Penumbra Online offer a voice and a view for poets, writers, and artists of all backgrounds, ages, experiences, and walks of life. We have widened the scope of our efforts to include live workshops, community events, and public readings, as well as online podcasts, blogs, and streaming videos. As our name implies, our aim and our mission invite what we see in shadow, “through a glass darkly” as it were, to step into the light of human intellect, emotion, and experience as expressed in poetry, short fiction, and the graphic arts.