RACHEL GREENLEY is a Pacific Northwest writer published in the New England Review, The New York Times, Orion Magazine, River Teeth, Hobart, and The Baltimore Review, among others. She earned her MFA from Bennington Writing Seminars in 2023. She has been supported by the Bread Loaf Environmental Conference and the Prospect Street Writers House.

Her essay, “Here in Umatilla,” was nominated for the John Burroughs Award and was selected as a Notable Essay in the 2025 edition of The Best American Essays, guest edited by Jia Tolentino. Her essay, “The Atomic Disease,” was selected as Longreads Top Essay of the Week. She has a forthcoming essay in Ploughshares.

Rachel is finalizing her essay collection, Reclamation, to query: In 1902, the Bureau of Reclamation was established to “reclaim” western water and land, and convert desert to farmland. Today, the Columbia River – the largest river west of the Mississippi – and the arid land surrounding it have been poisoned by nuclear waste, plugged with concrete dams, and pummeled with data centers and natural gas plants. This essay collection examines manifest destiny’s impact – both on a western river and on the narrator. The collection ultimately asks: Can we unravel the reclamation tendencies within ourselves and create a different way of life?

She is also working on a psychological thriller with similar themes of industry and personal accountability. Wild Beasts is described as Amity Gaige’s Heartwood meets Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

A recovering corporate worker, Rachel now writes for a university.

Selected Writing

What We Leave Out – Orion Magazine – Reprinted in Memoir Monday

Packed Cubicles, Empty Corner Office: Remote Work Is Increasingly a Right of the Rich – The New York Times

Here in Umatilla – New England Review – Selected by LitHub to be featured in LitHub Daily, nominated for the John Burroughs Award and a Notable Essay in the 2025 edition of The Best American Essays

The Atomic Disease – Orion Magazine – Selected as Longreads #1 Essay of the Week, and Best of 2023

This is the Reality of America’s Fast Fashion Addiction – The New York Times – Reprinted in Memoir Monday

Confession – River Teeth

Untethered – Hobart

The Cedar – The Baltimore Review

Interviews

Remote Work is Increasingly for the Wealthy – NPR, All Sides Podcast (Start at 33:48 mark)

Learning Within The Gray Zone – Clotheshorse Podcast

Performance in the Workplace – Clotheshorse Podcast