Become a member of Portland's vibrant community of writers
Portland State University's Creative Writing Program offers Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. Located in the center of one of the country's most vibrantly literary cities, the Creative Writing Program provides writers with opportunities for creative development with a core faculty of prominent authors: Diana Abu-Jaber, Janice Lee, Gabriel Urza, and Leni Zumas in Fiction; John Beer and Michele Glazer in Poetry; and Paul Collins and visiting writer Justin Hocking in Nonfiction.
Bachelor's in Creative Writing
Our BFA in Creative Writing provides students with the skills and experience to enter the creative field or graduate study as writers, editors, and teachers. We feature a comprehensive curriculum of workshops in craft/technique and opportunities for students to work closely with peers and published authors.
Master's in Creative Writing
Our MFA in Creative Writing emphasizes workshops and close mentorship by core faculty, while providing the flexibility of a part-time option and the rich course offerings of PSU. Our program is distinguished by the diversity of its student body and by the accomplishments of its alumni.
Upcoming events
Alumni Showcase: C. R. Grimmer, Genevieve Hudson, & Suman…
C. R. Grimmer, who also goes by Chelsea Grimmer, is a poet, scholar, and…
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2021-01-15 16:00:00
2021-01-15 17:00:00
Alumni Showcase: C. R. Grimmer, Genevieve Hudson, & Suman Mallick
C. R. Grimmer, who also goes by Chelsea Grimmer, is a poet, scholar, and lecturer at The University of Washington Seattle and Bothell campuses. Their latest collection is The Lyme Letters, which was completed with support from a Harlan Hahn Disability Studies Fellowship and won the Walt McDonald First Book Award from Texas Tech University Press. They are also the author of *O–(ezekiel's wife)*, a chapbook and audiobook collaboration from GASHER Journal and Press that features visual art by PSU alum Colleen Burner and sound art by Judy Twedt. C. R. received their MFA from Portland State University and Ph.D. in Literature and Cultural Studies from The University of Washington, Seattle. They are the creator and host of The Poetry Vlog (TPV), a YouTube and Podcast teaching and social justice channel; and their poems have been published in journals such as Poetry, FENCE, and [PANK].Â
Genevieve Hudson is the author of the novel Boys of Alabama. Their other books include the critical memoir A Little in Love with Everyone and Pretend We Live Here: Stories, which was a LAMBDA Literary Award finalist. They hold an MFA in fiction from Portland State University, and their work has appeared in ELLE, Oprah Magazine, McSweeney’s, Catapult, Bookforum, Bitch, Tin House, and other places. They have received fellowships from the Fulbright Program, MacDowell, Caldera Arts, and the Vermont Studio Center. They are a Visiting Fiction Faculty member at Antioch University-Los Angeles’s MFA Program, a freelance writer, and also work in advertising. They graduated from the Portland State MFA program and live in Portland, Oregon.
Suman Mallick’s debut novel, The Black-Marketer’s Daughter, was a finalist for the Disquiet Open Borders Book Prize and is now available from Atmosphere Press. He has short stories forthcoming in The Gravity of The Thing and other publications. Suman is the Assistant Managing Editor of the quarterly literary magazine Under the Gum Tree, and received his MFA from Portland State University. He lives in Texas.
**Register here for the C. R. Grimmer, Genevieve Hudson, & Suman Mallick reading. A link will be emailed shortly before the event.**
An ASL interpreter will be present at this event.
Visit http://pdx.edu/creative-writing/events for more Creative Writing events.
Zoom webinar (Register below)
eng@pdx.edu
eng@pdx.edu
America/Los_Angeles
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Lysley Tenorio
Lysley Tenorio is the author of the novel The Son of Good Fortune and the…
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2021-02-19 16:00:00
2021-02-19 17:00:00
Lysley Tenorio
Lysley Tenorio is the author of the novel The Son of Good Fortune and the story collection Monstress, which was named a book of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, a Whiting Award, a Stegner fellowship, the Edmund White Award, and the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as residencies from MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Bogliasco Foundation. Tenorio's stories have appeared in The Atlantic, Zoetrope: All-Story, and Ploughshares, and have been adapted for the stage by The American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and the Ma-Yi Theater in New York City. Born in the Philippines, he lives in San Francisco, and is a professor at Saint Mary’s College of California.
**Register here for the Lysley Tenorio reading. A link will be emailed shortly before the event.**
An ASL interpreter will be present at this event.
Visit pdx.edu/creative-writing/events for more Creative Writing events.
Zoom webinar (Register below)
eng@pdx.edu
eng@pdx.edu
America/Los_Angeles
public
Walidah Imarisha
Walidah Imarisha is an educator, writer, public scholar, and spoken word…
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2021-03-05 16:00:00
2021-03-05 17:00:00
Walidah Imarisha
Walidah Imarisha is an educator, writer, public scholar, and spoken word artist. She has edited two anthologies, Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories From Social Justice Movements and Another World is Possible. Imarisha’s nonfiction book Angels with Dirty Faces: Three Stories of Crime, Prison, and Redemption won a 2017 Oregon Book Award. She is also the author of the poetry collection Scars/Stars, and in 2015, she received a Tiptree Fellowship for her science fiction writing. Imarisha has taught at Stanford University, Pacific Northwest College of Art, and Oregon State University; she recently joined the faculty of PSU's Black Studies Program. For six years she presented statewide as a public scholar with Oregon Humanities' Conversation Project on topics such as Oregon Black history, alternatives to incarceration, and the history of hip hop. She was one of the founders and first editor of the political hip hop magazine AWOL.Â
**Register here for the Walidah Imarisha reading. A link will be emailed shortly before the event.**
This event is co-hosted with the Black Studies Program at Portland State University. An ASL interpreter will be present.
Visit pdx.edu/creative-writing/events for more Creative Writing events.
Zoom webinar (Register below)
eng@pdx.edu
eng@pdx.edu
America/Los_Angeles
public
Writing Residencies, Conferences, & Fellowships
We're happy to announce a Winter 2021 Zoom discussion about writing…
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2021-01-29 16:00:00
2021-01-29 17:00:00
Writing Residencies, Conferences, & Fellowships
We're happy to announce a Winter 2021 Zoom discussion about writing residencies, conferences, & fellowships. Our panel of PSU MFA students and alumni will share advice for finding ways to support your writing practice, both during and after the MFA. Mark your calendars!
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To register to attend, click here!
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Jennifer Cie is a southern writer who embeds pop culture throughout her work to preserve the histories of marginalized peoples and examine the idea of place beyond physical location. She was the October 2020 artist-in-residence for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and has been selected for a 2022 Santa Fe Art Institute Revolution Residency. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Philadelphia Printworks, Empty Mirror, New South Journal, and elsewhere.
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Cynthia Carmina Gómez was born in Camp 52, a migrant agricultural community, and raised on the U.S.-Mexico border in Yuma, Arizona. She is the recipient of the Oregon Governors' Gold Civic Leadership Award and a Fishtrap: Writing in the West Fellowship. Cynthia delves into the radical imagination of our communities by documenting the experiences of ordinary people’s extraordinary lives.
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David Naimon is the co-author, with Ursula K. Le Guin, of Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing. He hosts the literary radio show and podcast Between the Covers. He has attended writing residencies at Playa, Brush Creek, Centrum, Wellstone, and the Sou'wester. He is a graduate of PSU's MFA in Creative Writing program.
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A.M. Rosales is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, and translator originally from Cochabamba, Bolivia. They hold a literature degree from George Mason University and their favorite rodent is the capybara. A Pride Foundation scholar, an MFA fiction candidate at Portland State University, and a collaborating artist at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, their work has been supported by the Precipice Fund and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.Â
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Nada Sewidan is an Egyptian American creative nonfiction writer and journalist. She holds an MFA in creative writing and an MA in English with a concentration in publishing from Portland State University. Nada is a recipient of the Snowden Excellence in Journalism internship and was an Olive B. O'Connor Fellowship finalist. She has published work in Portland Review, Oregon Humanities, East Oregonian, and elsewhere. Born in Alexandria, Egypt, she currently lives in Portland, Oregon and works as an adjunct instructor at Portland Community College.
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Visit pdx.edu/creative-writing/events for more Creative Writing events.
Zoom (Register below)
eng@pdx.edu
eng@pdx.edu
America/Los_Angeles
public
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