EXPLORE CREATIVE WRITING AT PNCA
OUR LOW-RESIDENCY MFA IN CREATIVE WRITING
DESIGNED FOR THOSE WITH BUSY LIVES, THE LOW-RESIDENCY PROGRAM COMBINES THE EXPERIENCE OF AN MFA WITH THE FLEXIBILITY OF AN ARTIST RESIDENCY.
This model allows students to develop a writing practice that fits into their daily life and that they will be able to maintain long after graduation.
At PNCA, we approach writing as studio art, considering language to be just one of many materials available in storytelling and books as products. The creative writing program encourages experimentation with language, form, and materials, supporting students as they push the boundaries of what storytelling can be.
Experience writing as fine art with a program designed for working professionals and those who can’t attend a typical class schedule.
THE LOW-RESIDENCY MODEL
Low-residency students integrate their creative education into their existing schedule, writing from home throughout the school year and coming together during residency to connect with fellow writers. While working from home, students submit work to their faculty mentors. This includes creative work, brief essays on forms and methods, an ongoing reading list, and a letter addressing their writing process and responding to feedback.
The low-residency program is rooted in mentorship. Students are thoughtfully paired with a professional writer from PNCA’s faculty or the Portland community who will provide personalized feedback and guidance to students writing from home.
THE RESIDENCY
In the summer and winter, low-residency creative writing students gather in Portland to engage in intensive 10-day residencies. During this time, students will immerse themselves into both our campus community with other writers and Portland’s community of artists and writers.
While on campus, creative writing students have access to every lab, studio, tool, and resource at PNCA. Students in the creative writing program often take advantage of the printmaking facilities and equipment as well as resources related to design, photography, video, sound, sculpture, and digital works.
RECENT GUEST SPEAKERS AND VISITING WRITERS
Jenny Boully (2020 Guggenheim Fellow in General Nonfiction)
Gabrielle Civil (Coffee House Press, 2022)
Diana Khoi Nguyen (Scribners, 2024)
Renee Gladman (2021 Windham-Campbell Prize winner in fiction)
Cedar Sigo (Wave Books 2014, 2017, 2021; City Lights 2010)
FONOGRAF EDITIONS
Through PNCA’s partnership with Fonograf Editions, students have the opportunity to collaborate with members of the literary scene. Fonograf Editions is a nonprofit press and literary record label based locally in Portland. They have been featured by Poets & Writers and The Paris Review Daily, highlighting the creation and development of the press. Their books and records have been reviewed by a variety of publications including The New York Times, Artforum, The New York Times Book Review, Frieze, Harper’s, and The London Review of Books.
PNCA’S PARTNERS IN PORTLAND’S LITERARY SCENE:
Write Around Portland (WRAP)
IN TRANSLATION Reading Series
Literary Arts
Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC)
Powell’s Books
Mother Foucault’s bookshop
Poetry Press Week
Tavern Books
Hawthorne Books
Gramma Poetry
New Directions
Wave Books
FACULTY WORK
CREATIVE WRITING FACULTY
Alejandro de Acosta
Stephanie Adams-Santos
Jess Arndt
Jennifer S. Cheng
Matt Hart
Sara Jaffe
Megan Milks
Poupeh Missaghi
Lara Mimosa Montes
Vi Khi Nao
Jay Ponteri
Emilly Prado
Alison C Rollins
Brandon Shimoda
Dao Strom
Asiya Wadud
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
DIANA OROPEZA
Diana Oropeza is a writer and performer based in Portland, Oregon. She studied journalism and media at UC Berkeley and earned an MFA in creative writing from the Pacific Northwest College of Art. She performs spoken word in two musical projects, The Social Stomach and CHIBI, and is also a member of Yelling Choir. In 2020, she self-published a poetry chapbook titled Origin Story. Her latest work, An Incomplete Catalog of Disappearance, is set to be released by Future Tense Books in October 2024.
