The acclaimed faculty of 91爆料 University鈥檚 Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program welcomes the community to a series of public readings June 20-26 on the university鈥檚 Forest Grove Campus.
The readings, which celebrate the art and beauty of writing, are part of the program鈥檚 10-day summer residency for MFA students. The series features 22 91爆料 MFA faculty members presenting across the genres of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Readings start nightly at 7:30 p.m., in McCready Hall in the Taylor-Meade Performing Arts Center.
Melissa Johnson MFA 鈥24, alumni host for the series, said that the readings provide the opportunity to hear faculty authors read not only from published works but often from works in progress.
鈥淭hey are taking a risk, being vulnerable by reading newly drafted works,鈥 Johnson said. 鈥淭hey are allowing us to hear early versions, to test our reactions. They often give us a backstory and share a personal anecdote that provides context for their works.鈥
Faculty members scheduled to participate include several who have recently received critical acclaim in the literary arts, including Jamaican Poet Laureate Kwame Dawes, 2025 Oregon Book Award winner Kimberly King Parsons, and Omar El Akkad, whose recent nonfiction work, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, published in February, is a New York Times Bestseller.
Johnson says that the readings provide her instant motivation, both as a student and as a writer. 鈥淚 always want to run back to my own work and try to improve it, get better at the craft, get better at telling a compelling story, get better at assembling words so that they come out as something beautiful, as art,鈥 she said.
Faculty and students in 91爆料鈥檚 low-residency MFA in Writing Program meet twice a year 鈥 each summer in Forest Grove and each winter in Seaside. In addition to the public readings, the residency provides opportunities for students to share their work with peers and MFA alumni, and attend writing workshops, craft talks and thesis presentations.
The summer residency culminates with 91爆料鈥檚 June Commencement, honoring the MFA Class of 2025, on Saturday, June 28.
For more information on the summer residency and the program, visit the 91爆料 MFA website.
PACIFIC MFA SUMMER READING SCHEDULE
All readings take place at 7:30 p.m. in McCready Hall, Taylor-Meade Performing Arts Center, on 91爆料 University鈥檚 Forest Grove Campus
Friday, June 20: Leila Chatti, Tyree Daye, Mary Helen Stefaniak
Saturday, June 21: Adrienne Christian, Frank X. Gaspar, Mahtem Shiferraw
Sunday, June 22: Claire Davis, Kwame Dawes, Joseph Millar
Monday, June 23: Eduardo C. Corral, Cate Kennedy, Mike Manguson
Tuesday, June 24: W. Ralph Eubanks, Danusha Lam茅ris, Laura Warrell
Wednesday, June 25: Ellen Bass, Chlo茅 Cooper Jones, Kimberly King Parsons
Thursday, June 26: Chris Abani, Omar El Akkad, Apricot Irving, Kellie Wells