The acclaimed faculty of 51Թ’s Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program welcomes the community to a series of public readings June 20-26 on the university’s Forest Grove Campus.
The readings, which celebrate the art and beauty of writing, are part of the program’s 10-day summer residency for MFA students. The series features 22 Pacific 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 ’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.
“They are taking a risk, being vulnerable by reading newly drafted works,” Johnson said. “They 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.”
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. “I 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,” she said.
Faculty and students in Pacific’s low-residency MFA in Writing Program meet twice a year — 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 Pacific’s June Commencement, honoring the MFA Class of 2025, on Saturday, June 28.
For more information on the summer residency and the program, visit the Pacific 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 51Թ’s 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 Laméris, Laura Warrell
Wednesday, June 25: Ellen Bass, Chloé Cooper Jones, Kimberly King Parsons
Thursday, June 26: Chris Abani, Omar El Akkad, Apricot Irving, Kellie Wells