Genre: Creative Nonfiction

Pacific Residency Writers Conference

November/December 2025

The Pacific Residency Writers Conference, sponsored by Pacific University’s creative writing MFA program, will be held from January 8, 2026, to January 18, 2026, at the Best Western Ocean View Resort in the beachside town of Seaside, Oregon. The conference features craft talks, workshops, panels, roundtable discussions, and student and faculty readings for poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers. The faculty includes poets Chris Abani, Ellen Bass, Leila Chatti, Adrienne Christian, Eduardo C. Corral, Kwame Dawes, Tyree Daye, Frank X.

Type: 
CONFERENCE
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
no
Event Date: 
January 8, 2026
Rolling Admissions: 
ignore
Application Deadline: 
December 25, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
December 25, 2025
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

Pacific Residency Writers Conference, 530 NW 12th Avenue, Portland, OR 97209. (503) 352-1531. Scott Korb, Director. 

Scott Korb
Director
Contact City: 
Seaside
Contact State: 
OR
Contact Zip / Postal Code: 
97138
Country: 
US
Add Image: 
Pacific Residency Writers Conference
Genre: 
Poetry
Fiction
Creative Nonfiction

Work of Art

The Time Is Now
11.19.15

Ekphrasis is a term commonly applied to poetry, in which a poem describes, or is inspired by, a work of art, often a painting or a sculpture. More broadly, it can be attributed to any genre of writing in response to a work of art. Think of the first film, photograph, painting, or song that left a strong impression on you. Spend some time experiencing it again, and then write an ekphrastic personal essay. Focus on why it resonates with you, and explore the memories, feelings, associations, and observations that surface.

Matthew Gavin Frank

Caption: 

Matthew Gavin Frank talks about one of his favorite characters from Pot Farm (University of Nebraska Press, 2012), a nonfiction account of his experience living on a marijuana farm in Northern California. Frank, whose most recent book, The Mad Feast: An Ecstatic Tour Through America's Food, was published by Liveright in November, will be a panelist at Poets & Writers Live in Austin, Texas on January 9.

Genre: 
Creative Nonfiction
Tags: 
University of Nebraska Press
Poets & Writers Live
2012
Austin, Texas
Matthew Gavin Frank
Pot Farm

Norman Mailer Versus Gore Vidal

Caption: 

"You seem to have me figured out to be the next reincarnation of Charles Manson." On December 15, 1971, Gore Vidal, Janet Flanner, and Norman Mailer appeared on the Dick Cavett Show. Mailer, having recently been panned by Vidal in a review, was in a less than pleasant mood. What ensued is considered by many to be the greatest—and funniest—literary feud ever caught on film.

Genre: 
Poetry
Fiction
Creative Nonfiction
Tags: 
interview
Norman Mailer
Gore Vidal
The Dick Cavett Show
1971
Janet Flanner

Time Capsule

The Time Is Now
11.12.15

Imagine that you’ve been chosen to be the representative of your neighborhood and tasked to fill a time capsule that will be sealed and buried for one hundred years. Write a letter to future inhabitants who may unearth and open your time capsule. Describe the items you've included and explain their value and importance in the world today. Would you choose technological products, favorites books, or personal photographs or letters? What would you hope to offer the future through your selections?

Ta-Nehisi Coates and Poetic Language

Caption: 

"Within that economy of words, you choose words that have certain angles, that have certain edges, that effect people in a certain way." Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose memoir Between the World and Me (Spiegel & Grau, 2015) is a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award, speaks with Khalil Gibran Muhammad about what he learned as a poet and how those skills continue to influence his writing.

Genre: 
Poetry
Creative Nonfiction
Tags: 
2015
National Book Award
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Between the World and Me
Spiegel & Grau
LIVE From NYPL
Khalil Gibran Muhammad

A Celebration of Primo Levi

Caption: 

"I was captured by the Facist Militia on December 13 1943." So begins Primo Levi's Survival in Auschwitz, republished as If This Is a Man in the new three-volume collection, The Complete Works of Primo Levi (Liveright, 2015), edited by Ann Goldstein. Robert Weil, David Remnick, and John Turturro read selections from the edition at the 92nd Street Y in New York City.

Genre: 
Poetry
Fiction
Creative Nonfiction
Tags: 
2015
reading
Liveright
92NY
Robert Weil
David Remnick
Primo Levi
Ann Goldstein
John Turturro

Sad Songs Say So Much

The Time Is Now
11.5.15

Think of a song that you would consider a lifelong favorite, even if your love for it now is attributed more to a strong sense of nostalgia than to your current musical tastes. Does hearing the song unexpectedly on the car radio or in a restaurant suddenly transport you to a different time or instantly change your mood? Write a personal essay about the memories you have associated with the song, and how the lyrics might have resonated with a certain significance in your past. How has your understanding and appreciation of the song evolved?

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