Pacific University Presents Reading Series Featuring Acclaimed Writers
FOREST GROVE, ORE. — Pacific University presents a series of free public readings by some of the world’s finest writers this month.
Featured authors include poet Ellen Bass, Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and recent Guggenheim Fellowship winner, and multi-genre writer Chris Abani, nominee of the 2023 PEN Literary Award and also a Guggenheim Fellow.
The readings are hosted by the Pacific University Master of Fine Arts in Writing program during its 10-day residency on the university’s Forest Grove Campus. The authors in the reading series also teach at the residency, where MFA students participate in workshops, lectures, classes and other events in preparation for the guided study that follows. Students leave the residency paired with a writing mentor who responds to their reading and writing throughout the semester, encouraging and inspiring emerging craft and voice.
Readings begin daily at 7:30 p.m. in the Taylor-Meade Performing Arts Center on the Pacific University Forest Grove Campus. Admission is free and open to the public.
Evening Reading Series
- June 16 Cate Kennedy & Dorianne Laux
- June 17 Mike Magnuson, Joseph Millar, & Kellie Wells
- June 18 Frank Gaspar, Mary Helen Stefaniak, & Cecily Wong
- June 19 Chris Abani, Kwame Dawes & Siddhartha Deb
- June 20 Valerie Laken, Danusha Laméris, & Mahtem Shiferraw
- June 21 Ellen Bass & Jack Driscoll
- June 22 Adrienne Christian, Claire Davis, & Molly Gloss
For more information about the writers or the MFA in Writing program, please contact director Scott Korb at smkorb@pacificu.edu or 503-352-1532.