Alumni Stories & Careers

Creative writing students prepare for a variety of careers after PNCA with programs and opportunities to learn from professional writers, editors, and publishers, and more, while taking advantage of opportunities to publish and have their work seen and read.

Featured Alumni

Matthew Layng '17

Poet and sculptor, Matthew Layng is the Director of The Orchards, a sculpture park and exhibition space in Boring, Oregon. Layng recently spent a year abroad in Melbourne, Australia and has an upcoming exhibition at Cranbrook.

Careers

  • Author
  • Copywriter
  • Playwright
  • Publicist
  • Story Editor
  • Editor
  • Editor
  • Journalist
  • Poet
  • Public Relations Executive
  • Video Game Writer

Opportunities

Visiting Writers

PNCA brings many celebrated writers such as Maggie Nelson, Joy Harjo, and Lydia Yuknavitch to campus for lectures, workshops, and small group conversations throughout the year. And students have the opportunity to meet with publishers, book store owners, and editors, such as Dorothée Depuis, editor of Terremoto, a critical art magazine based in Mexico City.

Pnca Student Work Mc Kenzie Green Creative Writing

Student Publications and Exhibitions

Students have made exhibitions of books and prints of their writings in PNCA’s student galleries, and host readings of poetry and fiction. These exhibitions and readings, open to the public, give students the chance to find a wider audience for their works. In addition, PNCA's Albert Solheim Library collects student-made books and zines

Exhibitions and Programs

Projects for the page brought an exhibition of more than 80 artist's books to PNCA's Center for Contemporary Art & Culture. Writing in and as Art was a panel for the exhibition that included writer, publisher, and scholar Caitlin Murray who is co-editor of Donald Judd Writings; publisher, poet, and co-owner of Marfa Book Co., Tim Johnson; Hope Svenson, curator at Yale Union; and Stephanie Snyder, poet, publisher, curator of Reed College Cooley Gallery.

Native-American-Voices-Speakers-Series-Bridgelab

Native American Voices Speakers Series

The Native American Voices Speakers Series invites indigenous writers, poets and science fiction writers, supernatural horror thriller authors, performance artists, and storytellers to PNCA for free public lectures. Guests have included Oregon Poet Laureate, Elizabeth Woody, and internationally acclaimed, award-winning author, Joy Harjo.

Leland Iron Works Residency

Located just east of Oregon City, OR Leland Iron Works is the home and studio of sculptor Lee Kelly and his family. For years, Leland Iron Works has been home to artists, activists, musicians, writers, climbers, architects, poets, and dancers. The Residency at Leland Iron Works is an expansion of that legacy. With a generous grant from the Ford Family Foundation and with the continued support of the Kelly family and PNCA, Leland Iron Works offers free month-long residencies for emerging visual artists, writers or musicians.

Visit The Office of Career Design

Stop by the Office of Career Design to learn more about internships when you take a tour of campus.

Visit