Write Now: Chuck Palahniuk, Tom Spanbauer and Lidia Yuknavitch

PNCA marks the official launch of the new BFA in Writing at PNCA by welcoming three Pacific Northwest writers, Chuck Palahniuk, Tom Spanbauer, and Lidia Yuknavitch for an evening of reading and conversation in Swigert Commons on April 22 at 7:30pm. This event celebrates this new writing program chaired by associate professor and award-winning novelist Monica Drake, author of the just-published Stud Book, and Clown Girl, which was a finalist for the Oregon Book Awards.

Tom Spanbauer, founder of the Dangerous Writers workshop and author of The Man Who Fell in Love With The Moon and other novels will read from his works as will Lidia Yuknavitch, editor of Chiasmus Press and author of Dora: A Head Case and The Chronology of Water: a memoir. Chuck Palahniuk, best known for his breakout novel, Fight Club will lead a discussion of what it means to be a writer now, to pursue the writing life, to try to make a living, and to always make art with words.
 
“Writing is an art, a method, and a way of life,” says Monica Drake, Writing Department Chair.  “To study writing is to bring shape and rigor to the very act of thinking and self expression. As we wrestle with words, we learn to tell our stories, and find enriched meaning in the world.”
 
Please note that the authors will not be available for book signing at this event.
 
About the BFA in Writing at PNCA
The author Margaret Atwood writes, “A word after a word/after a word is power.” PNCA believes there is a power in learning to craft self expression through considered use of language. To study writing is to study the very act of thinking and articulating ideas and feelings. Writing can find form in novels, poems and scholarly work, as well as in scripts, graphic novels, performance, reviews, the digital realm and other mediums. The BFA in Writing is designed to help student writers find their voice reach their potential, while offering a strong visual arts component alongside writing classes. Solving creative problems in parallel mediums develops an incisive relationship to audience, and an expansive, informed point of entry into the ongoing creative conversations.
 
In the BFA in Writing program, writing is taught through a variety of classes: workshops, literature seminars, writing studio courses, interdisciplinary studios like the graphic novel, and others, which grant students one-on-one time with faculty as well as exchanges within communities inside and outside the school. The program begins broadly, encouraging the study of short and long forms, poetry, prose, fiction, and nonfiction, and both narrative and associative work. This allows room for the developing writer to find his or her focus, which may be in a genre, or across genres, blending forms. As the student gains footing, there is increased room for the student to direct his or her own content under the guidance of faculty.
 
Applications are currently being accepted. For more information, please visit pnca.edu/programs/bfa/c/writing