PNCA Launches BFA in Writing with Write Now: Tom Spanbauer, Lidia Yuknavitch, and Chuck Palahniuk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 28, 2013
Contact: Lisa Radon, Communications Specialist
Pacific Northwest College of Art
lradon@pnca.edu, 971 255 5528
Becca Biggs, Director of Communications
Pacific Northwest College of Art
bbiggs@pnca.edu, 971 255 5511

PNCA Launches BFA in Writing with Write Now: Tom Spanbauer, Lidia Yuknavitch, and Chuck Palahniuk PORTLAND, OR – March 28, 2013 – In celebration of the launch of its new BFA in Writing program, Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is pleased to welcome three acclaimed Portland writers – Lidia Yuknavitch, Tom Spanbauer, and Chuck Palahniuk – for an evening of words and on words. Write Now; Tom Spanbauer, Lidia Yuknavitch, and Chuck Palahniuk on Monday, April 22 at 7:30pm in the Commons at PNCA celebrates this new writing program chaired by associate professor and award-winning novelist Monica Drake, author of the just-published Stud Book which Cheryl Strayed called “a take-your-breath-away good, blow-your mind wise, crack-your-heart-open beauty of a novel,” 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, adapted to an award-winning film starring Brad Pitt and Ed Norton, 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.” Drake emphasizes that this new program while building individual skills is also about building community among writers. The event highlights the broad community of writers that enlivens Portland's literary landscape, a community in which, right out of the gate, PNCA's BFA in Writing program has worked to embed itself. 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

About Pacific Northwest College of Art
As Oregon’s flagship college of art and design since 1909, Pacific Northwest College of Art has helped shape Oregon’s visual arts landscape for more than a century. PNCA students study with award-winning faculty in small classes. In the last seven years, PNCA has doubled both the student body and full-time faculty, quadrupled its endowment, and added innovative undergraduate and graduate programs. PNCA is now embarking on its boldest venture yet by establishing the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design as an anchor for the College’s vision of a new campus home on Portland’s North Park Blocks. Focusing on the transformative power of creativity, the capital campaign, Creativity Works Here, was launched in June 2012 with a lead gift from The Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation of $5 million. PNCA’s new home will be a bustling hub for creativity and entrepreneurship, reflecting the influential role of art and design in our 21st century economy – both in Portland and beyond.

For more information, visit pnca.edu.