Search

Stan Sanvel Rubin Founding Director Biography Biography Stan Sanvel Rubin is founding director of the Rainier Writing Workshop at PLU.  He served for over twenty years as Director of the Brockport Writers Forum and Videotape Library (SUNY), a multi-faceted literary arts program.  He holds the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.  His most recent book of poetry is There. Here. (Lost Horse Press, 2013).  Other books include The Post-Confessionals, a collection of his interviews

Oliver de la Paz Poetry Biography Biography Oliver de la Paz is author and editor of several books and serves as the Poet Laureate of Worcester, MA. His latest collection of poetry, The Diaspora Sonnets, was published by Liveright Press (2023). It was a winner of the 2023 New England Book Award and was longlisted for the 2023 National Book Award. A founding member of Kundiman, he teaches at the College of the Holy Cross and in the Low-Residency MFA Program at PLU.   Mentor.  Workshops and

writing program is for students to see themselves as artists participating in an expansive and diverse literary landscape that expects them to write compelling work, to challenge and surprise their readers, and to encourage curiosity, critical thinking and emotional growth. To that end, I uphold a high standard for myself, and I invite those who choose to work with me to do so as well.”

the hope that you will develop enduring strategies for maintaining your writing practice long after completing the program. Being a writer takes time, patience, and practice, there’s no universal formula for finding your voice and improving your craft. As you progress, my focus remains on process and revision, with the understanding that eventually you’ll likely have to negotiate your work’s intentions more directly with readers, editors, and critics. No matter your artistic and professional goals

. She is the author of DEED (Wesleyan University Press, 2024) and Wound from the Mouth of a Wound (Milkweed Editions, 2020), a Minnesota Book Award and CLMP Firecracker Award finalist, and winner of the 2022 Kate Tufts Discovery Award. She teaches at the Rainier Writing Workshop, the low-residency MFA program at Pacific Lutheran University. Mentor.  Workshops and classes in poetry. Statement: In his lecture A Seduction: Metaphor and the Come Hither, Tim Seibles writes “If poetry is a fire in the

and men to tell their own stories through writing. Davis currently lives in the Ozarks, where he teaches for the Program in Creative Writing & Translation at the University of Arkansas. Raised by the Pacific Northwest, he also serves as Poetry Editor for Iron Horse Literary Review.  Mentor. Workshops and classes in poetry. Statement: I encourage writers to keep sight of what comes next. Yes, we will work on sharpening our craft through intensive practice with technique and through a study of

, The Daily Poet: Day-By-Day Prompts for Your Writing Practice (coauthored with Martha Silano), Fire on Her Tongue: An Anthology of Contemporary Women’s Poetry, and Demystifying the Manuscript: How to Create of Book of Poems (coauthored with Susan Rich). She lives in a sleepy seaside town where she is an avid paddleboarder and hiker. She teaches at Pacific Lutheran University’s low-res MFA program, the Rainier Writing Workshop. Kelli  is the cohost of the poetry series “Poems You Need” with Melissa

-Required Reading.  She is a professor in the Department of English-MFA/MA in Creative Writing and Publishing Program at DePaul University in Chicago, where she directs the LGBTQ Studies minor and edits Slag Glass City, a journal of the urban essay arts.  Mentor. Workshops and classes in nonfiction. Statement: “Writing is a process: part thought, part instinct, part wish. Every honest draft holds some glimmer of what your work might become. To write is to try, try, and try again, until we’re stunned to

Nonfiction Award and Sierra magazine’s Nature Writing Award, and she was a finalist for the Katharine Nason Bakeless Nonfiction Literary Publication Prize, sponsored by Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.  She is a professor of creative nonfiction writing in the Low-Residency MFA program at the University of Alaska Anchorage and serves on the faculty of the Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference. Mentor. Workshops and classes in nonfiction. Statement: “My favorite moment is when a writer who’s struggling with a

Life Responsibilities PLUS 100 Coordinator & Instructor  Co-convener THRIVE* Network (*Transition, Holistic Wellbeing, Retention, Innovation, Vocation, Engagement) Coordinate the annual Student Life Assessment process and support divisional program review and accreditation planning  Represent division on Institutional Effectiveness team Co-coordinate divisional onboarding, trainings, and events Serve on Student Life Council Selected Publications Takla, J. (2023). Becoming CRITICAL CREATIVES: A