Alumni Hub

Regional Affinity Groups

Do you want to be put in touch with other alumni in your country, city, or metro area? We’re working on new ways to get our alumni in touch, from hubs like New York City and LA to places outside the U.S. Keep an eye on this space to learn how to get connected and plan events in your area!

Connect with Clarion West and Fellow Alumni

A full list of our alumni is published at the Alumni Directory. Need to update your name? Email us at .

We love sharing your updates in our alumni newsletters! Send word of publications, appearances, awards, etc. to .

You can follow Clarion West on Bluesky and Instagram, like our Facebook page, or watch our videos on YouTube.

• Bluesky
• YouTube
• Instagram
• Facebook

LinkedIn: We have a new Clarion West Alumni and Instructors group on LinkedIn for all Six-Week affiliated folks! Use this link to request to be added to the group.

Discord: Clarion West’s community Discord has private channels for Six-Week Workshop alumni. Join here and message staff to be added to these channels.

Six-Week Workshop Support

Summer Wish List

Check out our Summer Wish List for opportunities to donate Clarion West goodies to the class of 2025 or sponsor a party.

Six-Week Mentors

Each year, we pair new Six-Week Participants with an alumni mentor. We look for mentors who have the time and energy to make introductions with students and check in with them weekly during the workshop. If you would like to be considered for a Six-Week Mentor, send your information to and you will be sent an information survey when the next class is invited!

Application Readers

We are always looking for a team of enthusiastic and committed application readers for the application season. We want well-read speculative fiction fans, writers, and teachers to help us select each class (now including Novel Writing Workshop applicants and Six-Week Workshop applicants!).

We are committed to assigning three readers to every application for a diversity of perspectives, in order to give a fair review to all applicants. Readers commit to attend a virtual orientation before application review begins. Email to indicate your interest in participating and to receive a notification when readers are invited to apply.

Summer Workshop Location/Housing

Since 2020, several of our area housing partners have closed or consolidated. The cost of dormitory housing has significantly increased and is unsustainable for the long-term. 

The workshop is virtual in 2025. The board and staff continue to seek the best possible solutions to identify affordable housing for in-person workshops, and will continue to raise funds, seek partnerships, and consider opportunities for obtaining property in the Greater Seattle Area. We currently anticipate running a virtual workshop in 2026.

Ways to Give

Instructorships

Each year, we recruit the most talented writers from around the world: past instructors include Carmen Maria Machado, N. K. Jemisin, Ted Chiang, George R. R. Martin, Ann Leckie, P. Djèlí Clark, Fonda Lee, and so many more. The right instructor at Clarion West can change lives, inspire dreams, and make careers.

Instructorships support the honorarium, travel, meals, and other expenses for our instructors. Alumni have supported instructorships independently, with their class, or by supporting a fund with any amount. To learn more, email .

Scholarships

The cost of classes and workshops, travel, and time away can be a barrier to attending our programs. To reduce some of these barriers, we are committed to providing scholarships covering full and partial tuition to our residential workshops; discounts to reduce the cost of online classes; free events and programs for our community; and free seats in online classes for PGM/BIPOC writers.

We welcome donations to support our general scholarship fund, named scholarships, and sponsorships to cover our free programs! If you would like to organize a class scholarship, please email us at .

Learn more about all the ways you can give back at our Giving page.