We are delighted to announce the Sea Star Scholarship, an annual full-tuition scholarship for our flagship Six-Week Workshop, offered by an anonymous donor, which will be awarded each year to one qualifying student who identifies as two-spirit, trans, nonbinary, or under the gender expansive umbrella. Through the generosity of our donors, Clarion West provides a…
The Clarion West staff are thrilled to announce the students of our inaugural Novel Writing Workshop with Samit Basu, a veteran instructor of our Six-Week Workshop. This group will embark on nine months of weekly meetings and writing sessions with the goal of completing a first novel draft! Please join us in congratulating these twelve…
Important dates, what to expect, and exciting changes for our summer programs! We’ve been making plans to help you focus on your writing, find community easier, and join us for more programs! ====Our popular Flash Fiction Groups are back June 8 – July 3, 2025!====Are you looking to bring a more personalized and dynamic writing…
Clarion West recently received a grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust of Vancouver, Washington, for the organization’s first Development Director. This is a full-time, hybrid position based in Seattle, WA. The position has been filled and we are excited to announce it soon. This grant will provide the capacity to hire our new development position…
Last year, we asked our community to help support sliding scale applications for the Six-Week Workshop — and you came through! This gives us the confidence to continue, thank you! We’ve seen a significant increase in applicants who cannot afford to pay for the application even at what used to be our early bird rate…
Support Excellent Storytelling in the Clarion West Crowdfunding Campaign Would you like to join an RPG session with award-winning science fiction writer, Annalee Newitz? Join a virtual consultation with award-winning writer Kij Johnson? Or have a manuscript critique with Justin C. Key? Keep an eye out for these and other packages from Clarion West’s upcoming…
Clarion West is searching for an artist to create artwork for our 2025 featured artwork. Clarion West seeks to commission one custom illustration with unlimited global rights. Please share this call with the artists you know that might be a great fit, and see below for details. What we’re looking for Each year, we seek…
Tanisha Tekriwal is this year’s Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship recipient This scholarship has been donated annually since 2007 by the Carl Brandon Society to writers of color attending Clarion and Clarion West. Octavia attended the Clarion Writers Workshop in Pennsylvania in 1970 and taught at Clarion San Diego and Clarion West for many years;…
News of the allegations against Neil Gaiman began breaking as this year’s six-week workshop hurtled into its third week. As we emerge from the workshop and have time to process this news, our board and staff want to take a moment to recognize that a culture of silence and protecting prominent authors has been widespread…
The workshop had a bit of a shake-up this week. Due to the CrowdStrike airline disruptions, our Week Six Instructor, Carmen Maria Machado, was unable to join us in person. The class adjusted to a hybrid format easily, which involved an all-seeing and all-hearing owl. Very on-brand. While we missed Carmen’s presence on-site, she was…
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