Workshops

The MWC Oregon Summer Workshop is a weeklong conference featuring curated workshops, one-on-one meetings with faculty, craft lectures, author conversations, generative exercises, affinity group meetings, and student/faculty readings. There will be plenty of opportunities for mingling, happy hours, and, of course, our world-famous karaoke.

The Workshop will take place at Reed College, located on 100 acres of rolling lawns, winding lanes, and magnificent old trees in southeast Portland, Oregon, just minutes from downtown and twelve miles from the airport.

Participants are housed in Reed College’s dormitories near the center of campus. All rooms are singles, with shared bathrooms (private stalls) on each floor. Dorms include gender-neutral floors and facilities. Wheelchair-accessible rooms are available, as are dorms with elevator access. Please note that the dorms at Reed do not have A.C.

To create a more personal and intimate experience for our faculty and students, we limit each Workshop to eight participants. Before arriving on campus, participants are expected to read each other’s manuscripts and provide response letters for their peers.

All classrooms, readings, panel presentations, dining, and reception areas are within 1/2 mile from the dormitories. Golf carts will be present throughout the week for rides to and from all dorms/events.

Lectures will be recorded and shared with participants at the conclusion of the Workshop.

Meals are served in the college dining area and are catered by Bon Appétit. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and non-dairy items will be available, and we work closely with Bon Appétit to ensure other dietary requirements and restrictions are accommodated. Students who choose not to stay on campus can pay for meals individually.

We ask for one unpublished writing sample in the genre you plan to workshop in. You may apply in multiple genres, but we require a separate application for each.

For fiction/nonfiction, 4,000 words or less.

For poetry, four poems totaling no more than ten pages.

If you have previously been accepted/attended, please do not apply with the same sample. A different excerpt from the same project is acceptable.

If admitted to Short Fiction/Poetry/Essay, you can workshop a different manuscript than the one you applied with.

If admitted to Novel/Memoir, you may workshop a different excerpt from the same project you applied with.

In addition to the writing sample, the application requires a brief bio and an artist statement.

Applicants must be 21 by July 1st, 2027 to apply. 

Open to international writers.

There is no cap on the number of  Workshops you may attend.

Applications are read by a board composed of MWC staff and Reading Fellows (whose stipends are paid via the application fees). At least two readers will review all applications, and acceptance is based on the strength and promise of the writing sample and the board’s assessment of how much an applicant might benefit from the Workshop and contribute to the community.

Through our Pay It Forward program, MWC offers application fee waivers. As an applicant, you can help cover the cost of another writer’s application fee through this same program. All excess application funds will be allocated to our Scholars Travel Fund.

To apply with a fee waiver, please email info@mccormackwritingcenter.org with the subject line “Summer Fee Waiver.”

All scholarship applicants are considered for general admission (you do not need to submit a separate general application). Scholarships cover the total cost of the conference (tuition and room/board). 

You may only receive a scholarship to attend an in-person MWC Workshop once. An individual who receives a scholarship to attend our Winter Online Workshop remains eligible to apply for and receive a scholarship to attend our in-person programming. We ask only that online scholars wait a year to apply (ie. you can accept a scholarship to attend the 2027 Winter Online Workshop and then apply for a scholarship to attend the 2028 Oregon Summer Workshop.

The application does not require self-identifying information related to the award, nor do applicants need to submit projects that align with the scholarship for which they are applying.

We will notify scholarship winners (and all applicants) by the end of March. We announce our Scholars publicly after the workshop’s conclusion. Our announcement does not delineate the specific award.

BIPOC Scholarship
This award is open to anyone identifying as Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color.

Break Scholarship for Writers in Recovery
MWC is pleased to partner with The Alano Club of Portland in awarding this scholarship. We welcome and encourage, without qualification, submissions by any artist recovering from alcoholism, drug addiction, and other addictive disorders.

The Carol Shields Prize Foundation Scholarship for Indigenous Women and Non-Binary Writers MWC is pleased to once again partner with the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction to award a scholarship to a female/non-binary North American Indigenous writer. This award welcomes and encourages submissions by transgender women authors and recognizes trans women as women without qualification. This award includes full tuition, room/board, and a travel stipend (up to $1000).

Debut 40 Scholarship
This award is intended for writers over forty years (by July 1st, 2027) who have not yet published a book (chapbooks do not count against this requirement).

General Scholarships
Open to all applicants.

North American Indigenous Author Scholarship
This award is open to any author identifying as Native American and/or Indigenous in North America. Sponsored by an anonymous donor.

Own Path Scholarship
Open to any writer who does not have an MFA or is currently enrolled in an MFA Program.

Scholarship for Palestine
This award is open to any author identifying as Palestinian. Sponsored by an anonymous donor.

Trans Writer Scholarship
This award is intended for any trans writer.

Without Borders Scholarship
This award is intended for any writer born outside of the United States.

MWC Workshop Community Agreements

• I agree to read every manuscript before the workshop and come prepared with written feedback for each project.
• I agree that writing shared in workshops is confidential and that I will not share or discuss a fellow writer’s work outside the workshop without their permission.
• I agree not to record any portion of the workshop (classroom sessions, agent/editor meetings, etc.) or share/distribute any recorded lectures/readings made available to me without obtaining permission.
• I agree that it is my responsibility to investigate and better understand ​any unfamiliar words or cultural references in a manuscript.
• I agree to learn and use the correct pronunciation of my peers’ names.
• I agree to use the correct pronouns for my peers, faculty members, and MWC staff.
• I agree to listen and engage with critiques of my work and/or comments I make during the workshop, especially if there are issues or questions of appropriation, harmful stereotypes, and/or language deemed to be racist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic, anti-semitic, and ableist.
• I agree to be aware of the amount I am speaking during the workshop and to make space for participants who may not be as vocal as me.
• If there is conflict in my workshop, I will first seek mediation with my workshop faculty. If the conflict cannot be resolved or if the conflict is with my workshop faculty, I will notify MWC Staff.
• I agree to inform my workshop leader or MWC staff if I witness harm being done to a fellow participant or me.
• I acknowledge that MWC reserves the right to remove me from the Summer Workshop (without refund for tuition or travel) for violations of these Community Agreements and/or actions deemed detrimental to staff, faculty, and/or my fellow participants. This includes but is not limited to making unwanted sexual comments and/or advancements; using misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, and/or racially insensitive language; and aggressive or belligerent behavior.

Covid Policy
Face masks will be required (regardless of vaccination status) for all indoor activities, including workshops and communal dorm room spaces (lounge areas/kitchen/bathrooms). Outdoor activities such as readings and social hours will be mask-optional.

If you show signs of a fever or other symptoms, you will be provided with a COVID test. If you test positive at any time during your attendance, you must stop attending in-person events. If this occurs, we will stream the workshop sessions live and provide you with recordings of the lectures after the workshop concludes. If you can’t attend via live stream and were scheduled to be workshopped that day, we will arrange for your workshop session to take place at a later date over Zoom.

If participants test positive, they will be moved to an isolated room on campus.

We reserve the right to enforce stricter enforcement and otherwise adjust this policy should an outbreak occur.

These same procedures will apply if you are no longer able to attend in person for any reason (and we have passed the deadline to withdraw).

Please note that no tuition refunds will be given for illness.

Deferments
As we curate each cohort based on manuscript and faculty fit, we do not offer deferments for accepted or enrolled applicants.

Faculty Cancellation Policy
In the unlikely event that a faculty member should cancel before the start of the workshop, MWC will find an appropriate replacement as quickly as possible. MWC will communicate said replacement to participants immediately. If the participant decides not to attend the workshop with the replacement faculty, they will receive a full refund. If the participant remains in the workshop, they will continue to pay the original cost. If MWC cannot find a suitable replacement, we reserve the right to cancel the workshop and provide participants with a full refund. Please note MWC is not responsible for any costs related to travel.