Wordcrafters In Eugene

08/30/2026

Do you want to run a 5K for a good cause? We don’t.
Instead, we’re going with the most Wordcrafters fundraiser our creative (and tired) brains came up with: napping.
Resist the hustle. Take a nap. Sign up as a nap ambassador.
Really. It’s real. And it’s happening this October.
Get all the details → https://wordcrafters.org/nap-a-thon

08/28/2026

It's interesting how dawn can be viewed as both the end of a night and the beginning of a day, especially in the context of Emily Dickinson's poem.

08/28/2026

How Nap-a-thon works:
1) Sign up as a nap ambassador (open now)
2) Set a rest goal (A daily nap? A decent bedtime? You decide)
3) Ask people to support your rest
4) Actually rest during October
5) Optionally join us on Oct 10 for The Great Nap-In with tea, meditation, a group nap, and dream journaling
Get all the details → https://wordcrafters.org/nap-a-thon

08/27/2026

Got a gothic story looking for a publishing home?
Submit it to Pacific Northwest Gothic by Sept 1!
One of the winners of the Cai Emmons Short Fiction Contest, Laura Grange, is the mastermind behind this new literary journal. :D

Pacific Northwest Gothic shares the traditions of gothic literature, its fascination with darkness, beauty, duality, psychological unraveling, the supernatural and uncanny, isolation, and dread, but roots them in our stunning Pacific Northwest landscapes. Here, horror seeps through the soil, the fog...

08/26/2026

Hear from Portland-based writer Erick Mertz about how he got started writing, his love of cooking and the outdoors, and his advice for other writers out there. Read Erick’s Q&A here: https://wordcrafters.org/qanda-erick-mertz/

Also, don’t forget to register for Into the Veil, a weekend writing retreat with Erick Mertz as your instructor. You can sign up here: https://wordcrafters.org/into-the-veil-a-writers-weekend-at-the-oregon-coast/

08/26/2026

The last person to read your story (in the Cai Emmons Short Fiction Contest, at least) will be Debra Gwartney. ✨

Two memoirs. A National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. Two Pushcart Prizes. An essay pulled into Best American Essays. Co-editor of Home Ground with her late husband, Barry Lopez. Faculty in Pacific University's MFA in Writing program, and a contributing editor at Poets & Writers.

She's the final judge for Vol. 2 of the Cai Emmons Short Fiction Contest.

Here's how your story reaches her: staff screen round one, volunteer readers score what advances, and the top scorers go to Debra, who decides the grand prize and the category awards. Read blind the whole way—no names, no bios, no credentials.

Which means the last reader your story gets is one of the best in the Northwest.

Oregon and Washington writers · 1,000 to 3,000 words · deadline November 30
→ wordcrafters.org/cai-emmons-short-fiction-contest/

08/24/2026

Some of the greatest artworks are born out of places of instability. Whether it’s war, systemic discrimination, or technological advancements, instability reflects a period of constant change and upheaval. The 20th century in American history embodies just such a period, inspiring accomplished artists such as Thomas Hart Benton, Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, and many more. In Exploring Ekphrasis: 20th Century American Artists, you’ll get to know many of these artists and the historical forces that shaped their artworks while creating your own art in the form of ekphrastic poetry.

Dates: 12 Tuesdays, 09/08/26-12/01/26 (No class on 11/24/26)
Times: 6-7:30 pm
Location: Online in the Wordcrafters Zoom Room
Learn more and sign up: https://wordcrafters.org/exploring-ekphrasis-20th-century-american-artists/

08/22/2026

Nap-a-thon: the fundraiser you can do lying down.
Wordcrafters' first-ever Nap-a-thon is the only fundraiser to ask less of you. Sign up now to be a Nap Ambassador and get some rest this October.
→ https://wordcrafters.org/nap-a-thon/

08/21/2026

Writing is more than putting words on paper. It is an act of creation which has the power to move and inspire more than we might think.

08/21/2026

Are you tired? We're tired.
Introducing Nap-a-thon 2026, the fundraiser where the ask is "please rest." 😴
This October, we're hosting our first-ever peer-to-peer fundraiser built entirely around rest. Ambassador sign-ups are open now through September 30.
→

Welcome to our first-ever Nap-a-thon–part peer-to-peer fundraiser, part community nap event–all in service of keeping creative writing available and accessible for writers in our community.