Our Instructors

Each Blank Pages Workshop focuses on a different element of craft in creative writing, exploring what it does and how you, the writer, can make the most of it in your own work. Workshops offer small groups and one-on-one feedback. Join us for Blank Pages Salon, free and open to writers of all stripes, every third Saturday of the month, to share work and enjoy the company of fellow writers. View our website for details about editorial & coaching services.

Bios:

Michael Cooper holds an MFA from Oregon State University-Cascades in Bend, Oregon, where he lives with his family. His stories have been finalists in Glimmer Train, The Lascaux Review, Driftwood Press, and Cutthroat. He is president of the Central Oregon Writers Guild and teaches writing at Central Oregon Community College, Oregon State University-Cascades, Deschutes Public Library, and COCC Community Learning, as well as through Blank Pages Workshops and The Forge, a 10-month creative writing intensive.

Irene Cooper authored Committal, poet-friendly spy-fy about family (V.A. Press), & spare change (FLP), finalist for the Stafford/Hall Prize for poetry. She co-edited Placed: An Encyclopedia of Central Oregon, an anthology of Central Oregon writing. Writings appear in Denver Quarterly, The Feminist Wire, phoebe, The Rumpus, Witness, & elsewhere. Irene teaches in community and supports AIC-directed creative writing at a regional prison. She lives in Oregon, where she pretends to garden, but mostly watches the birds.

At The Forge, we'll give you the creative writing tools & training to say it, at a much lower cost than a traditional MFA program. At The Forge, you bring the fire—your love of creative writing—and we help shape you into the writer you want to be—confident, keen, and committed to a writing community. Ten months to mastery. Classes start in January

Bios:

Michael Cooper holds an MFA from Oregon State University-Cascades in Bend, Oregon, where he lives with his family. His stories have been finalists in Glimmer Train, The Lascaux Review, Driftwood Press, and Cutthroat. He is president of the Central Oregon Writers Guild and teaches writing at Central Oregon Community College, Oregon State University-Cascades, Deschutes Public Library, and COCC Community Learning, as well as through Blank Pages Workshops and The Forge, a 10-month creative writing intensive.

Irene Cooper authored Committal, poet-friendly spy-fy about family (V.A. Press), & spare change (FLP), finalist for the Stafford/Hall Prize for poetry. She co-edited Placed: An Encyclopedia of Central Oregon, an anthology of Central Oregon writing. Writings appear in Denver Quarterly, The Feminist Wire, phoebe, The Rumpus, Witness, & elsewhere. Irene teaches in community and supports AIC-directed creative writing at a regional prison. She lives in Oregon, where she pretends to garden, but mostly watches the birds.

Ellen Santasiero taught writing and literature at Oregon State University-Cascades, memoir writing workshops at the Bend Writers' Workshop, and creative writing for Deschutes Public Library, Central Oregon Community College, Central Oregon Writers Guild, Saving Grace, and Lewis & Clark College, among others. Writings appeared in numerous literary magazines. She is an editor & coach, co-editor of Placed: An Encyclopedia of Central Oregon (2020), and editor of Just Say Yes to Life! Stories of Surviving after Stroke (2021). MFA: Bennington College Writing Seminars.

I love connecting with local writers through my workshops at the library! In my workshop, Speak, Memory: Beginning Your Memoir, I begin with warm-up exercises that help participants access important memories, and then guide them in writing and editing their own short memoir. Craft workshops include in-depth work with metaphor, language, and sentences.

I teach English and creative writing at OSU-Cascades in Bend. My essays and author interviews have appeared in The Sun, Northwest Review, Marlboro Review, youshare.com, and High Desert Journal, among others. I grew up in New York and Indiana, and in 1989, I moved west, where I learned that the word “butte” was not pronounced “butt.”

Grant Rosenberg is currently working on my third novel, but also actively consults on feature and television scripts, providing concise notes to help writers polish their TV series ideas, drama pilots, and screenplays before submitting their work to agents, producers, and competitions.

Grant offers constructive comments on formatting, story, characters, pacing and dialogue. Also, a 30 minute consultation to discuss the notes.

Grant has 40+ years of experience, both as a senior creative studio executive, and a writer/showrunner, and has written or rewritten over 100 hours of dramatic television.

To find out more about Grant, go to: www.granterosenberg.com

Jessica’s career has touched almost every aspect of publishing, from writing and editing, to publishing and promoting authors and their books. An award-winning writer herself, she is passionate about telling true stories, and helping other women tell theirs.

She began her career as a publicist for New York Times bestselling authors including Garth Stein, Heidi Durrow, and Jamie Ford. She later earned a master’s in creative nonfiction from Colorado State University, where she both participated in and led writing workshops. She also holds a bachelor's in journalism from the University of Oregon.

Her writing has appeared in Traveler’s Tales, Emrys Journal, and Horizon Air Magazine, to name a few.

Jessica is currently at work on a literary travel memoir.

Better known as MOsley WOtta, Jason Graham is a consummate creative who has been featured internationally as a speaker, performer, poet, visual artist and educator for over a decade. A former slam poetry champion for the state of Oregon, Jason’s work focuses on the power of voice. He has been featured multiple times as a TED X speaker and performer. His CV includes Sundance Film Festival, Fiji International Jazz & Blues Festival, MAGIC trade show Las Vegas, Street Con Dubai, Valley Fiesta Australia, PBS Oregon Art Beat. .

Recently MOWO was selected as and Oregon Humanities Conversation Project leader. Additionally MOWO is an Art Ambassador with the RISE UP INTL and the US Embassy.

Emily Carr says she “writes murder mysteries that turn into love poems that are sometimes (by her McSweeney’s editors, for example) called divorce poems.” She has lived all over the world and is the author of several collections and chapbooks of poems. After she got an MFA in poetry from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, she took a doctorate in ecopoetics at the University of Calgary. These days, she’s the program director of the low-residency MFA in creative writing at Oregon State University-Cascades. Her newest book, Whosoever Has Let a Minotaur Enter Them, Or a Sonnet—, is available from McSweeney's. It inspired a beer of the same name, now available at the Ale Apothecary. You can find her online at www.ifshedrawsadoor.com/ and as ifshedrawsadoor on Instagram.

Sarah Sennott Cyr teaches writing practice, the cultivation of a regular writing habit in response to prompts. Once your writing routine is established, it can be directed towards any writing project: a blog, personal essay, memoir, even oral storytelling. Sarah's work has appeared in Newsweek Magazine, ARTNews, The Boston Globe, and Cosmopolitan. Her teaching style is heavily influenced by Natalie Goldberg (Writing Down the Bones), who she has studied with in Santa Fe.

Founded in 2012, the OSU-Cascades Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing is an intimate program with an award-winning faculty and a stunning residency location. The curriculum builds sustainable writing habits, strong craft foundations and the essential skills to become a critical and ethical reader and writer in a diverse literary world. Join a community that supports creative risk-taking and helps you develop the skills and mindset to center writing in your life beyond graduation.

Community Education at COCC offers personal enrichment opportunities to nurture and grow your interests — no matter your age, background, or experience level. Our classes are engaging and diverse, and we offer both in-person and online learning opportunities.

Our mission is to engage readers, support writers, and inspire the next generation with great literature.

Hugo House is a nonprofit literary arts organization that aims to make writing accessible. Everyone has a story to tell. Whether you’re a new writer wanting to learn, an experienced author seeking a supportive environment to share your work, or a reader looking for new books to love—at Hugo House, you’ll find ways to explore your creativity, whatever your interest or budget.

Irene Cooper’s poems have appeared in the Oregon Poetry Association anthology, Verseweavers, in Indolent Books’ anthology, Poems in the Aftermath, on the online project, What Rough Beast, and in The Feminist Wire. She co-edits The Stay Project, contributes to the blog, The (Eternal) Beginner's Guide to Bend, is a freelance copywriter, essayist, and a novelist in search of publisher.

Ms. Cooper earned an MFA in Poetry from OSU-Cascades, and co-facilitates Blank Pages Workshops in Bend, OR, with her handsome and talented husband.

I am a writer, educator, performer and creative coach who believes in the transformative power of passion-driven learning. I have a BA in English from Haverford College, an MA in Literature from Middlebury’s Bread Loaf School of English, and an MFA in Writing for Children from Simmons University.

Dani Nichols is a journalist, essayist and children’s book author. Her independently published kid's book, Buzz the Not-So-Brave, sold more than 800 copies in its first 20 weeks in print (by contrast, most independent books sell less than 300 copies over their lifetime) and has already placed as a Spur Award Finalist for best children’s book from the Western Writers of America. She is an award-winning writer, a Bend local and a passionate advocate for high-quality kid's literature.

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