Pacific MFA Mapmakers Alumni Institute | Featuring Catherine-Esther Cowie '20, Kazim Ali, Allisa Cherry '21, & Aviya Kushner

Once again, Pacific MFA Mapmakers Alumna Catherine-Esther Cowie '20, who’s been assembling panels of poets through this year through the Mapmakers Alumni Institute, has organized a thrilling fall event called “Writing into the Sacred.” This will take place as a Zoom Webinar from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. PST Tuesday, Nov. 30. Register for the event.

How do modern poets grapple with the sacred text? In this panel, poets discuss how the sacred text influences their use of language as well as how they have responded to the text — its silences and the passages that trouble their belief.  Moderated by Catherine-Esther Cowie '20 and featuring poets Kazim Ali, Aviya Kushner, and MFA alumna Allisa Cherry '21.

The Mapmakers Scholarship fund is named after Mapmaker, an early collection of poems by MFA faculty member Kwame Dawes. Dawes has been a leader in the program’s mission to diversify the writers we serve and create equity. In helping us name the scholarship, he said, “The title characterizes what I think of myself as both a writer and as an advocate for the work of others and as someone who tries to open new territories for those who have not had access.”

First offered in January 2018, this scholarship is awarded to exceptional students of color.

Co-hosted by the Pacific University MFA in Writing Program and the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.