Clackamas Community College Announces Keynote Speakers For Compose Creative Writing Conference (Photo) - 04/22/26

OREGON CITY – Writers of all levels are invited to gather inspiration, sharpen their skills and connect with fellow creatives at the annual Compose Creative Writing Conference on Saturday, May 16, hosted by the Clackamas Community College English Department.

This year’s Compose conference will feature keynote speakers David Biespiel and Matthew Dickman, a publishing panel, and workshops on a variety of writing topics such as the publishing process, poetry and writing tools.

Biespiel is a poet, novelist, memoirist, critic and painter. He is the author of more than a dozen books. Recipient of Lannan, National Endowment for the Arts and Stegner fellowships, Biespiel is Poet-in-Residence in the School of Writing, Literature and Film at Oregon State University and founder of the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters.

Dickman is the author of “All-American Poem,” “Mayakovsky’s Revolver,” “Brother,” “Wonderland” and “Husbandry.” Recipient of the May Sarton Prize for Poetry from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, his work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, London Review of Books and The Poetry Review (UK), among others.

In addition to the keynote address, the conference will feature a full day of workshops and panels, including:

• Publishing panel by Elisa Saphier, Ali Shaw and Laura Stanfill
• How (and Why) to Pitch to a Literary Agent
• I Contain Multitudes (or at least more than a few parts)
• The Art of Dialogue
• Flash Flood: Using Short Forms to Capture Personal Landscapes
• Writing from the Margins
• How to Read Your Work in Public Without Wanting to Die
• Between Elsewhere & Here: An Ecstatic Approach to Ecopoetics
• Attention in Place: Writing the Infra-ordinary
• Writing the Villain in Memoir: Tools for Drafting 3D Adversaries
• Publishing with Heart and Hope

Participants can customize their day by choosing sessions that best match their interests and creative goals.

Event details:

• Date: Saturday, May 16
• Time: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
• Location: Clackamas Community College, Roger Rook Hall, Oregon City campus
• Registration: $25 general admission | $10 CCC students

Register online at www.clackamas.edu/register-compose. For more information about the event, visit www.clackamas.edu/compose. To learn more about the college’s English Department and offerings, visit www.clackamas.edu/english. Clackamas Community College is located at 19600 Molalla Ave., Oregon City.

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