Eastern Oregon Writers-in-Residence

Wallowa County | Harney County | Grant County

Back in 1997, Fishtrap inaugurated a Writer-in-Residence (WIR) program here in Wallowa County. Rather than pushing the writer through a short, grueling, and intensive experience, we sought an extensive experience – one that would benefit the community, students, and writer in equal measures.

The model we came up with brings an outside writer into the community for eight or nine weeks, places that writer in schools for about eight hours each week, connects the writer with the community through evening or weekend workshops and readings, and gives the writer plenty of time to explore the local landscape and culture, and to work on his or her own projects. The writer receives a stipend, and the community provides housing.

The model worked so well here that we introduced it to three other communities in 2007, naming the expanded program Eastern Oregon Writers-in-Residence (EOWIR). Communities that got up and running with EOWIR in 2007 are: Chiloquin, located north of Klamath Falls in Klamath County; Harney County, including Burns, Hines, Frenchglen, and other small communities; and the neighboring towns of Fossil and Condon in Wheeler and Gilliam Counties. Fishtrap continues to support these programs by helping to recruit writers and providing some financial assistance.

In 2010, Fishtrap entered into a partnership with the Oregon Writing Project at Eastern Oregon University and ArtsEast in LaGrande, with a goal of expanding EOWIR into Grant and Union Counties. Thanks to a generous three-year grant from the Oregon Community Foundation's Eastern Oregon Regional Action Initiative, EOWIR is up and running in Grant County as of the fall of 2010, and plans for Union County's first residency are moving forward.

Fishtrap is constantly on the lookout for qualified writers who will work well in Wallowa County and in our partner communities. Click here for the guidelines to apply.