IPRC Expands Certificate Program in Second Year

The Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC) is finishing the first year of its independent publishing certificate program. Year one was so successful that they are expanding. In addition to the fiction and comics/graphic novels tracks, next year they will introduce a poetry option.

Students in each certificate track design, hand-craft, and publish their work. The idea is that some graduates will go on to start their own small presses. The program also features writing workshops and seminars with many of Portland’s well known writers, cartoonists and self-publishers.

According to Justin Hocking, director of the IPRC, seven students enrolled in the creative writing track the first year, and nine in comics/graphic novels. The comics students are putting out an anthology of their work called From Stella with Love. The fiction writers are publishing their own perfect-bound books of stories and essays. Some have letterpress covers.

Next year’s program begins in September. In addition to the new poetry track, the comics/graphic novels track is expanding from two semesters to three.

The following writers will teach in next year’s program:

Fiction/Nonfiction Track: Justin Hocking, Mark Searcy, Kevin Sampsell, Alex Wrekk, Cheryl Strayed, Arthur Bradford, Jon Raymond, Moe Bowstern and more.

Poetry Track: B.T. Shaw, Michael D’Allesandro, Matthew Dickman, Emily Kendal Frey, Kaia Sand and more.

Comics/Graphic Novel Track: Jesse Recklaw, Dylan Williams, Annie Murphy, Craig Thompson, Nicole J. Georges, John Isaacson, Shawn Granton, Lisa Mangum, Greig Means, T. Edward Bak and more.

Hocking said tuition will be “somewhere in the $600 range per semester.” The cost includes a two-year membership to the IPRC, a one-year membership to Em Space Book Arts Center, an advisor, and after-hours IPRC access.

“We also feel that we’re providing Portlanders with an innovative and inexpensive alternative to an MFA,” Hocking wrote in an email. “And unlike a university program, we help folks actually produce and publish their own handcrafted books or comics, and then market them online. Plus, the IPRC’s facilities and resources are forever available to all graduates.”

Further information and a downloadable pdf application is available on the IPRC website. Completed applications are due by June 30th, 2010.

Image credit IPRC.