Our Literary City
Spokane is a vibrant and energetic city, with shopping, diverse dining, and numerous entertainment venues of all kinds. Spokane is also a great place to live if you love the outdoors. Within minutes of downtown you can find yourself relaxing by the beautiful Spokane river. Spokane is the second largest city in Washington and is situated in the Inland Northwest, east of the Cascades, which means that it has a much dryer climate than Seattle; summers in Spokane are not to be missed. The MFA program, located in Spokane’s U District bordering downtown, is close to both the river and the main student residential area of Spokane. The MFA program is a large part of Spokane’s thriving arts community, as we host many literary events like Visiting Writer readings, VoiceOver (a student-run monthly reading series for MFA candidates, faculty, and alumni), and of course the yearly GetLit! festival.
In addition to what the MFA program has to offer, there are many other local events to choose from all year long. We like to think there is something in our beautiful river that creates such a literary buzz, but it could have more to do with the large numbers of alumni who have continued to live in Spokane post MFA. These alums include international best-selling fiction writer Jess Walter. Many of our alums have gone on to start local small presses, literary magazines, arts organizations, and even become both city and state poet laureates. These graduates of our program are just a handful of the people who help make Spokane the literary city we love.