The Comic Club of Clark College hosted the highly anticipated release party for the sixth edition of The Iceberg annual comic anthology on December 5 in PUB 161. This year’s Iceberg marks the largest and most impressive volume to date, featuring comic stories by about 44 creators. Some creators had submitted multiple works, making this edition a truly collaborative and expansive showcase of talent from students, faculty, staff, and alumni.
The party kicked off with speeches from English professor Tobias Peterson and art professor Grant Hottle. Together, the pair makes a dynamic duo, co-advising The Iceberg. Peterson and Hottle thanked all the creators and members of the Comic Club for their dedication and hard work.
Comic Industry Guests
Diana Schultz, retired editor at Dark Horse Comics.
Then they introduced the four industry comic professionals who joined the event to offer invaluable feedback to the student creators. The industry guests included:
Jeff Parker, artist and writer
Matt Fraction, artist and writer
Diana Schultz, translator and retired editor at Dark Horse Comics
Steve Lieber, artist
During the first hour of the VIP session, these industry professionals gave valuable feedback, offering advice and critique to the contributing creators whose work was published in The Iceberg. By 2:00 p.m. another 20 attendees had joined the event. The industry professionals generously stayed beyond the scheduled end time, offering critique, advice, and encouragement until about 5 p.m., two hours past the event’s expected close.
Producing The Iceberg
The Iceberg faculty advisors (left to right) Art Professor Grant Hottle and English Professor Tobi Peterson.
The release of The Iceberg offers Clark College students a rare opportunity to have their comic work published and reviewed by established professionals. The publishing process follows the academic calendar. We will open for submissions in the winter term. We make decisions and print the book in spring. And then in the fall, we celebrate the book release.
Peterson shared that people in academics still think of comics as kids’ stuff. The reality is that these books are a hybrid form of storytelling that produces beautiful and complex stories that examine what it means to be human.
Professor Peterson said, “I love The Iceberg because it provides a showcase for students’ creativity and passion. The release event is a yearly celebration of why we, as educators, got into this business to begin with!”
Steve Lieber, left, meets with a contributor to The Iceberg.
Speaking about the importance of the release party, Professor Hottle said, “It is a chance for students to showcase their comics. Thanks to the generous support of ASCC, we can have students published and have industry professionals give direct feedback.”
This year’s edition is also special for its perseverance. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, The Iceberg continued to be published, with many students sharing their work and receiving feedback via platforms like Discord.
Being a Contributor
Jeff Parker meets with one of the artists featured in this edition of The Iceberg.
Students Majic and Amelia had their work featured in The Iceberg for the first time. Both said they found the feedback from the professionals to be incredibly beneficial.
Majic, a fine arts major with aspirations in comics, said the anthology offers students a platform to refine their craft. “The Iceberg gives you a taste of what to do in the industry,” Majic noted. “Submitting comics allows you to have industrial professionals critique my work. There were things I was doing that I received help on correcting to make my comic better.”
It’s rewarding for students to see their work in print and enjoyed physically by other people. It also helps us create more work for our portfolios and makes for a great item to leave behind at a job interview.
Contributor Amelia Newbie, Clark College alumni who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in digital technology and culture at WSU Vancouver, said, “Reading, enjoying, and sharing our comics helps us get our work out into the world!”
To find your free copy of the sixth edition of The Iceberg, look for the blue stands around campus to pick your copy up today.
Learn More
For more information on The Iceberg and future events, stay tuned to Clark College’s Fine Arts department.
Comic Club meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday of every month from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m.
Submit your comics for the 2025 Iceberg through May 5, 2025 via Submittable.
Photos submitted by Stephanie Wagner and Bryce Van Patten.
Columbia Writers Series
Clark College hosted award-winning author Kaveh Akbar on October 3 to a near-capacity audience of about 100 people. With nearly every seat full (and some attendees standing), Akbar read from his novel Martyr! and answered questions posed by the audience.
Left to right: English professors and Columbia Writers Series coordinators Alexis Nelson and Dawn Knopf, author Kaveh Akbar, and Vice President of Instruction Dr. Terry Brown.Photo: Clark College/Susan Parrish
The first Columbia Writers Series event of the academic year attracted multiple creative writing classes, the Addiction Counseling Education Students Club (ACES), Clark’s Vice President of Instruction Dr. Terry Brown, and Clark librarians with a pop-up check-out cart featuring works by Akbar as well as past CWS speakers.
The pop-up librarians were on hand to suggest books ready for check-out.
Akbar spoke extensively about his writing process (he called himself an ‘ox’ writer who needs to write every single day) and what drove his writing of Martyr!. Historically a poet, he found himself writing a novel. He said, “I tried to tell the story in lyric poetry. But I’m not a good enough poet to do that. I recognized I needed to learn a new skill.” He started with the idea of Orkideh — a performance artist at the center of the book — and the other characters evolved from their narrative need to exist along with Orkideh.
In Martyr!, Cyrus, who is a recovering alcoholic, becomes obsessed with having a meaningful death and decides to write a book about martyrs. When he sees that Orkideh, who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, is living out the rest of her life in an art museum, he undertakes a journey to visit her. The book explores the tension and commiseration between their two perspectives on death, along with multi-layered ideas on family, love, grief, and so much more.
Akbar shared the relationship between writing and addiction recovery. He said that doing the work of recovery involves a kind of honest self-analysis that is also key to writing honest work. “If you’re really doing the recovery work… it means you’re taking a searching and fearless look at your own life. It means that you’re rigorously accounting in ways that are not ethically infantilized, that are not rhetorically hygienic… you have a leg up.”
While writing is his profession, he shared that recovery, and working in recovery groups to help others in recovery, is the central mission that drives him. “The work of my life, the actual what I do with my life, is working in my recovery community.”
Though the poet has become a novelist, Akbar still writes love poems for his spouse and knows he will continue writing poems for the rest of his life. He believes his poems don’t have to be published to be meaningful.
When asked about how he creates his characters, he replied, “I wanted my characters to feel like the people I know.”
Lisa Barsotti waits in line to have her book signed after the reading.
Kaveh Akbar is an acclaimed poet, novelist, and editor, whose works appear in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Paris Review, and Best American Poetry. He is the author of Calling a Wolf a Wolf and Pilgrim Bell, with Martyr!, his debut novel, recently becoming a New York Times bestseller and one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of the year. His writing delves into themes of empire, immigration, addiction, and the healing power of art.
Left to right: author Kaveh Akbar with Carly Rae Zent.
The Columbia Writers Series hosted Akbar along with the college’s Addiction Counseling (ACES) Club.
Next Up:
Winter Columbia Writers Series: Paisley Rekdal, January 30, 2025, at 1 p.m., GHL 213. Rekdal is the author of four books of nonfiction, and seven books of poetry, most recently, West: A Translation, which won the 2024 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award and was longlisted for the National Book Award. Her work has received the Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an NEA Fellowship, and various state arts council awards. The former Utah poet laureate, she teaches at the University of Utah where she directs the American West Center.
Spring Columbia Writers Series: Chelsea Bieker, May 29 at 10 a.m., PUB 258A-C Bieker is the author of three books, most recently the nationally bestselling novel, Madwoman, a Book of the Month club pick the New York Times calls “brilliant in its depiction of the long shadows cast by domestic violence.” Her first novel, Godshot, was longlisted for The Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize and named a Barnes & Noble Pick of the Month. Her story collection, Heartbroke won the California Book Award and was a New York Times “Best California Book of 2022.” Her writing has appeared in The Paris Review, Marie Claire UK, People, The Cut, Wall Street Journal, and others. She is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Writers’ Award, as well as residencies from MacDowell and Tin House. Raised in Hawai’i and California, she lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two children.
Workshop co-director Jesse Morse speaks to a packed audience. The event had several break-out sessions focused on poetry, nonfiction, fiction, imagery, and developing story stakes.
Clark Creative Writing welcomed over 120 attendees for the annual Spring Creative Writing Workshop.
The third annual event, hosted on May 11, invited the Southwest Washington writing community to Clark for free workshops, readings, and lectures. Participants chose three events to attend from the 12 offered and received free lunch, coffee, and pastries. A mix of Clark employees, students, and community members joined. This year, attendance notably increased.
Alexis Nelson, creative writing lead and Clark faculty said, “We wanted it to be something special for Clark students and employees, something that would add even more value and enrichment to our Creative Writing program, and something that would also bring more of the community to campus and help build the sense of Clark as a center for the arts within the area. And we wanted the event to be welcoming and open to all, just like the college. It felt like we accomplished all that.”
Clark faculty Jennifer Denrow and Jesse Morse are workshop co-directors.
Workshop instructors came from as far as Southern California. Sessions focused on poetry, nonfiction, fiction, imagery, and developing story stakes. Vintage Books, a local bookstore, set up a space to sell books by workshop instructors (pictured below).
Instructor Stephanie Adams Santos, a Guatemalan-American writer living in Oregon, taught Dreamscape of the Altar, inviting participants to create their own altar with art supplies, a candle, and an oracle card. She then led poets through an altar meditation to inspire language.
Another workshop led by HR Hegnauer, a poet and book designer specializing in independent publishing, covered the crucial aspects of book cover design and invited participants to design their own book covers.
Poet Mathias Svalina, founder of Dream Delivery Service, which delivers personalized poems by bicycle to subscribers, taught participants to write with dream logic.
Clark’s own Joe Pitkin shared industry knowledge, including using the resource Duotrope to connect with publishers.
Other workshop leaders included:
Sara Jaffe
Lisa Bullard (Clark instructor)
Emily Chenoweth
Michael Guerra (Clark instructor)
Debra Gwartney
Meredith Kirkwood (Clark instructor)
Pauls Toutonghi
Claire Vaye Watkins
About Clark Creative Writing
Clark Creative Writing, part of the English department, offers a creative writing associate of arts track with electives in poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, graphic fiction, and publishing. Clark Creative Writing:
For many authors, this was their first time reading their work publically.
The Clark College community celebrated the annual publication of The Swift, the college’s student-run literary journal at a release party that included student readings, coffee and pastries, and stacks of the 2024 issue on May 9 in PUB 161.
As people entered the room, they picked up the journal, sat, and began reading. Many who attended were published in this issue. For some, it was their first time being published.
The event had a very supportive and attentive crowd for the newly published authors.
The Swift’s contributing writers and poets are Clark students and alumni. This edition features the work of 23 writers and includes 10 poems, 10 works of short fiction, and 6 works of short nonfiction. The annual journal was edited by first-time student editors.
In 2023, Clark published the first issue of The Swift. Formerly, Clark College featured art and literature in a single magazine Phoenix, which now focuses strictly on art: www.clarkphoenix.com. This is the second annual volume of The Swift.
Dawn Knopf, Clark English professor (pictured above) and advisor of The Swift, welcomed the guests and invited the writers to take a turn reading their work at the podium. What followed was a lovely time of students reading their work aloud for the appreciative audience.
Poet Colin Sandberg (pictured above) introduced his poem, “Rock and Stone” by saying, “This is my first published work. It starts with an epigraph from Mary Oliver’s A Poetry Handbook.”
As he read, all listened intently. When he finished reading, they clapped. Then the next published writer walked to the podium.
About The Swift
Funded by the Associated Students of Clark College (ASCC),The Swift: Clark CollegeLiterary Journal is dedicated to publishing skillful and inventive creative writing by Clark students, alumni, and staff. The journal is student-run and supported by faculty and staff from the Art and English Departments. Students enrolled in English 277 start the production of the journal each Fall Quarter. An editorial staff of literary students continues production work during winter term with the publication and distribution of the annual journal occurring spring term each year.
Learn more
Submit your poem, fiction, or nonfiction short piece for publication: The Swift: accepts submissions from the Clark College community, including students, faculty, staff, and alumni. For submission guidelines and timelines contact theswift@clark.edu.
Are you a writer? Working on a book, sci-fi, or a screenplay? Do you dabble in poetry? Do you like being around other writers, and hearing about their craft? Excited about book launches or creating comics? If yes, there’s a week of literary events at Clark in May that you might enjoy!
The English department at Clark College hosts an inaugural Creative Writing Festival from May 6-11. The event, which is free and open to the public, features activities geared for writers at all levels. The festival allows writers to immerse themselves in literary workshops and readings by renowned authors.
The festival concludes with the annual Clark Spring Creative Writing Workshop on Saturday, May 11, with a full day of workshops for writers.
All events will be in the Penguin Union Building (PUB) on Clark College’s main campus, 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver. Directions and maps are available online.
Creative Writing Festival Schedule
Monday, May 6
Writing from Lived Experience: A reading & conversation with author Peyton Marshall [event listing with more information] 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. Penguin Union Building (PUB) 258B
Tuesday, May 7
Exit Black Book Release Party: A reading and celebration in honor of Clark English professor Joe Pitkin’s new sci-fi novel 10:00–11:00 a.m. Cannell Library (LIB) 101
Wednesday, May 8
Create Your Own Comic: A hands-on workshop led by Clark Art professor Grant Hottle 12:00–2:00 p.m. Cannell Library (LIB) 101
Thursday, May 9
The Swift Release Party: Student readings and a celebration in honor of the 2nd edition of Clark’s student-run literary journal [event listing with more information] 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. Penguin Union Building (PUB) 161
English Department Awards Ceremony 4:00–6:00 p.m. Penguin Union Building (PUB) 161
Friday, May 10
Yoga for Creativity: A free yoga class focused on connecting the mind & body to nourish creativity [event listing with more information] 10:00–11:00 a.m. Penguin Union Building (PUB) 258B
Saturday, May 11
Spring Writing Workshop: A full day of writing workshops, readings, and community building – with free lunch, coffee, and pastries! Please sign up for this event at bit.ly/writing-24 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Penguin Union Building (PUB)
May 11 Spring Writing Workshop Schedule
Join us for a day filled with imagination and inspiration at the Penguin Union Bldg (PUB), Clark College. This in-person event is a fantastic opportunity for writers of all levels to come together, share their work, and learn from talented authors. Whether you’re a seasoned wordsmith or just starting your writing journey, this festival has something for you. Immerse yourself in workshops and readings by renowned authors. Don’t miss out on this incredible gathering of literary minds. Mark your calendars and get ready to unleash your creativity at the Clark Creative Writing Festival! Read on for visiting author bios and workshop descriptions!
Workshop Descriptions:
STEPHANIE ADAMS-SANTOS, “Dreamscape of the Altar”“You must give birth to your images.” — Rilke Through a blend of guided meditation and writing prompts, we will work to nurture a fertile soil for receiving sacred imagery from the depths of the psyche. Delving into the mysterious terrains of embodied inner life, we’ll explore the concept of an interior altar, using active imagination to connect with unconscious symbols and dreams. This process serves as a pathway to delve more deeply into our own creative material. Note: We will be working on the floor for part of the workshop, though this portion can be adjusted to accommodate any body; all materials provided.
LISA BULLARD, “Opening Another Door: Symbolism in Poetry” Symbolism opens the door for a poet to say more with fewer words, and a striking symbol adds depth and intrigue to a poem. In this workshop, we will look at models of how others have used symbols and create symbols of our own. The workshop will be group oriented: the more brains, the better! We’ll have fun and play with words.
EMILY CHENOWETH, “Disruption and Change in Character, Setting, and Plot”“There are only two plots in all of literature—a person goes on a journey, and a stranger comes to town.” So said celebrated writing teacher John Gardner (supposedly). Whether Gardner’s right is up for debate, but Arrivals and Departures are classic literary tropes for good reason. In this generative workshop, we’ll consider the three pillars of character, setting, and plot, and craft short prose pieces that have disruption and change at their heart.
MICHAEL GUERRA, “Tangible Objects: Developing an Inner Life for Your Character”This workshop will focus on the life of tangible objects that often define and shape our lives. Through this process of developing an inner life for our characters, we will discover patterns for shaping both knowns and unknowns that motivate our characters and push our stories in ways we never thought possible.
DEBRA GWARTNEY, “Who is Telling Your Story?” In this workshop, we will explore the role of the “I” in memoir writing. Both the “I” involved in the action, and the “I” remembering and reflecting upon the event at the center of your narrative. This “dual-I” is where the tension in memoir lives, and where readers engage and connect. Come prepared to write and, if you wish, to talk about the challenges of turning yourself into a character on the page.
HR HEGNAUER, “Judge a Book by Its Cover” It could be said that the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover” seems to overlook the significant impact of book design. In this workshop, we’ll dive into key aspects of book design, covering topics such as cover design, interior layout, paper selection, printing methods, and the integration of eBook design. We’ll also envision our own future book covers, looking at your design ideas alongside logistical considerations.
SARA JAFFE, “Starting with Image: A Prose Workshop” What is an image? While conventionally defined as a visual representation or description, an image in writing can activate many senses at once. Transcending mere detail, an image electrifies and swirls up from the page, announcing to the reader that they are in this language-world and none other. In the words of cartoonist and writer Lynda Barry, “[An image is] alive in the way thinking is not, but experiencing is, made of both memory and imagination.” Because so much meaning and sensation accrues to them, images can be terrific starting points for works of fiction and creative nonfiction. In this workshop, we’ll mine our own personal image-banks for generative material, and work together to effectively bring the power of the image to the page.
MEREDITH KIRKWOOD, “Unexpected Arrivals: Writing Surprising Images” A poem is a series of departures and arrivals. A poet takes the reader to one image, then departs to another. Sometimes the reader arrives at the place they expected, but at its best, poetry can surprise—can take us to places the reader (and writer!) never anticipated. Those places offer us a sense of mystery and weirdness, a glimpse into other modes of consciousness and ways of being. This workshop offers tools for getting our poetry from the ordinary and predictable into some of those other places. Using as a guide the poem “4 Stars” by Oregon Poet Laureate and recent Columbia Writers Series guest Anis Mojgani, participants will write a poem by combining fragments of memory in unexpected ways. Then they will exchange images to create an even weirder, more surprising poem. Finally, they will try to break all the rules of grammar they can to arrive at unknown poetic terrain.
JOE PITKIN, “From Margins to the Center: How to Use Duotrope to Get Connected to Publishers” Do you have a story that you are proud of but have no idea how to get it published? Are you wondering what kinds of magazines and podcasts would be open to publishing your work? This session will explore how the online tool Duotrope can be used to get connected to publishers and agents!
MATHIAS SVALINA, “Writing with Dream Logic”Dreams cohere & dissolve in the same event; in this way the logics of dreams relate to the logics of emotional overwhelm & to the logics of the mass hallucinations of history or culture. This workshop will explore dream logic as a conscious & intentional writing tool, a writing strategy to employ to arrive at writerly truths beyond the rational. We will discuss the fugitive rationality in nonsense & the profundity in silliness as we look at some writers’ use of dream logics, & the forms & rhetorics of how we tell others our dreams. We will write to explore dream logic in narrative, lyric, & personal writing. The goals are to generate work that both bewilders & intimately engages the reader & writer alike.
PAULS TOUTONGHI, “Intention and Obstacle: The Use of a Time-Based Goal to Give Your Story Urgency” Fiction writers often struggle with plot—or at least the idea of plot. Writing can come from a place of deep imagination, which is often not harnessed to any kind of mechanical apparatus. In fact, the imagination—a dreamworld—often specifically resists thinking in terms of timeline and story container. We will work to open stories that have a clear sense of urgency or, if it’s missing, think about ways to get this urgency in existing stories.
CLAIRE VAYE WATKINS, “Writing Life and Death: How to Raise the Stakes of a Story” This workshop will be a generative session on how to raise the stakes in your story.
