Autumn Workshops

Weekend One
Fiction
November 2026
Faculty: TBA

Weekend Two
Poetry
November 2026
Faculty: TBA

Tentative Schedule

Thursday
3:00 pm: Welcome Lecture
3:30 pm: Welcome Workshop Meeting
4:30 pm: Welcome Reception

Friday
9:oo am: Student Readings
10:00 am-12:00 pm: Workshop
12:30 pm-1:30 pm: One-on-One Meeting
3:00 pm: Lecture
4:30 pm: Lecture
5:30 pm: Social Hour

Saturday
Portland Getaway Day

Sunday
9:oo am: Student Readings
10:00 am-12:00 pm: Workshop
2:30 pm-1:30 pm: One-on-One Meeting
3:00 pm: Lecture
4:30 pm: Lecture
7:30 pm: Faculty Readings
9:00 pm: Karaoke Party

Monday
10:00 am-12:00 pm: Workshop
12:30 pm-1:30 pm: One-on-One Meetings
12:00 pm-3:00 pm: Goodbye Lunch

The Tin House Autumn Workshops are long weekend intensives consisting of curated and intimate workshops, craft lectures, generative exercises, and readings. There will also be plenty of opportunities for mingling, Portland sightseeing, and, of course, karaoke.

The workshops will take place at our offices in NW Portland. Many housing and eating options are within walking distance of our offices.

Room & Board are not included in this workshop. There will be daily breakfast items, coffee, drinks, and snacks offered throughout the weekend. Lunch will be provided on Monday.

Enrolled applicants will be able to connect for shared housing and receive discount rates at the Silver Cloud Inn, a nearby hotel.

We ask for one unpublished fiction (4,000 words or less) or poetry (up to three poems) sample. 

If you have previously attended, please do not apply with the same sample. A different excerpt from the same project is acceptable.

Once admitted, you will have the opportunity to workshop a different manuscript or section from your project.

In addition to the writing sample, the application includes several questions about your project.

Applicants must be 21 years of age to apply.

International writers may apply.

There is no cap on the number of Tin House Workshops you may attend.

Applications are read by a board composed of Tin House Workshop staff and Reading Fellows. At least two readers will read all applications, and acceptance is based on the strength and promise of the writing sample and the board’s assessment of how much an applicant might benefit from the Workshop and contribute to the community.

We will award three scholarships to the conference (for each weekend).

Our Break & General Scholarships cover full tuition and lodging. Our Portland Scholarship covers tuition only.

Scholars are responsible for their travel to/from Portland.

All scholarship applicants are considered for general admission (you do not need to submit a separate general application).

2026 Winter Online Scholars and 2025-2026 Residents are not eligible for scholarships (but may apply as general candidates). All other previous Tin House Scholars are not eligible to apply for awards.

We announce the names of the Scholars publicly after the workshop concludes (though winners will be notified beforehand).

Please reach out to workshop@tinhouse.com if you have any eligibility questions.

The Break Scholarship for Writers in Recovery
Sponsored by The Alano Club of Portland, this award welcomes and encourages, without qualification, submissions by any artist recovering from alcoholism, drug addiction, and other addictive disorders.

General Scholarship
Open to all applicants. We will award one general scholarship to each genre.

Portland Scholarship
Open to any applicant currently residing in the Portland Metro Area (Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, and Washington counties in Oregon, and Clark county in Washington).

Tin House offers a limited number of application fee waivers through our Pay It Forward program. We will distribute these waivers on a first-come, first-serve basis. As an applicant, you can help cover the cost of another writer’s application fee through this same program. All excess application funds will go towards future application waivers.

Historically, Native American/Indigenous authors have been the most underrepresented group across the Tin House Workshop programs. In an effort to address this, all application fees will be waived for North American Indigenous Authors.

For inquiries, please email workshop@tinhouse.com with the subject line “Autumn Fee Waiver.”

We ask that you test yourself 24 hours before the workshop and provide us (via email or text) with a photo of the negative result. Daily temperature checks will be administered each morning at Tin House. If you show signs of a fever or other symptoms, you will be provided with a Covid test. If you test positive at any point during your attendance, you will be required to stop attending events in person. If this occurs, we will create a live stream for the workshop sessions and lectures and provide recordings of the lectures. If you can’t attend via live stream and were scheduled to be workshopped that day, we will arrange for your workshop session to take place at a later date over Zoom. We reserve the right to enforce stricter enforcement and otherwise adjust this policy should an outbreak occur.