PACT Desk Set.

PACT began with a wild idea shared by six alumni from the same Pacific University MFA cohort.

We wanted to find a way to amplify the remarkable voices emerging from our community across genres, styles, and stages of their writing lives. We come from a community that celebrates one another’s successes, spreads the word when someone publishes new work, and shows up for each other’s readings, launches, and achievements.

But what stood out most were the conversations.

Whenever one of us shared a story, poem, essay, or novel excerpt, discussions about craft would erupt. These exchanges happened everywhere—in text messages, Facebook comment threads, Zoom rooms, and long email chains. The conversations were insightful, generous, funny, and often fleeting. The joy of celebrating one another’s work would peak and then disappear.

So we asked ourselves:

How do we keep these conversations going?

PACT was our answer—a shared commitment to supporting, celebrating, and championing one another’s creative lives.

To house those conversations, we launched PACT Desk Set, a Substack dedicated to craft, community, curiosity, and the written word.

Since then, PACT Desk Set has grown into a gathering place where contributors engage with writing and craft in a variety of forms. Through Micro-Odes, writers offer brief craft-minded meditations. Roundtables bring multiple voices together around shared questions. The Literary Lurker, our recurring caricature, explores the anxieties, contradictions, humor, and quiet absurdities of the writing life. Alongside these features, we publish monthly roundups celebrating alumni and PACT friends’ publications, readings, awards, craft talks, and accomplishments.

Over the course of three seasons, PACT Desk Set has continued to grow, welcoming new contributors, new readers, and new ways to engage with craft. Our mission remains simple: to stay open to the unexpected, explore the fringe, celebrate experimentation, and share in one another’s passion for the written word.

Every season, we expand our programming, creating new opportunities for conversation, collaboration, and creative play.

Season 4 (August 10 – October 19) is packed with new offerings, including:

The Creatives — an ongoing conversation between Pacific alumni exploring how their second artistic practice informs their writing.
Workshop opportunities.
Chapbook reviews.
Expanded At the Desk conversations, where Pacific alumni gather to discuss craft, process, publishing, and the creative life.
And more.

Most of all, PACT is an invitation.

An invitation to join the conversation, celebrate one another’s work, ask questions, experiment, and remain curious.

Whether you’re an alum, current student, or friend of the community, there’s a seat waiting for you at the desk.

And yes—we saved one just for you.

Thank you for being here—for showing up, for reading, for listening, and for helping carry forward the spirit that made PACT possible in the first place. Communities like this only exist because people choose to participate in them, and we’re grateful you’ve chosen to spend some of your time with us.

We hope to see you around the Desk Set.

Until then, keep reading, keep writing, stay curious, and make something strange.

Warmly,

Editor-in-Chief, Atina Hartunian
Managing Editor, Mike Itaya