Clatsop Community College’s Rain Magazine, the college’s long-running literary publication, is expanding its community engagement this year with a series of public events designed to celebrate both the written word and visual art all centered on the 2026 theme, Courage.
Rain Magazine is produced each winter as a credit-bearing class at CCC. Students enrolled in the course manage every aspect of the publication, from soliciting submissions of short stories, poetry, and artwork from students and community members, to selecting pieces for publication and designing the magazine for print. The class traditionally hosts a spring reading to celebrate the literary contributors.
This year, the Rain Magazine students are broadening that tradition by hosting multiple community events that reflect the full scope of the magazine and invite wider participation.
The first event is a Prose Reading on Wednesday, January 28, from 5–7 p.m. at WineKraft in downtown Astoria. The event is open to the public and welcomes writers of all experience levels to share original prose. Students from the Rain Magazine class will emcee the evening, help run the event, and encourage attendees to submit work for publication. A sign-up sheet will be available at the event for those who wish to read.
A second community gathering will take place on Thursday, February 12, also from 5–7 p.m. at WineKraft. Titled “Courage to Love,” this open mic invites participants to share stories, poems, songs, and music inspired by love and vulnerability. CCC students will again assist with hosting duties and outreach.
In a new collaboration, Rain Magazine is partnering with Astoria Visual Arts (AVA) to showcase the visual art submitted to the magazine. The partnership grew from community collaboration initiated by AVA Board member Vee Lind and her support of Rain Magazine. “We’ve never celebrated our art entries in Rain Magazine before and we are so excited to showcase the great work submitted to our publication,” stated O’Connor. “We are so grateful for AVA’s collaboration on this. It really shows how projects like this bring the community together.”
The exhibition, “Courage: Artists & Writers Face Their Fear,” will open Saturday, March 15 at the AVA gallery, with a public reception from 5-7 p.m. during the Astoria 2nd Saturday Artwalk. In addition to Rain Magazine submissions, AVA will curate complementary artwork for the show. The show will run through April 4th in the AVA gallery.
The season will conclude with the annual Rain Reading Reception on Friday, April 10 from 5-8 p.m. in Towler Hall 3rd floor atrium on CCC’s campus, where contributors will read excerpts from the 2026 issue and copies will be on sale. O’Connor expressed deep appreciation for the community support that sustains the publication, including a generous grant from longtime Rain Magazine contributor and supporter Constance Waisanen, which helps offset publication costs. “We wouldn’t have Rain Magazine without supporters like Constance and her daughter who believe in what our students are creating. We are so thankful for our community support.”
Call for Submissions:
Submissions to Rain Magazine are open to students and community members through February 15, 2026. Entries should be emailed to rainmagazine@clatsopcc.edu with the subject line “2026 Submission” and must include the contributor’s full name. Submissions may also be mailed to:
Rain Magazine
Clatsop Community College
1651 Lexington Ave.
Astoria, OR 97103
Email submissions are preferred.
For more information, contact Rain Magazine Instructor Kama O’Connor at koconnor@clatsopcc.edu.
