NORTH COAST, Calif. – The 24th annual Mendocino Coast Writers Conference, which will take place July 25-27 at the College of the Redwoods campus in Fort Bragg, has extended deadlines for scholarship requests, and applications for the Master Class in Short Fiction with Peter Orner.

The new deadline for all scholarship applications is Wednesday, May 15.

The conference offers both full fee and partial financial assistance to adult writers; and full-tuition aid to Five Under Twenty-Five, up to five young writers who live or attend school in one of five Northern California counties: Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino or Sonoma.

Applicants for the master class now have until May 30 to submit their writing for consideration.

Author of two novels and winner of two Pushcart Prizes, Orner was a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient.

In describing his workshop in Short Fiction, he noted, “Short stories are a kind of high wire act in prose.”

He will focus on some of the elemental things that make stories vital: what gets us in the gut and the heart, as well as the head.

There are no changes in the May 15 deadline for the Registered Participants Contest.

The three-day conference offers outstanding faculty in all genres teaching the craft of writing at beginning and advanced levels.

For full details on workshops, scholarships and registration procedures, please visit the conference Web site at www.mcwc.org or contact staff by phone and leave a message at 707-485-4031.