LitPDX seeks to amplify marginalized voices, and welcomes all, their ideas, their events, and their words.

For details regarding specific events please contact the organizers or venues. If you are an organizer or venue and would like to reach out to us please feel free to contact us or submit an event using our submission form. We’d love to hear from you!

2021 Tin House Virtual Craft Intensive: You Can Do Anything With Words and Images, with Courtney Cook

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

In the words of Harvey Pekar, from which this course draws its name, “Comics are just words and images. You can do anything with words and images.” This generative course is designed to spark inspiration by providing an exploration of the nearly endless ways text and image can be combined to create a symbiotic relationship that strengthens work as a whole. Created for writers and artists at every level, this course aims to eradicate self-doubt and the belief that one must embody a certain level of artistic skill to employ utilizing illustrated or visual elements in their own work. Through examining graphic narratives by creators such as Kristen Radtke, Yumi Sakugawa, Kevin Huizenga, Allie Brosh, and Theresa Wong, and participating in a series of generative…

$75

2021 Tin House Virtual Craft Intensive: Turning Words into Magic, with Keeonna Harris

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

*Saturday is sold out, join waitlist by emailing workshop@gmail.com or purchase Sunday below* Many of us get stuck writing; searching for that grandiose word rather than write words that we use every day and that reflect our lives. Sometimes, the magic of the word is in the mundane. This craft intensive is for writers who are feeling discouraged and unable to find the perfect word/and or words to convey the nuance and depth we want our readers to feel. We will be exploring excerpts from Heavy by Kiese Laymon and The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw. Participants will leave this intensive with a set of practical strategies on choosing a word that “fits” the ongoing themes of their work. We will do writing exercises in which I will push you to…

$75

Miriam Toews in Conversation With Laura van den Berg

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

From Miriam Toews, bestselling author of Women Talking and All My Puny Sorrows, comes a compassionate, darkly humorous, and deeply human new novel about three generations of women. When Swiv is temporarily kicked out of school, her grandma gives her an assignment to write a letter to her absent father. Swiv’s assignment to Grandma is to write a letter to Gord, her unborn grandchild and Swiv’s brother or sister. “You are a small thing,” Grandma writes to Gord, “but you must learn to fight.” Grandma has been fighting all her life: from her upbringing in a strictly religious community, ruled over by the odious Will Braun, she has fought the people who wanted to take away her joy, her independence, and her spirit; she has…

Free

The Moth: StorySLAM: Legends

The Old Church Concert Hall 1422 SW 11th Ave, Portland, OR, United States

*PLEASE NOTE THAT PROOF OF VACCINATION WILL BE REQUIRED FOR ENTRY.* Your last dose must be administered at least 14 days prior to date of arrival. Proof of a negative COVID test taken within 48 hours of the event will also be accepted in lieu of proof of vaccination.  LEGENDS: Prepare a five-minute story about lore. Hometown heroes or larger than life icons. Spending the night in a haunted house, family secrets uncovered, senior pranks that went down in history. Deep-seated superstitions that fly in the face of reality checks. Every myth has to start somewhere. We will not be selling any tickets at the door. This venue is 16+ *Seating is not guaranteed and is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please be sure to arrive at least 10…

$15

Drop-in Writing Workshop for BIPOC Writers with Anya Pearson

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

This is one of four online workshops for BIPOC writers designed to help you generate new material, refine an existing draft, or simply discover the permission to call yourself a writer. We will gather on Zoom on the first Tuesday of each month (September-December) and hold space for each other, creating a community with other BIPOC writers. Think of this as a playpen and creative incubator to support you as you generate writing and navigate building a creative practice and life in the arts. We will write together using specific prompts. We’ll bounce ideas off each other, share our work in progress, and hold space for the fullness of who we are. Sign up for one, two, three, or all four sessions. Additional sessions are listed below or on…

$5 – $30

Livestream Reading: Deborah Hopkinson with Rosanne Parry

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes Portland author Deborah Hopkinson for the livestream launch of her new Middle Grade book, The Deadliest Diseases Then and Now. She will be in conversation with fellow Portland MG author Rosanne Parry, whose latest novel, A Whale of the Wild, is new in paperback. Please register in advance for this Zoom event: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMpdOirqDsiGtxWk7grb2MaBXmsCqXuG5gX About The Deadliest Diseases Then and Now: Perfect for young readers of I Survived and the Who Was series! Packed with graphics, photos, and facts for curious minds, this is a gripping look at pandemics through the ages. Deadly pandemics have always been a part of life, from the Great Mortality of the Middle Ages, to the Spanish Influenza outbreak of 1918, to the eruption of COVID-19 in our…

Free

Submission Deadline: Make|Learn|Build Grants – Round 3

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

During the first year of covid-19 we pivoted our grantmaking, offering more flexible awards with the goal of supporting a greater number of artists and arts-based businesses during a time of rapid change and creative innovation. The Make|Learn|Build grant program supports artists, creatives, organizations, and businesses in making work, gaining skills, or building up a business as we continue to respond to community needs. This grant program is designed to address the various ways the arts community in the tri-county region need support. This grant offered funding for artists and arts-based business/organizations in three categories: MAKE: the creation of work in any artistic discipline LEARN: artistic or administrative learning, skill building, or professional development that improve your art practice or business BUILD: a transition or…

Free

Books Around the Corner: Virtual Writers Group

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join fellow writers the first Wednesday of the month for a friendly critique. The goal is to support one another with constructive feedback and participate in writing exercises. All experience levels welcome! Books Around the Corner is inviting you to participate in Writers Group by phone or email until further notice. The Meeting ID will not change monthly for the Writers Group. Join Online https://zoom.us/j/230496085 Meeting ID: 230 496 085 Join by Phone HERE +1 301 715 8592 US Meeting ID: 230 496 085

Free

Caitlin Starling in Conversation With Wendy N. Wagner

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

From Bram Stoker-nominated Caitlin Starling, author of The Luminous Dead, comes The Death of Jane Lawrence (St. Martin’s), a new gothic fantasy horror novel. Practical, unassuming Jane Shoringfield has done the calculations, and decided that the most secure path forward is this: a husband, in a marriage of convenience, who will allow her to remain independent and occupied with meaningful work. Her first choice, the dashing but reclusive doctor Augustine Lawrence, agrees to her proposal with only one condition: that she must never visit Lindridge Hall, his crumbling family manor outside of town. Yet on their wedding night, an accident strands her at his door in a pitch-black rainstorm, and she finds him changed. Gone is the bold, courageous surgeon, and in his place is…

Free

Oracles and Creativity: Designing Your Own Symbolic System

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

In this follow-up to Oracles, Intuition, and Creativity, we will go deeper into our exploration of sets of symbols and how they function as tools for self-study and guides for artistic creation. The class will begin with a brief survey of the history of divination and an analysis of various types of oracles (their art, symbolism, and structures), including a conversation with contemporary oracle designers about their practices. Each participant will then design their own oracle system and write a guide for its use. No artistic ability is needed for this class, but there will be an opportunity at the end of the five weeks to attend a special session with a hands-on creative component; details will be given in class. While it is not…

$240