A resource for the PDX literary community. Produced by Old Pal.
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!
Jeanne Faulkner hosts this drop-in writing workshop on the last Tuesday of every month. Jeanne provides the prompts, tips, and coaching. You bring your computer and notebook.
Come celebrate two great authors (and the launch of a brand new book!) this summer at the illustrious Rose City Book Pub. Jackson Bliss and Frances Badalamenti will be sitting down with each to talk writing as well as the release of DREAM POP ORIGAMI. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Frances Badalamenti was raised in Queens, New York and Suburban New Jersey, but she now lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and son. Her essays, stories and interviews appear in The Believer Magazine, Longreads, Vol.1 Brooklyn, Entropy and elsewhere. Salad Days is her second novel; her debut novel I Don't Blame You released in 2019. Jackson Bliss is the winner of the 2020 Noemi Press Award in Prose and the mixed-race/hapa author of Counterfactual Love Stories…
W. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz’s Do the Work! (Workman) is a hands-on workbook for anyone overwhelmed by racial injustice, who feels shocked by all the American histories they never learned, and who keeps asking the question “what can I DOOOOOO?!” Packed with humorous, thought-provoking activities — all are rooted in history and contemporary social justice concepts — Bell and Schatz’s new book helps readers move from "What can I do?" to... you know... actually doing the work. Revelatory and thought-provoking, their highly illustrated, highly informative interactive workbook gives readers a unique, hands-on understanding of systemic racism — and how we can dismantle it. Packed with activities, games, illustrations, comics, and eye-opening conversation, Do the Work! challenges readers to think critically and act effectively. Try…
Nightswimming :: A 4-week generative lab w/ Lidia Yuknavitch and the Corporeal Squad — begins July 27th Nightswimming is a four-week generative lab offering a plunge into narrativity with the Corporeal Squad. Think of it as skinny dipping under the moon, only the water is your imagination and language. Each one-hour session will feature Lidia Yuknavitch in conversation with a member of the squad—Domi Shoemaker, Daniel Isaiah Elder, Katie Guinn, and Anya Pearson—and will include portals we can all write into together. You can sign up for individual sessions, or sign up for the whole bundle at a discount. Week One (7/27) — Domi Shoemaker :: Queer Up — Ever wonder how to mess with language just right, and make your ideas truly reflect what you…
From Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and How to Change Your Mind, comes a radical challenge to how we think about drugs, and an exploration into the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants — and the equally powerful taboos. Of all the things humans rely on plants for — sustenance, beauty, medicine, fragrance, flavor, fiber — surely the most curious is our use of them to change consciousness: to stimulate or calm, fiddle with or completely alter, the qualities of our mental experience. Take coffee and tea: People around the world rely on caffeine to sharpen their minds. But we do not usually think of caffeine as a drug, or our daily use as an addiction, because it is legal and socially acceptable.…
Questions about applying to this year’s Oregon Literary Fellowships? Join us at this information session! Drop-in anytime between 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Register in advance for this meeting here. Please contact Susan Moore (susan@literary-arts.org) or Jessica Meza-Torres (jessica@literary-arts.org) if you have any questions.
This 8-week class is focused on holding yourself and your classmates accountable to your writing goals. Each week, plan to share your work-in-progress with the group, set or revise goals for your weekly writing practice, and share successes and challenges with fellow writers. You’ll also learn strategies for keeping focused and staying on track. Occasional outside readings for discussion. This is not a workshop or feedback-based class. Worked shared will be about listening to each other’s voices and having a consistent deadline to meet on a weekly basis. All genres welcome. Access Program We want our writing classes and Delves to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present obstacles for some people. Our Access Program…
Gobshite Quarterly is a multilingual literary magazine published in Portland. A Gobshite event is guaranteed to please and delight.
Creative nonfiction utilizes non-linear structures to “think” into complex or ambiguous subjects. In this class, we will explore the relationship between form and content in memoir, deepening our practice by working with a draft of a story or essay. Outside reading assignments and in-class writing and revision exercises will encourage experimentation and writing play. We will examine lyrical essays, braided forms and collage pieces. Writing prompts and drafting techniques will allow students to experiment with organization and voice, considering when silence works to make meaning. There will be scene writing and figurative language practice. Students will have an opportunity to discuss and workshop short excerpts of their drafts in an inspired, supportive setting. This class will build upon some of the topics covered in Creative Nonfiction…
"Whatever stories in your community most need to be told, the best person to tell them is you." Join wordsmith and writing radical Lisa Loving for an hour of tips and chat about giving wings to grief, in the form of words. Rose City Book Pub is extremely thrilled to host Lisa Loving's second of three writing workshops: "Epitaph: Write a Memorial for Someone You Love." Bring a pen and paper, or be ready to voice dictate thoughts into your device of choice, and try crafting a tribute on the spot. Pack your hanky. Tickets are 25$ and include a copy of Street Journalist: Understand and Report the News in Your Community as well as a drink and some phenomenal shared appetizers. Get tickets here:…