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!

A taste of Write Your Grief Out

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Want to write start writing your grief story? Or keep writing it? Wondering where to start writing your deep story? Come write with us September 14th from noon to 1:30 pm Pacific. Any level of writing. Everybody welcome. It’s a free one day drop-in writing session. Limited spaces! Join the zoom room right at noon (when we start) to make sure you get in Hosted on zoom. Join by clicking here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86223534482?pwd=emdDS25TOXVmNzFxMHRnYkJhRmwydz09 Meeting ID: 862 2353 4482 Passcode: 645699 We’ll talk a little about grief. Then free-write from a writing start/prompt. There’s time to share your writing if you choose to. Bring your laptop or pen. Your coffee too. Bring your friends! Invite them on this Facebook event Come get a taste of our 30…

Free

Portland Book Festival Author Announcement

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Literary Arts is thrilled to announce the lineup of authors appearing at this year’s Portland Book Festival, presented by Bank of America, which will take place on Saturday, November 5, 2022. Passes to Portland Book Festival will also go on sale at this time.  

Free

Rachel Aviv in Conversation With Stephanie Danler

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Strangers to Ourselves (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) is the highly anticipated debut from acclaimed, award-winning New Yorker writer Rachel Aviv, compelling us to examine how the stories we tell about mental illness shape our sense of who we are. In her powerful and gripping debut, Rachel Aviv raises fundamental questions about how we understand ourselves in periods of crisis and distress. Drawing on deep, original reporting as well as unpublished journals and memoirs, Aviv writes about people who have come up against the limits of psychiatric explanations for who they are. She follows an Indian woman, celebrated as a saint, who lives in healing temples in Kerala; an incarcerated mother vying for her children’s forgiveness after recovering from psychosis; a man who devotes his life…

Free

Consider This: Black Political Power in Oregon

Alberta Rose Theatre 3000 NE Alberta St, Portland, OR, United States

Join Oregon Humanities on Wednesday, September 14, for a conversation on the state of Black political power in Oregon with Joy Alise Davis, executive director at Imagine Black; Keith Jenkins, director of Southern Oregon Black Leaders, Activists, & Community Coalition; and Marcus LeGrand, vice-chair of Bend-La Pine Schools. Journalist Bruce Poinsette will facilitate the conversation. The event will take place in-person at the Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St., in Portland. Doors will open at 6:00 p.m, and the event will begin at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $15, and no-cost tickets are available by request. Joy Alise Davis is a Cincinnati native who graduated from Miami University with a bachelor of arts in political science and from Parsons School of Design with a master…

Free – $15

Incite: Queer Writers Read – September: SPECULATE

Literary Arts 925 SW Washington Street, Portland, OR, United States

Incite: Queer Writers Read is a curated, bimonthly reading series for Queer writers. Incite’s hope is to create conversation, connection, and greater understanding both within the Queer community and with other communities. Hosted by Vinnie Kinsella and Jennifer Perrine. This event will take place in-person at Literary Arts’ downtown center. Please review our Covid-19 guidelines.  Incite: Queer Writers Read is a curated, bi-monthly reading series for Queer writers. For September, our featured readers are Wendy N. Wagner, Lydia Rogue, and Christopher Rose. Our theme for the month is SPECULATE. This is a free event hosted by Literary Arts.  

Free

Fall | New Generative Writing: Grief and Compassion w Ed Sage | Sep 14 – Oct 12

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

In this exploratory, generative workshop we will be using our writing to be in relationship with our grief and compassion by meeting them, reimagining them, and bring light to the shadows. We will interrupt the "arrangements" in our lives that perhaps are not serving us well and redefine stubborn “truths” about our sorrow. You can expect to discover new threads in your work as well as create drafts of pieces that inspire more commitment. Writing about grief can free us to be more empathic and compassionate with ourselves and others; it can help us discover the universal in our experience and blessings we would share. Zoom link provided prior to start of workshop. Teacher: Ed SageTime: Wednesdays, Sep 14 - Oct 12, 7-9pm Pacific TimeLocation: Online via ZoomTotal…

$219 – $248

The Notebook: Your Creative Process

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Can we “chase” our imagination to its source? Where does creativity happen in the mind? These are some of the questions Linda Berry explores in her book Syllabus, which describes the author’s lifelong investigation of the creative process. Participants will discuss Barry’s techniques, and visit their own creative process, and perhaps draft a new story, essay, or chapter in a larger work. 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 offers writing class and Delve tuitions at a reduced rate. The access program for writing classes covers 60% of the class tuition. Most writing classes have at least one…

$285

PSU Lit Mic

Rose City Book Pub 1329 NE Fremont, Portland, OR, United States

PSU Lit Mic is always lit. Hosted by the delightful and compelling duo Jordan and Grace. You don’t need to be affiliated with PSU to participate. You wrote it, you read it.

Free

Fall | Personal Essays w Lee Montgomery | Sep 17 – Nov 19 | Online

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

First Draft to Publication Leads Personal Essays and memoir represent some of the most adventurous writing today. Pushing narrative boundaries, utilizing traditional and nontraditional forms, this type of writing explores individuality and the minutiae of life unlike any other form. This workshop will help students explore the world of memoir and personal essay writing and understand both traditional and nontraditional narrative strategies available to them. Though the class will be run as a classic workshop, where students will submit their work to be reviewed in class, it will also combine craft lectures, outside reading, and in-class exercises. | Maximum: 12 writers Zoom link provided prior to start of workshop. Teacher: Lee MontgomeryTime: Saturdays, Sep 17 - Nov 19, 10am - 12:30pm Pacific TimeLocation: Online via ZoomTotal Fee: Discounted Early Registration…

$548 – $583

Portland Zine Symposium 2022

PSU - Smith Memorial Student Union 1825 SW Broadway, Portland, OR, United States

The 2022 Portland Zine Symposium will be September 17th and 18th! Tabling will be 11am-5pm with different tablers both days! We will also have virtual programming leading up to the fest: Monday 9/12 Zine librarian meetup 🔗 Wednesday 9/14 Zinefest organizer meetup 🔗 Friday 9/16 Zine distro meetup 🔗 All of the programming is from 6-7:30pm PST, and sign-ups are available at the 🔗s. More info on the in-person tabling event and virtual programming ! Be sure to check out our Safe Space and Covid Health and Safety Protocols as well. The 2022 Portland Zine Symposium will be at the Smith Memorial Student Union in the Ballroom at Portland State University (1825 SW Broadway). PZS will be free and open to the public from 11am…

Free