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!

Nonfiction

  1. Events
  2. Nonfiction

Events Search and Views Navigation

Event Views Navigation

Today

Submission Deadline: The Gravity of the Thing

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

We are open for submissions for our seasonal online issues during the months of March, June, September, and December. To submit your work, please visit this page during our open reading windows, or subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive email updates. The Gravity of the Thing accepts defamiliarized works in the following general categories: Short: Tell us a story in 3,000 words or less; we are interested in fiction, creative nonfiction, self-contained excerpts, and genre-bending forms. Flash: A fiction, creative nonfiction, or genre-bending piece under 500 words. Poetry: Share up to three poems, prose poems, or multimedia works for a combined count of 500 words or less. Six Words: A poem or story in six words; you may share up to five stories per submission, but only one will be chosen. Baring the Device: Essays for our…

Continue readingSubmission Deadline: The Gravity of the Thing
Free

Fall Generative Lab w/ Lidia Yuknavitch and the Corporeal Squad: September 30th-October 2nd

The Corporeal Writing Center 510 SW 3rd Ave #101, Portland, OR, United States

Fall. Color. Changes in light, leaves, life. Meditation. Observation. In this generative lab we will develop your key primary metaphors embedded in how you experience your life physically. Don’t worry—we know how to find them. From these metaphors we will develop seeds of texts (poetic, fiction, nonfiction, or mixed genre) for future expansion in your writing and artmaking life. Seven years ago Corporeal Writing hosted its first ever seasonal lab—and we started with Fall. We’re thrilled to write with you in person again at our beautiful space in downtown Portland. Check out all the details, and please read the COVID note carefully. Fall: Exhausting Metaphor: A Seasonal Generative Writing Lab with Lidia Yuknavitch and the Corporeal Writing Squad: Domi Shoemaker, Anya Pearson, Katie Guinn, and…

Continue readingFall Generative Lab w/ Lidia Yuknavitch and the Corporeal Squad: September 30th-October 2nd
$450

Residency Application Deadline: Caldera 2023 Artist in Residence

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Through our residency program, Caldera supports artists, creatives, and cultural workers to build skills, relationships, and projects that inspire growth, combat oppression, and activate change. Residents draw inspiration from the residency community and the natural world surrounding our Arts Center in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. Residencies are open to regional and national, creatives and cultural workers in any discipline. Artists at any stage of their careers, who are not current students, are eligible to apply. Residencies are also available for parent artists who would like to bring their children. Residents will receive private lodging, studio, and artist stipend. Please note: transportation to and from the residency site is not provided by Caldera Arts. 2023 Residency Dates January 5 - 30, 2023  -- 3.5…

Continue readingResidency Application Deadline: Caldera 2023 Artist in Residence
Free

Delve Readers Seminar: Delve for Writers: Joan Didion and Durga Chew-Bose

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

Delve for Writers is a new, occasional Delve series that offers seminars that focus on close readings of narrative, form, and stylistic choices that writers can incorporate into their own writing practice. Creative nonfiction is the perfect place to find voice, ideas and perspective – and nobody does it better Joan Didion and contemporary groundbreaker Durga Chew-Bose, whose collection Too Much and Not the Mood is a wonderful mashup of what Didion has always done so well, mixing cultural criticism and memoir in think-pieces that inspire and challenge us. In this Delve for Writers, we’ll look carefully at the craft of what we’ve read with close readings of style, form, mechanics, and conceptual and narrative choices. This seminar will focus on what we can learn…

Continue readingDelve Readers Seminar: Delve for Writers: Joan Didion and Durga Chew-Bose
$245

Julian Aguon in Conversation With Karen Russell

Powell's City of Books 1005 W Burnside Street, Portland, OR, United States

Part memoir, part manifesto, Chamorro climate activist and human rights lawyer Julian Aguon’s No Country for Eight-Spot Butterflies (Astra House) is a coming-of-age story and a call for justice — for everyone, but in particular, for Indigenous peoples. In bracing poetry and compelling prose, Aguon weaves together stories from his childhood in the villages of Guam with searing political commentary about matters ranging from nuclear weapons to global warming. Undertaking the work of bearing witness, wrestling with the most pressing questions of the modern day, and reckoning with the challenge of truth-telling in an era of rampant obfuscation, he culls from his own life experiences — from losing his father to pancreatic cancer to working for Mother Teresa to an edifying chance encounter with Sherman…

Continue readingJulian Aguon in Conversation With Karen Russell
Free

The Moth: StorySLAM: Grown

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

GROWN: Prepare a five-minute story about the highs and lows of adulting, or the trials and tribulations of getting there. Old enough to know better or wishing someone else would grow the heck up. Growing pains, rites of passage and the great onslaught of responsibility. You know what they say: age is just a number. COVID Requirements: See The Old Church's COVID Policy for details. 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 minutes before the show. Admission is not guaranteed for late arrivals. All sales final. Media Sponsors: OPB and Literary Arts

$15

If It’s Not One Thing It’s Your Mother: Preparing Nonfiction for Submission w/ Melissa Chadburn—begins October 4th

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

If It's Not One Thing It's Your Mother, Preparing Nonfiction for Submission with Melissa Chadburn The goal of this workshop is to help creative nonfiction writers prepare their work for submission in an inclusive, supportive environment. Classes include reading assignments where we will explore various essay structures, and some short in-class writing assignments to allow writers to discuss and engage other craft techniques. Each writer will workshop one essay, hybrid, or longform piece anywhere from 1200-4500 words, (already in progress). This generative lab is meant to be a supportive environment for writers to actualize the intentions for their piece. Lab Leader: Melissa Chadburn When: October 4th and runs for 4 weeks Where: Zoom and WetInk, our rich, interactive, online platform. Melissa will host a Zoom…

Continue readingIf It’s Not One Thing It’s Your Mother: Preparing Nonfiction for Submission w/ Melissa Chadburn—begins October 4th
$350

Fiction Technique in Memoir

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

Memoir is not “biography” and it doesn’t have to read like a textbook. Memoir is a unique and exciting format in which the writer has the creative freedom to tell some portion of their life’s story in a captivating way. We don’t necessarily need to read your story from birth up to the present day but like any good novel, a good memoir should have a storyarch, memorable characters and a narrator who changes in some way by the end of the story. In this class, we will look at techniques for forming that story arch, for developing stronger characters and for writing scenes that will create an impact. We do this by applying some of the same storytelling and structural techniques that fiction writers…

Continue readingFiction Technique in Memoir
$285

One Page Wednesday: October

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

One Page Wednesday is back in-person at our downtown center! Here is an opportunity to share or listen to one page of work in progress from talented writers from everywhere. Come with a single page of work and sign up to read – or come to listen and prepare to be inspired. Our host this month is the one and only, Emme Lund. Our featured reader is cosima bee concordia. Please review our Covid-19 guidelines. Be prepared to show proof of vaccination or a negative PCR Test at the door. Masks are not required but encouraged. If you have any questions, contact Jessica at jessica@literary-arts.org. Emme Lund Emme Lund is an author living and writing in Portland, Oregon. She has an MFA from Mills College. Her work has…

Continue readingOne Page Wednesday: October
Free

Making it Make Sense: Storytelling for Healing

Pulse Wellness 812 NE 28th Ave., Portland, OR, United States

There is meaning in the madness. This 8 session therapeutic storytelling workshop will guide participants in creating a story to illuminate power from pain. Series will culminate with a live performance. Limited to 5-8 participants. Thursdays 6:30 - 9 pm October 6, 13, 20, 27 November 3,10, 17 Meetings held at Pulse Wellness 812 NE 28th Ave. Portland, OR 97232 $30/session (must commit to all) Contact Erin Mahone for financial assistance erin@ifyoucouldseeme.com Register at: http://www.ifyoucouldseeme.com Final Storytelling Showcase: Sunday, November 20th at 21ten Theatre Facilitator: Erin Mahone, M.S., C.T.P. is a trained facilitator, storyteller, author, and mental health pyrofessional. She combines years of training and education, with a deep passion for holding space for the re-birth of personal narratives, her own love of telling stories…

Continue readingMaking it Make Sense: Storytelling for Healing
$225
Click a category label below to view the calendar with only events in that specific category.