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!

Haunted: Writing into Death & The Dead with Sonya Lea — begins November 8th

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Haunted: Writing into Death & The Dead Begins November 8th, 2022 Four weekly 2-hour sessions over Zoom on Tuesdays from 5-7PM PST (11/8, 11/15, 11/22, 11/29) “Many people live and die without ever confronting themselves in the darkness. Pray that one day, you will spin around at the water’s edge, lean over, and be able to count yourself among the lucky.” ― Carmen Maria Machado, Her Body and Other Parties “What would you read to someone who was dying? Annie Dillard had asked our class. She wanted this to be the standard for our work. There, at the memorial service for my friend, I thought of another: Dying, what stories would you tell?” ― Alexander Chee, How to Write An Autobiographical Novel: Essays “My grief…

$200 – $400

Recharge Your Writing Life: Experiments & Strategies

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Equal parts strategy, community, generative writing, and experiment, this class will help writers spark curiosity and deepen self-knowledge while crafting artistic habits that nourish. A good fit for writers who want to reimagine their creative life. We’ll discuss methods for working through blocks and rejection, rituals that refill the well, and ways to make time for creativity in a busy world. Each session will offer generative prompts, literary tinctures and tonics, and tactile practices that unite body and intellect. 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…

$285

LC English Fall ’22 Reading Series: Jane Wong

Lewis & Clark - Frank Manor House 0615 SW Palatine Hill Road, Portland, OR, United States

LC English welcomes the poet Jane Wong! Jane is the author of How to Not Be Afraid of Everything (Alice James, 2021) and Overpour (Action Books, 2016). Her debut memoir, Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City, is forthcoming from Tin House in May 2023. A Kundiman fellow, Jane is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and fellowships and residencies from Harvard’s Woodberry Poetry Room, the U.S. Fulbright Program, Artist Trust, the Fine Arts Work Center, Bread Loaf, Hedgebrook, Willapa Bay, the Jentel Foundation, and others. She is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Western Washington University. Frank Manor House, Armstrong Lounge

Free

Fall | Erasing the Male Gaze (and Other Power Structures) in Creative Nonfiction w Paige Thomas | Nov 9 – Dec 7

Attic Institute 4232 SE Hawthorne, Portland, OR, United States

It is not groundbreaking news that the literary canon and the study of writing has been dominated by work that was created for and by men. Slowly and imperfectly, the reasons behind their presence is being questioned, and rightfully so. The canon is diversifying, but that does not mean that our implicit writing techniques—how we think about writing, how we create narrative tension, how we read literary texts—is not still being influenced by a history that is saturated by the male gaze. In this class, group discussions and generative, prompt-driven exercises will be geared toward experimenting with modes of thinking and writing about life that undermines dominant narrative traditions. You see, a great work of writing does not need to have a plot. It does…

$175 – $197

Incite: Queer Writers Read – November

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.   

Free

Pushpins & Portals: Experimenting with Short Forms

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Pushpins & Portals: Experimenting with Short Forms This workshop is virtual, PST Register here Pushpins & Portals: Experimenting with Short Forms In this 6-week class, we will experiment with short form creative writing. Our focus—whether it’s flash fiction, lyric essay, prose poetry, or hybrid—will be on the art of compression. Each week, participants will be given a writing exercise, a short reading, and two workshop submissions from their peers. Class time will include workshop as well as discussion of readings and craft. Our workshop will be guided by observations, questions, and possibilities. We will be thinking less about how to “fix” a piece of writing and more about what we see, our curiosities, and how to recognize hidden opportunities. Each participant will receive feedback from…

$80 – $200

Holiday Book Chat

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could get a bunch of suggestions for great book gifts for everyone on your holiday shopping list? You can! After a couple of years of online-only chats, our annual Holiday Book Chat is back in the store in person--fingers crossed! Join us on Monday, November 14th, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm for one of our most popular events of the year. We'll share with you some of our favorite new books (and other gifts) to inspire your holiday gift-giving (or planning for book club ideas), talking faster than you ever thought possible. We will provide light refreshments and door prizes, and we promise a fun evening! We ask that attendees wear masks when not actively nibbling. The cost to…

Free

Submission Deadline: Old Pal – Issue 6

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

📣 We're open to submissions for Old Pal Issue 6! Visit the link below for more details, and feel free to send any questions our way. We can't wait to see your work! Happy equinox! 🍂🖤 https://www.oldpalmag.com/submissions Old Pal is open for submissions until November 15th, 2022! Read the guidelines below, then send your submission to submissions@oldpalmag.com. Please use a .docx file type for writing, and high resolution images if you're submitting visual art. We publish poetry, fiction, critical non-fiction, excerpts, audio, mixed-media, and various mediums of art. We encourage artists from all experience levels and communities to submit. Contributors are compensated $50 upon publication. We ask that submissions are limited to 15 pages of written work or 6 pieces of other media. Simultaneous submissions…

Free

Josephine Woolington & Ramon Shiloh in Conversation With Michelle Nijhuis

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

In her debut work, Where We Call Home: Lands, Seas, and Skies of the Pacific Northwest (Ooligan Press), Josephine Woolington turns back the clock to review the events that have challenged Pacific Northwest wildlife in an effort to provide a deeper sense of place. Only then can we imagine how these imperious effects might be overcome. Join Woolington as she sheds light on the diverse species whose populations are slowly declining from the lands, seas, and skies of the Pacific Northwest. Only by acknowledging this truth can we understand that our impact on the Earth is deeper and far more significant than we ever imagined. Through interviews with local educators, Indigenous leaders, scientists, and artists from the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, the Haida Nation,…

Free

The Moth: StorySLAM: Willpower

Holocene 1001 SE Morrison St, Portland, OR, United States

WILLPOWER: Prepare a five-minute story about willpower.  Tell us of your iron (or paper thin)  resolve.  Your battle with smoking, drinking, loving, eating or obsessing.  Resisting the urge to check Facebook, read your lover's diary or sleep in.  Caving to impulses or holding strong.  Temptation versus self control and other epic interior battles. COVID Requirements: See Holocene's COVID Policy for details. We will not be selling any tickets at the door. This venue is 21+ *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