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!
Come enjoy readings from our esteemed faculty, Alison C. Rollins and Asiya Wadud, this evening at 6 p.m. PST. We’re hosting the event on Zoom (link in bio) and streaming live on PNCA’s Youtube Channel — all are welcome! See you soon!
Michael Guimond is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Last Stand Open Mic! Time: Jan 4, 2021 08:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82329412180?pwd=dlFuZSt3U2dLMlRMS1J3QmYxYjNXUT09 Meeting ID: 823 2941 2180 Passcode: 302960 One tap mobile +16699009128,,82329412180#,,,,*302960# US (San Jose) +12532158782,,82329412180#,,,,*302960# US (Tacoma) Dial by your location +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) Meeting ID: 823 2941 2180 Passcode: 302960 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdqFCXHkhG
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
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! Hosted by Natalie Serber. Featured reading by Rebecca Clarren. Register in advance for One Page Natalie Serber is the author of a memoir, Community Chest, and a story collection, Shout Her Lovely Name, a New York Times Notable Book of 2012, a summer reading selection from O, the Oprah Magazine, and an Oregonian Top 10 Book of the Pacific Northwest. Her fiction has appeared in The Greensboro Review, The Bellingham Review, Gulf Coast, Inkwell, and elsewhere. Essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine, The Huffington Post and others. Natalie has been short listed in Best American…
“If you’re in a rut, Prompt will get you out. If you’re lacking confidence in your writing, it will build you up. And if you don’t think you have a unique voice, it will prove you wrong!” — Past Prompt participant Write Around Portland offers unique workshops designed for writers and aspiring writers who want to participate in a Write Around workshop and support the communities we traditionally serve. Prompt is your chance to write in community with others following the acclaimed Write Around model. Registration required. Session #1: 10 Thursdays, Jan 7 – Mar 11, 2021 Session #2: 10 Saturdays, Mar 13 – May 15, 2021 Session #3: Fall 2021 workshop dates coming soon. Time: 6:30-8:30pm Location: In the comfort of your own home or any…
Come hear 5 wonderful writers read their hearts into the new year. Join us in the zoom room at 7 PM Pacific on Thursday Jan. 7th, 2021. Featuring: Alayna Erhart, Deb Hieronymus, Leah Baer, Maren Bradley Anderson, Mary Wysong-Haeri. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83285412115?pwd=aVNyMno1YUR0Z1dSbzRLdDJHUld6Zz09 Meeting ID: 832 8541 2115 Passcode: 001567 Dial by your location +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) Meeting ID: 832 8541 2115 Passcode: 001567 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdDS1iLFlr
In this two-day workshop, we will explore the practice of creating and sustaining a writer's notebook. On the first day, we will begin to use a notebook to catch the wisps of our days and uncover the musings of the deep imagination. Two weeks later, we will come together to discover how the raw material in the notebook can be transformed into finished pieces of writing. This workshop will have frequent breaks to ease the strain of working online for so many hours, as well as timed writings by hand (again, to ease the time on the computer), and breakout sessions to work one-on-one or small groups. Register for this workshop NOTE: To protect everyone during the COVID-19 pandemic, we're offering our workshops via Zoom. All students must first sign…
Revived, reborn, restored, rejuvenated. Stories of coming back to life. Reviving your body, your spirit, your hope. Healing, rescuing, or breathing new life into something old. Maybe something came close to the edge and was saved. Maybe something that had shriveled was reanimated. As we ride this winter into 2021, we are looking deep into the renaissance within us. This theme is open to your interpretation! Issue #3 submission deadline : January 11, 2021 Issue #3 release : February 2021 What kind of work are we looking for? We want to read your truest weirds. Words that smack you in the stomach. Words that gnaw your bones. Little grits stuck in your teeth that remind us of our humanity. Written works: poetry, prose, short story,…
IPRC Creative Workshops for Winter 2021 will be held online via zoom, PST. Register here Somewhere between prose poetry and lyric essay there’s a genre of weird and brilliant writing I’m calling “the poet’s essay.” From Hanif Abdurraqib to Chris Kraus, this genre combines the imagistic musicality of poems with the argumentative structure of an essay. In this six-week generative course, students will explore and discuss examples of essays by poets and have the opportunity to generate work that follows different structures within this exciting genre. Reading list will/may include writers such as Maggie Nelson, Mary Ruefle, Eileen Myles, Joe Wenderoth, Claudia Rankine, Alexander Chee, and others. Open to writers of all levels. Students will leave the class with several starts and a greater understanding of…
Join us for the first Incite of 2021! This time around, we'll be exploring the topic of relief with four fantastic queer authors: Clair Rudy Foster, Samson Syharath, Sarah A. Chavez, and Wayne Gregory. This is an online event. To register, use the link below: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIqc-ihpzooHtf-CI63Kbe7CghMaYWHaY72
“Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist.” ~ Pablo Picasso You have a story to tell, but you’re not sure how to get started. The Writer’s Toolkit is the class for you. In this workshop, you will discover how to transform your ideas from imagination to a cohesive and compelling story that engages readers and keeps them turning the pages for more. You will learn some of the basic conventions for good writing that successful writers use: how to develop plot, how to create compelling characters, how to build dynamic scenes, and how to show rather than tell. You will learn by doing and will take away a wealth of writing tools and resources to keep honing your…
C. R. Grimmer, who also goes by Chelsea Grimmer, is a poet, scholar, and lecturer at The University of Washington Seattle and Bothell campuses. Their latest collection is The Lyme Letters, which was completed with support from a Harlan Hahn Disability Studies Fellowship and won the Walt McDonald First Book Award from Texas Tech University Press. They are also the author of O–(ezekiel's wife), a chapbook and audiobook collaboration from GASHER Journal and Press that features visual art by PSU alum Colleen Burner and sound art by Judy Twedt. C. R. received their MFA from Portland State University and Ph.D. in Literature and Cultural Studies from The University of Washington, Seattle. They are the creator and host of The Poetry Vlog (TPV), a YouTube and Podcast teaching…
In this webinar, open to prose writers and poets of all ages and backgrounds, participants will use freewriting, revision, and in-depth feedback as tools to create work that can spark new writing possibilities or build on an existing project. The class will address these types of questions: How do we synthesize our experiences and histories with acts of imagination? How do we break silences and heal from trauma through storytelling? How do we write about intersections between race, gender, sexuality, disability, and other aspects of our identities in effective and nuanced ways? Participants will be encouraged to draw from personal, family, and cultural histories, in a supportive yet critically constructive writing environment. Please register using “ticket” link below. Brian Komei Dempster’s debut book of poetry,…
In this three-part workshop, we will allow the emotional and intellectual bodies, as well as the body in space, to inform writing practice. Through somatic awareness, movement, and meditation practice, we will generate written work. Through written work and somatic practice, we will generate movement vocabulary. All levels of writing and movement experience welcome. $65, register here 2 sliding scale and 2 scholarship spots available, BIPOC prioritized. Reach out to hquinn@iprc.org to inquire about availability.
For writers at all levels Using The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron as a resource, this workshop gives writers the tools to establish a disciplined writing practice full of healthy habits so they can keep writing. Class time will be spent in discussion, writing and learning strategies for establishing a consistent writing practice. Access Program We want our writing classes 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 registrations at a reduced rate. The access program for writing classes covers 60% of the class tuition. Most writing classses have at least one access spot available. Contact Susan Moore at susan@literary-arts.org if you would like to…
WHAT: A three-hour online webgasm. WITH: Pam Houston and Lidia Yuknavitch WHEN: Sunday, January 17th, 2021 from 1PM to 4PM PST WHERE: ZOOM! (But of course.) Meeting ID will be provided ahead of time. HOW MUCH: $150. Payment plans are always available, contact Daniel Elder at registration@corporealwriting.com SCHOLARSHIPS: Click here to apply. In this duet collaborative Pam Houston and Lidia Yuknavitch will open up the space of the howl, in our throats and bodies, speaking to our rage and sorrow and fear so that we might bring a reinvented kind of hope to the page differently than we ever have before. Living on the brink globally has brought us to the cusp of new possibilities: how do we go about living our lives differently? how…
This seminar will be an exploration of what Ingrid Rojas Contreras so accurately refers to as, “the middle space between languages,” in her essay, Translation as an Arithmetic of Loss. We will discuss the ways in which the characters in the two novels, Afterlife by Julia Alvarez and Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras, as well as the speakers in the additional poems, navigate the in-betweenness of being bilingual. Each text is a discovery of the ways in which people live both within and between two cultures, languages, and often, identities, and how this shapes their stories. We will also read the Rojas Contreras essay to question what is, both lost and gained, for the characters in the novels whose stories are…
Writers in the Schools (WITS) has served public high school students with creative writing residencies in Portland, and more recently Gresham, since 1996. Published local writers collaborate with classroom teachers to lead an immersive semester-long workshop series designed to further class themes, curricula, and student interests. Each residency culminates with a public reading, ordinarily held in a local café or bookstore. With distance learning, we look forward to hosting our reading on Zoom and invite you to join us in celebrating these students and their work. This end-of-residency reading will feature students who worked with WITS writers Brian Benson, Valarie Pearce, Bruce Poinsette, and Dey Rivers. Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUkceqtrj0jEtFY8_hup8LY5RdjSWL-6eKq After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining…
Join us in January 2021 to hear about what 2020 has left behind.
Who is ready to kick 2020 to the curb? We are! January 2021 is a special edition of Book Club, a year-end BYOB (Bring Your Own Book) Reading Roundup where we invite you to bring a favorite book that you read this year, any genre! Each participant will get a chance to talk about their selection. In addition to bringing a book that you loved, you are also welcome to bring a book that you hated! That should make for some fun discussion. Check your email for the Zoom link!
Writers in the Schools (WITS) has served public high school students with creative writing residencies in Portland, and more recently Gresham, since 1996. Published local writers collaborate with classroom teachers to lead an immersive semester-long workshop series designed to further class themes, curricula, and student interests. Each residency culminates with a public reading, ordinarily held in a local café or bookstore. With distance learning, we look forward to hosting our reading on Zoom and invite you to join us in celebrating these students and their work. This end-of-residency reading will feature students who worked with WITS writers Alex Behr, Damien Miles-Paulson, and Bruce Poinsette. Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAudeuvqzwsHdU8y9B-SsKNHvBb2PamM132 After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.…
Writers in the Schools (WITS) has served public high school students with creative writing residencies in Portland, and more recently Gresham, since 1996. Published local writers collaborate with classroom teachers to lead an immersive semester-long workshop series designed to further class themes, curricula, and student interests. Each residency culminates with a public reading, ordinarily held in a local café or bookstore. With distance learning, we look forward to hosting our reading on Zoom and invite you to join us in celebrating these students and their work. This end-of-residency reading will feature students who worked with WITS writers Jessica Mehta and Laura Moulton. Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUscO6gpzkiGdXFU6TzwJaP6-DlLalsllHb After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Jessica (Tyner)…
Literary Arts is pleased to announce the author line-up for the 2020/21 Season of Portland Arts & Lectures. Subscriptions start at just $90 for the series. Subscribe today! At this time, all lectures through the end of the 2020/21 season are scheduled to take place online through a virtual platform. Please contact our Box Office at la@literary-arts.org, if you have questions. OCTOBER 13, 2020, 6 p.m. Pacific Helen Macdonald is a writer, poet, illustrator, naturalist, and historian of science. Her best-selling memoir H is for Hawk won the Samuel Johnson Prize and was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her forthcoming essay collection, Vesper Flights, explores the human relationship to the natural world. JANUARY 28, 2021, 6 p.m. Pacific Madeline Miller is the author of The Song of Achilles (2011) and Circe (2018).…
As part of the Oregon Book Awards, Literary Arts offers three awards that recognize significant contributions to Oregon’s literary culture: The Charles Erskine Scott Wood Distinguished Writer Award is presented to an Oregon author in recognition of an enduring, substantial literary career. Past recipients include George Hitchcock, Ken Kesey, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Barry Lopez. The Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award is presented to a person or organization in recognition of significant contributions that have enriched Oregon’s literary community. Past recipients include José González, Kim Stafford, Barbara LaMorticella, David Milholland, Marlene Howard, and John Laursen. The Walt Morey Young Readers Literary Legacy Award is presented to a person or organization in recognition of significant contributions that have enriched Oregon’s young readers. Past recipients…
Our Winter 2021 reading period is open from December 1st to January 31st. We accept 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 story under 500 words. Poetry: share one or more poems, prose poems, or multimedia works for a combined count of 500 words or less. Six Words: a story in six words; you may share up to five stories per submission, but only one will be chosen. Baring the Device: essays about literary defamiliarization—or defamiliarized essays about craft, storytelling, or publishing—for our Baring the Device column; click here to learn more. The Gravity of the Thing publishes work on a rolling basis throughout its quarterly reading periods. A majority of submissions…