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!

Friends of the Columbia Gorge Second Spring Gorge Haiku Challenge

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

In celebration of National Poetry Month and International Haiku Poetry Day on April 17, Friends of the Columbia Gorge is announcing its second annual Spring Gorge Haiku Challenge. Recently, the video version of Amanda Gorman's popular "Earthrise" poem has inspired people around the nation in response to her challenge: We relish the view; We witness its round green and brilliant blue, Which inspires us to ask deeply, wholly: What can we do? In the spirit of Gorman’s words, for this year's Spring Gorge Haiku Challenge, Friends of the Columbia Gorge is asking the public to submit haikus illustrating what they love about the Gorge (the views, the communities, waterfalls, etc.) as well as haikus about why it's important to protect, preserve, and steward the Gorge…

Free

Delve Readers Seminar: Five Contemporary Poets: Clifton, Harjo, Komunyaaka, and More

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

A Delve for BIPOC participants only A survey of five contemporary poets and their volumes of selected poems. We will focus on each poet’s body of work, starting with Lucille Clifton, then moving through the works of Joy Harjo, Yusef Komunyaaka, Arthur Sze, and Tracy K. Smith. By reading books that collect poems over decades, we will access each poet’s progressions in content, form, and style, as well as comprehensively approach the historical and cultural contexts reflected. Spending significant time with each poet will bring both breadth and depth to our discussions, and over the course of the seminar we will build a larger and more cohesive understanding of the work of poetry. Reading List: Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000, Lucille Clifton…

$240

The Milwaukie Poetry Series: Claudia Savage

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

The 14th season of poetry readings by established local poets will stream live on the Ledding Library YouTube channel (link is external) on the second Wednesday of each month February through July at 6:30 p.m. February 10, 2021 - John Sibley Williams March 10, 2021 - Quinton Hallett April 14, 2021 - Claudia Savage May 12, 2021 - Anis Mojgani June 9, 2021 - Paulann Petersen July 14, 2021 - Emmett Wheatfall DVDs of past the past two seasons of the Poetry Series readings are available for checkout at the library. Online you can access all past Poetry Series readings at the Ledding Library YouTube channel (link is external). For additional information please contact the Series Coordinator Tom Hogan at 503.819.8367 or tomhogan2@comcast.net (link sends e-mail) or Reference Librarian Sarah Roller…

Free

Oregon Book Award Poetry Finalists Reading

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

A reading withe the 2021 Oregon Book Awards finalists in poetry. Register in advance for this webinar Anna Elkins earned a BA in art and English, an MFA in poetry, and a Fulbright Fellowship to write art-inspired poetry. She has written, painted, and taught on six continents—exhibiting many paintings and publishing several books along the way. Eman Hassan's first poetry collection, Raghead, was the recipient of a Folsom Award and was selected as the Editor's Choice in the New Issues Poetry and Prose 2018 Poetry Prize. A bicultural poet from Massachusetts and Kuwait, Eman earned a PhD in poetry from the University of Nebraska and an MFA in poetry from Arizona State University. She currently lives in Happy Valley, Oregon. Ed Skoog is the author…

Free

April Poetry Practice Space

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join us monthly on zoom, on the third Thursday of the month for prompts and sharing. Register here, and we’ll send the zoom link on the day of the event. Poetry Practice Space is a monthly gathering for poets and writers. Writing materials, readings and prompts for generative writing will be provided. Come share a space to talk about your writing practice, and current writing projects, bemoan rejections, celebrate acceptances, share writing resources— and write together! Consider Poetry Practice Space the calisthenics for your poetics. Suggested donation, no one turned away for lack of funds Free for members

Free

PNCA MFA Reading: Ocean Vuong in conversation with Dao Strom

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Mark your calendars!!! On Thursday, April 15th at 6:30 p.m., poet and novelist Ocean Vuong will read from his recent creative works. Following the reading, Vuong will be joined by faculty mentor and interdisciplinary artist Dao Strom for a conversation. This event will be co-hosted by PNCA’s MFA Low-Residency Creative Writing and MA Critical Studies programs and has been made possible by a generous grant from the Collins Foundation. Ocean Vuong is the author of The New York Times bestselling novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, from Penguin Press (2019) and forthcoming in 30 languages. A recipient of a 2019 MacArthur “Genius” Grant, Vuong is also the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10…

Free

Slamlandia

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Slamlandia is a poetry open mic and slam that meets every month. This mic provides a creative, fun, and welcoming space for all literary communities in Portland. We encourage poets new and old to come share their work. We strive towards a safer space for poets to read their own poetry, witness others, and participate in community. Hosted by Julia Gaskill. Register in advance for this event If you have any questions, please contact slamlandia@gmail.com or jessica@literary-arts.org.

Free

The Writers’ Gymnasium: The Writing Workout

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

How can we build a better writing practice? This prompt-driven generative workshop will give writers an opportunity to flex their literary muscles. Classes will provide an intimate, structured, and supportive time to broaden basic and complex writing skills. Through a series of experimental and innovative exercises we will explore the concepts of character, setting, plot and scene, as well as voice, form, and technique. Close attention will be paid to literary and poetic devices as we take a deep dive into the craft of prose writing. Supportive in-workshop sharing and feedback will be an integral part of the process. All genres welcome. Access Program We want our writing classes to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure…

$285

April BIPOC writer workshop

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

For BIPOC writers Searching for a space to create new work with fellow BIPOC writers? This two-hour workshop meets on Zoom. A variety of prompts will be presented as avenues for generating and sharing new work in an informal setting. Open to BIPOC writers at all levels writing in poetry, fiction, or nonfiction. Scholarships are available. Contact Susan Moore at susan@literary-arts.org for more information. Jacqueline Fitzgerald is an educator, coach, and writer who strives to lead through a love ethic and believes in the power of stories to change hearts and minds. Her writing has been published in the Oregonian, The Learning Network of the New York Times, and Beacon Magazine. Currently, she is working on a speculative future novel exploring intergenerational experiences of survival…

$15

Talakayan at Kapehan: The Power of the Written Word

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Please join us for our next event in the Talakayan at Kapehan Series: The Power of the Written Word, cosponsored by NAFCON Portland and Whitenoise Project! Did you know Clark County, WA, has a Filipino American Poet Laureate? What is the tradition of our poets making art and building community in the Philippines and the diaspora, and why weren’t we taught about them in schools? Join NAFCON Oregon and Whitenoise Project as we celebrate National Poetry Month, exploring these questions with local writers Armin Tolentino and Abigail Licad. Our second #NAFCONTAK event of 2021 will feature a poetry reading and discussion about seizing the means of literary production and building alternate structures to the academy. There will be a community Q&A after the reading, all…

Free