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So, You Wanna Be A Writer w Wayne Gregory | Jan 17 – Feb 14 | Online

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

“Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” ~ E. L. Doctorow You have a thousand stories inside your head. You dabble on the page but rarely if ever finish anything, much less share with others. “Is my work good enough?” you wonder.  “Do I have something original and interesting to say? What makes me think I can be a writer?”  The biggest obstacle for emerging writers is not lack of time nor lack of skill nor lack of things to write about. It’s a lack of self-confidence. This workshop is designed for those who want to be writers but are not sure they can be. …

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$219 – $248

Poetry Workshop: A Tour of Potent Forms w John Morrison | Jan 18 – Feb 15 | Online

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

“A poet’s resources and inspirations remain constant, but our curiosity about form and technique renews the art for us.” ~ Paul Violi In this session we’ll open up and explore several potent forms that power great poetry, like the aubade, pantoum, litany, and palindrome. And maybe more importantly, these forms will provide a roadmap and a toolkit for future radical and satisfying revision of your draft poems. We’ll consider the music and strategy of model poems, and then through writing experiments and play, we’ll draft our versions. You will leave each evening with an appreciation and a draft of the evening’s form, and that form that will stay with you to invigorate your writing practice. Zoom link provided prior to start of workshop. Teacher: John MorrisonTime: Wednesdays,…

Continue readingPoetry Workshop: A Tour of Potent Forms w John Morrison | Jan 18 – Feb 15 | Online
$219 – $248

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…

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$80 – $200

In-Store Reading: Tara Shepersky: Tell the Turning

Annie Bloom's Books 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes local poet Tara Shepersky for an in-store reading from her new collection, Tell the Turning. About Tell the Turning: Sometimes a thought, or a whisper, or a dispatch, Tell the Turning unfolds as lyrical journal, hymnal, and almanac all rolled into one volume, with its three poem cycles interweaving thematic rhythms and threads. It is an ambulatory archive, paced to poet Tara K. Shepersky's steps and treks along a stretch of the Pacific coast, from Oregon up to Washington and down to California. Then there’s a circadian and seasonal rhythm, with Tara attuned to the tug of moon on tide and tide on poet; the balance (and present-day imbalance) of the seasons; and the slumbers and awakenings of the earth and its…

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Free

Slamlandia

Literary Arts 925 SW Washington Street, 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. This event takes place in-person. Proof of Covid-19 vaccine or a negative PCR test is required for admittance. Please see our Covid-19 guidelines for in-person events at Literary Arts. Hosted by Julia Gaskill. Julia Gaskill Julia Gaskill is a professional daydreamer hailing from Portland, Oregon. Her poetry examines the tightrope we sometimes walk of feeling our voices censored and also being unabashedly ourselves. Her poems touch on everyday…

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Free
Constellation #1 Featured Readers

Constellation #1

Tin House 2617 NW Thurman Street, Portland, OR, United States

Please join us for Constellation #1, a free community reading at Tin House Books, featuring poet Armin Tolentino, novelist Juhea Kim, and writer/artist Annika Hansteen-Izora. Location: Tin House Books, 2617 NW Thurman St, Portland, OR 97210 (Enter through the double doors on 26th) Armin Tolentino (he/him) earned his MFA at Rutgers University in Newark and is the author of WE MEANT TO BRING IT HOME ALIVE (Alternating Current Press, 2019). His poetry has appeared in Hyphen Magazine, Arsenic Lobster, The Raven Chronicles, and elsewhere. Originally from Lincoln Park, New Jersey, he now lives in Vancouver, Washington. He's an Oregon Literary Arts Fellowship recipient, Clark County's Poet Laureate, and an avid (albeit usually unsuccessful) fisherman. He hopes one day to earn a Guiness Record for World's Loudest Clap.…

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Free

Delve Readers Seminar: Plato On Love

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

The Symposium by Plato asks: what is love? It is the story of a banquet in classical Athens, attended by Socrates and his friends, at which each person tells a story about the origin of Love. These stories are full of deep psychological insight, powerful mythic imagination, and profound philosophical reflection that have made The Symposium one of the masterpieces of world literature and a crowning work of philosophy. Bawdy and sentimental, drunk and wise by turns, with a surprising turn of events near the end, each story illuminates a striking part of the human condition. The event is crowned by Socrates’ own story, telling us the origin of his gift and portraying the nature of the world in terms of Love. Throughout the night,…

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$245

In-Store Poetry Reading: Dianne Stepp and Judith Montgomery

Annie Bloom's Books 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes Portland poets Dianne Stepp and Judith Montgomery for an in-store reading from their latest collections. About The Nest's Dark Eye: Some traditions believe a grieving woman-given her vulnerability, given the boundless expanse of her sorrow-stands at the spirit world's threshold. Grief gives her a kind of holiness, a sacred compassion and perception. Dianne Stepp's voice possesses such a power. Her poems are finely crafted, deeply musical lamentations for her son who committed suicide. Her poems are grateful paeans to the natural world's bounty and grace. A poet-mother trying to fathom her son's final, devastating actions, she's "craning to see, twisting / to search the shape / of his death." The Nest's Dark Eye offers us sorrow's keen insight, its fraught and luminous…

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Free

Experiments in Creativity

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

If you allow them to, ideas for art and writing can come from absolutely anywhere. This creative generation class will put that theory to the test, through a series of experiments in creative problem-solving, spontaneous and chance-based play, and other exploratory prompts that challenge you to work outside your normal modes and investigate how the creative brain works. Prior to the start of this series of classes, each participant will receive a unique packet of random materials in the mail. In-class exercises and weekly assignments will ask you to work with these materials in various ways, including an opportunity to create collaboratively at a distance. You’ll also keep a weekly journal detailing your personal process and ideas about creativity. As support for this process, we…

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$300

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…

Continue readingPushpins & Portals: Experimenting with Short Forms
$80 – $200
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