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!

Persistence: What It Takes to Publish a Book, featuring Ellen Michaelson, Joanna Rose, and Suzy Vitello

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

We are thrilled to present (virtually) on Monday, June 7th, at 5 PM PST a multi-author reading and in-conversation with local Portland authors Ellen Michaelson, Joanna Rose, and Suzy Vitello discussing the topic “Persistence: What it Takes to Publish a Book.” Each of these authors had rather long and winding paths toward the publication of their novels. They also were all students of Tom Spanbauer in his original Dangerous Writing group. This event is free but does require preregistration at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_K44ozcbDS1ysmlmXQ1KJhA Ellen Michaelson is a physician in Portland and an MFA graduate from Pacific University. Currently an assistant professor of Medicine at OHSU and vice president of the board of the NW Narrative Medicine Collaborative, she was an NEH Fellow in Medical Humanities…

Free

Unlikeable on Purpose—A Three-Hour Webgasm w/ Lidia Yuknavitch

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

WHAT: A three-hour online webgasm with Lidia Yuknavitch and at least one special guest. (With a 15-minute intermission.) WHEN: Saturday, June 26th 1PM-4PM Pacific (4PM-7PM Eastern) WHERE: ZOOM. Meeting ID will be provided ahead of time. (Interested in this event but unable to join it live? All registered attendees will receive a link to a recording of it that will be viewable for one week afterwards.) HOW MUCH: $150. Payment plans are available, contact Daniel Elder at registration@corporealwriting.com SCHOLARSHIPS: Scholarships are always available. Click here to apply. (Note: This offering is available as part of a three-webinar bundle along with Beyond The What: The Heart and Guts of Memoir and Revivify: Breathing Life into Dead Matter. Each webinar is $150, but you can sign up…

$150

BOOKLOVER’S BURLESQUE: To Tease Or Not To Tease (VirtualShakespeareEdition)

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

HUZZAH! 'Tis time for The Bard and Burlesque to marry as Lacy Productions presents... BOOKLOVER'S BURLESQUE: To Tease Or Not To Tease (Our brand new Virtual Shakespeare Edition) Saturday, June 26th, 2021 Livestream at 7pm PDT on Crowdcast $15 GA & $25 VIP TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE ! (A Crowdcast link to our livestream will be emailed to all ticketholders by 3pm- or later if purchased afterward- on the day of the show. Tickets will be available up until showtime.) General Admission: $15 VIP Admission: $25 (includes an exclusive invitation to a Zoom VIP Meet & Greet directly after the show and a special thank you during the show. The Zoom VIP Meet & Greet link will also be emailed beforehand.) ** If you would like…

$15 – $25

2021 Tin House Summer Workshop Conversation Series: Asali Solomon and Danielle Evans

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

#thsw public conversation series continues with Danielle Evans and Asali Solomon discussing the narrative structure of writing friendship, the relationship between friendship and characterization, and the nuances of writing Black women’s friendships. 2 pm PST with ASL interpretation.

Free

Craft Conversations: Dialogue

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Dialogue, as much as anything else, reveals the character to the writer and, ultimately to the reader. I don’t have a very clear idea of who the characters are until they start talking. ~ Joan Didion Sometimes, when I’m lucky, a line of dialogue, either something I’ve dreamed up or overheard, will spark a story. Because dialogue is so revealing it can be an entrance point, a moment when a character speaking, reveals themself on the page. Because dialogue is the only time the reader directly hears from the characters without the filter of the narrator, the spoken words become a measure for the heart and mind of the characters. What do they want? What are they trying to gain or conceal? How is dialog…

$75

Submission Roulette II, an Electric Literature virtual salon presented by Mount Saint Mary’s University

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

What goes through an editor’s mind when they read the first lines of your story? What can you do right away to hook them and keep them turning pages? Which tired moves make them groan and lose interest fast? One of our most exciting salon events is back by popular demand! Recommended Reading editors Halimah Marcus and Brandon Taylor return to edit your anonymous first pages, submitted just for this event. They will read each page for the first time live on screen, sharing their immediate reactions as they go. Here’s what previous attendees said about this event: “Immediately planning to rewrite all my first pages.” “Live impressions are true-to-life and that's why this session has been so uniquely valuable.” “10/10 would pay for more of…

$10

Writing About Sex

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

From kissing to seduction—to the deed itself—writing about sex can be one of the hardest feats in storytelling. We’ll study the way writers like Lidia Yuknavitch, Melissa Febos, Zadie Smith, D. H. Lawrence, and others approach this facet of craft. Our conversations will explore how sex can be implied or explicit, while still being literary and classy. Class one is entirely devoted to writing the literary kiss, and future sessions will cover sex “implied” with its absence on the page, homosexual sex, and heterosexual sex. We’ll cover the do’s and don’t’s, address common “cliches,” and inspect different ways writers represent sex in their stories, so that we can better assess what might work best for ours. Each writer will have the opportunity to share a…

$195

August BIPOC Craft Series: Fiction

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

This monthly craft series for BIPOC writers invites you to dream and imagine new worlds and characters for fictional storytelling. Using beloved and renowned BIPOC writers as models for fictional narratives, we will notice, play, practice, share and grow as writers. 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 take a writing class at the Access Rate. Jacqueline Fitzgerald is an…

$50