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Fall 2019: Memoir Accountability

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

September 7, 2019 and the first Saturday of the month through May 2, 2019. (no meeting in March) Saturdays, 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. (8 meetings) Instructor: Jay Ponteri Prerequisites: • Previously enrolled in 18/19 nine month memoir intensive with Jay Ponteri, OR instructor permission. This class meets once a month from September to May. This will be your monthly dose of accountability for students who are continuing to work on their memoir. Each writer will have the opportunity to workshop pages of their manuscript in progress. About the instructor: Jay Ponteri is the author of the memoir Wedlocked (Hawthorne Books), winner of an Oregon Book Award in Creative Nonfiction. Jay directs the Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing at Pacific Northwest College of Art  …

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$350

Rene Denfeld – Writing from the Margins: September 8

The Corporeal Writing Center 510 SW 3rd Ave #101, Portland, OR, United States

Join Rene Denfeld—an award winning, bestselling novelist with a 9th grade formal education—for a workshop on creating a successful writing career from a marginalized background. Rene will lead students through discovering their own voice, promise and potential not despite their past but because of it. This is a workshop about claiming our place in the literary community. It will include publishing advice as well as craft experience. Be prepared to write! Rene Denfeld is the author of novels The Enchanted, The Child Finder and the forthcoming The Butterfly Girl. Her books have won prestigious awards, including a French Prix, an ALA and Carnegie listing, IMPAC listing, Center for Fiction finalist and more. The Child Finder was an international bestseller, and Margaret Atwood has praised her…

Continue readingRene Denfeld – Writing from the Margins: September 8
$275

Wendy Ortiz – The Nonfictional Body: Sept. 14

The Corporeal Writing Center 510 SW 3rd Ave #101, Portland, OR, United States

When: Saturday September 14th, 2019:: 10:00 - 4:00 Where: The Corporeal Center; 510 SW 3rd Ave, Portland, OR 97210 Cost: $300 This workshop will explore the potential of creative nonfiction as a vehicle for experimentation, meaning, and change at various strata of the social fabric. Using the metaphor of the body when it comes into contact with these strata—be it personal relationship, relationship to structures, streets, cities and natural settings, states, territory, and ultimately, the earth as a whole—we will investigate how creative nonfiction “works,” vis-a-vis the genre/body’s response. A variety of forms will be used as examples on our investigation, including brief excerpts from select blogs, chapbooks, journals, storytelling in legal scholarship, and more. Wendy C. Ortiz is the author of Excavation: A Memoir, Hollywood Notebook, and the dreamoir Bruja. In…

Continue readingWendy Ortiz – The Nonfictional Body: Sept. 14
$300

Monthly Poetry Gathering w John Morrison | Second Saturdays | Sep – Jan

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

"If I write, the dark shadows move away from my desk." ~ Donald Murray Here’s a workshop that can flow with the longer rhythms of your writing. A Saturday afternoon of each month, we’ll gather and share one or two poems in a comfortable but focused fashion. You choose the poem to share based on what feedback you are looking for; the poems could range from ones you want ready to submit for publication, to experimental pieces that need a supportive but critical eye. Along the way we’ll talk about craft and how to grow and sustain a fulfilling practice. Come ready to share your poems and insights and to carry generous feedback home to your writing desk. | Maximum: 9 writers Register for this workshop Teacher:…

Continue readingMonthly Poetry Gathering w John Morrison | Second Saturdays | Sep – Jan
$210 – $237

Fall 2019: September Writer of Color Sunday Morning Workshop

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

Searching for a space to create new work with fellow writers of color? This two-hour workshop meets once a month on Sundays. Writers can register for one or more sessions. A variety of prompts will be presented as avenues for generating and sharing new work in an informal setting. Open to writers of color at all levels writing in poetry, fiction, or nonfiction. You can also bring your own prompts and questions about the writing process, and explore them with the group. Emilly Prado is an award-winning multimedia journalist. A Chicana native of the San Francisco Bay Area, she has been writing and photographing since she was a child though studied education, social work, and library sciences after high school. Using an intersectional feminist framework,…

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$15

Fall 2019: Short Story Master Class

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

Draft two short stories in ten weeks. This intensive workshop combines study of narrative craft and model short stories with generative writing to help cultivate ideas for plot and character and workshop feedback to assist in developing story arc, structure, and sensory details. By the end of ten weeks, you will have completed drafts of two short stories, created a plan for revision, and developed a consistent writing practice. Prerequisites: • Short Story Intensive, Short Story Crash Course or Launching Stories at Literary Arts or instructor permission. • For instructor permission, please email a 3-4 page writing sample and a brief description of your writing class experience to Susan Moore at susan@literary-arts.org Mondays, September 16 – November 18, 2019 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. (10 class…

Continue readingFall 2019: Short Story Master Class
$465

Fall 2019: Writing a Novel in 8 Weeks

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

Through mini-lectures, in-class writing, and lots of workshopping, you will explore matters of storytelling (such as plotting and character development), craft (what makes a good sentence? a good scene?), and motivation (how in the world am I supposed to write a novel in only eight weeks?) to get the work done. This is a boot-camp-style class designed for aspiring novelists who have a clear fictional project in mind and who can commit to a rigorous eight-week schedule of reading and writing. You do not need permission to register, but you should have some prior experience in writing. And if you’ve got an outline for your planned novel, even better. Each participant will present work to the class for discussion four times. Emily Chenoweth is the…

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$365

Writing the Poem Workshop w Ashley Toliver | Sep 16 – Oct 14

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

What happens when we expand our creative focus and let go of our expectations? In this workshop, we'll use writing practices and generative techniques, explore poems and strategies, all with the goal of completing the workshop with a handful of new poems. Can we find liberation from the pressures we place on ourselves and our work? Join the experiment and let's find out! Maximum: 12 writers. Register for this workshop Teacher: Ashley Toliver Time: Mondays, Sep 16 - Oct 14, 5:30 - 7:30pm, 5 weeks Location: Attic Institute of Arts and Letters, 4232 SE Hawthorne Boulevard Total Fee: Early Registration and Tuition Deadline is seven (7) days prior to the start of the workshop. | Early Registration: $210 (cash/check); $222 (Paypal). | Late Registration: $225…

Continue readingWriting the Poem Workshop w Ashley Toliver | Sep 16 – Oct 14
$210 – $237

Intro to Flash Nonfiction w Brian Benson

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

Flash nonfiction, simply put, is true-to-life writing defined by extreme compression: it's saying what you've got to say using as few words, and as much beauty, as possible. An endlessly accessible, playful, potent form, flash nonfiction is evermore popular; from Brevity to River Teeth, The Rumpus to The Sun, legions of great journals are eager to publish great flash. In this prompt-driven workshop, we'll read masters of the flash nonfiction form, including Anna Vodicka, Ross Gay, Brenda Miller, Ira Sukrungruang, Abigail Thomas, and more; we'll talk about what stories are suited for flash, how to tell them well, and where to publish them; and most of all, we'll write, and write, and write, via in-class exercises and take-home prompts. Students will leave the class with reams of new writing and ideas for where to…

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$210 – $237

Generative Exercises & Critique Workshop w Patrick Dundon

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

What makes a piece of writing come alive? What gives it emotional resonance, energy, and depth? How do we transform the raw material of our lives—our observations, memories, insights, dreams—into compelling poems, stories or essays that lure in a reader? In this class, we’ll dive into these questions, drawing inspiration from a diverse array of writers as we investigate the craft elements (image, narrative, syntax, metaphor, etc) that make a piece of writing vibrate with feeling and energy. And we’ll dive into our own work, immersing ourselves in our creative processes to find new doorways into ourselves and our writing. Whether you’re new to writing or have been at it for years, this class will provide you with a supportive, inspiring environment in which to…

Continue readingGenerative Exercises & Critique Workshop w Patrick Dundon
$210 – $237
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