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!

Writing And/As the Mother with Amanda Montei

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Writers, artists, and theorists have long used the figure of The Mother to make sense of what we seek in writing, art, and politics. Today, The Mother remains a receptacle for all our cultural anxieties and longings. And yet, the work of taking care, cleaning up, and maintaining life—which someone must do to make space for creative practice— is too often rendered invisible. How have the body and labor of The Mother shaped our ideas of comfort, home, work, and novelty? How does caring for others, big and small, teach us to care on the page? Should the book be a space in which we are held, or perhaps something else entirely? In this 4-week course, we will discuss the cultural and political influences that…

$350

2021 Tin House Virtual Craft Intensive: Writing Care, with Brian Trapp

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

In this class, we’ll explore the potential and peril of writing creative nonfiction about caregiving. We’ll discuss the importance of representing the often beautiful and complex dynamic between caregiver and caretaker as well as ways in which caregivers have engaged in problematic representations of disability. We’ll discuss powerful portrayals of caregiving in creative nonfiction by Danielle Cadena Deulen and Heather Lanier and write compelling care narratives of our own through generative writing prompts. Participants will leave with new writing as well as a greater understanding of the powerful care dynamic. Tin House is proud to announce our latest virtual Craft Intensives Series. A series of 3-hour-long masterclasses lead by  Tin House Residents and Tin House Books Authors, these Intensives combine close reading, discussion, and in-class…

$75

2021 Tin House Virtual Craft Intensive: Turning Words into Magic, with Keeonna Harris

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

*Saturday is sold out, join waitlist by emailing workshop@gmail.com or purchase Sunday below* Many of us get stuck writing; searching for that grandiose word rather than write words that we use every day and that reflect our lives. Sometimes, the magic of the word is in the mundane. This craft intensive is for writers who are feeling discouraged and unable to find the perfect word/and or words to convey the nuance and depth we want our readers to feel. We will be exploring excerpts from Heavy by Kiese Laymon and The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw. Participants will leave this intensive with a set of practical strategies on choosing a word that “fits” the ongoing themes of their work. We will do writing exercises in which I will push you to…

$75

Eno/Ono: Jumping into Risk through Cross-Genre Explorations w/ Alex Behr

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Do we need holes? What wouldn’t you do? Use fewer notes —Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt, Oblique Strategies cards TAPE PIECE III Snow Piece Take a tape of the sound of snow falling. This should be done in the evening. Do not listen to the tape. Cut it and use it as string to tie gifts with. Make a gift wrapper, if you wish, using the same process with a phonosheet. 1963 autumn —Yoko Ono, Grapefruit WHAT: A four-part online generative workshop. WHERE: The Corporeal Writing Zoom Room. WHEN: Saturdays, October 2nd, 16th, 23rd & 30th—@1-3PT Note: No meeting October 9th. STRUCTURE: Participants will write during our meetings and in-between, sending in work and explorations to share. We’ll be generating poetry and micro-memoir pieces and…

$225

2021 Tin House Virtual Craft Intensive: You Can Do Anything With Words and Images, with Courtney Cook

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

In the words of Harvey Pekar, from which this course draws its name, “Comics are just words and images. You can do anything with words and images.” This generative course is designed to spark inspiration by providing an exploration of the nearly endless ways text and image can be combined to create a symbiotic relationship that strengthens work as a whole. Created for writers and artists at every level, this course aims to eradicate self-doubt and the belief that one must embody a certain level of artistic skill to employ utilizing illustrated or visual elements in their own work. Through examining graphic narratives by creators such as Kristen Radtke, Yumi Sakugawa, Kevin Huizenga, Allie Brosh, and Theresa Wong, and participating in a series of generative…

$75

2021 Tin House Virtual Craft Intensive: Turning Words into Magic, with Keeonna Harris

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

*Saturday is sold out, join waitlist by emailing workshop@gmail.com or purchase Sunday below* Many of us get stuck writing; searching for that grandiose word rather than write words that we use every day and that reflect our lives. Sometimes, the magic of the word is in the mundane. This craft intensive is for writers who are feeling discouraged and unable to find the perfect word/and or words to convey the nuance and depth we want our readers to feel. We will be exploring excerpts from Heavy by Kiese Laymon and The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw. Participants will leave this intensive with a set of practical strategies on choosing a word that “fits” the ongoing themes of their work. We will do writing exercises in which I will push you to…

$75

Drop-in Writing Workshop for BIPOC Writers with Anya Pearson

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

This is one of four online workshops for BIPOC writers designed to help you generate new material, refine an existing draft, or simply discover the permission to call yourself a writer. We will gather on Zoom on the first Tuesday of each month (September-December) and hold space for each other, creating a community with other BIPOC writers. Think of this as a playpen and creative incubator to support you as you generate writing and navigate building a creative practice and life in the arts. We will write together using specific prompts. We’ll bounce ideas off each other, share our work in progress, and hold space for the fullness of who we are. Sign up for one, two, three, or all four sessions. Additional sessions are listed below or on…

$5 – $30

Write Around Portland: Online Writing Workshops

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Writing is often thought of as something done in isolation; we know there is immense power when writing is done in community. Join us for 90 minutes of creativity and community-building, with generative writing exercises, sharing and strengths-based feedback. Our workshop model, refined over 22 years, is proven for people of all writing levels: from the budding writer to the published author. Fall 2021: Every other Thursday, September 23 through December 16, from 11 am to 12:30 pm (Pacific Time).  Thursday, Sept 23 from 11 am-12:30 pm – Registration Full. Please join us next month! Thursday, Oct 7 from 11 am-12:30 pm Thursday, Oct 21 from 11 am-12:30 pm Thursday, Nov 4 from 11 am-12:30 pm Thursday, Nov 18 from 11 am-12:30 pm Thursday, Dec 2 from 11 am-12:30…

$5 – $30

Virtual Risograph Basics!

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Welcome to our Risograph Basics course: a printing, collage, experimentation, and mark making extravaganza! Get to know Outlet and our RISO sisters (Barbara, Janet, Corita, and Tina) and learn the basics of this fun and unique print method with Kate Bingaman-Burt! This workshop is a great place to start if you’re new to riso, or if you’d like a refresher! We’ll take a deep dive into risograph history, an overview of how these machines work, the stencil-duplicator process, and the quirks and fun (sometimes unpredictable) outcomes of riso printing. The main focus of this class is EXPERIMENTATION. We’ll share print and zine inspiration, favorite mark making tools and how to use them for riso, and we’ll walk through a print demo on two of our…

$15 – $100

Write Around Portland: Bi-Monthly BIPOC Online Writing Workshop

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

For people who identify as Black, Indigenous or People of Color (BIPOC). 2nd & 4th Friday of every month from 4 to 5:30 pm (Pacific Time), Free. (No workshops 11/26 & 12/25.) Workshops are held via Zoom. Pre-registration is required. Registration opens the 1st of the month every month. Pre-register for our 2nd Friday workshop here. Pre-register for our 4th Friday workshop here. Click here for more workshop details.

Free