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!

Attic Institute: SUMMER Online: So You Wanna Be a Writer Workshop w Wayne Gregory | Aug 18 – Sep 15 SPOTS OPEN FOR NEW WRITERS

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. …

$215 – $242

Crit Night

True North Studios 455 NE 71st Avenue, Portland, OR, United States

Monthly 7-9 pm NEXT UP: August 18th Hosted by Sarah Lofthouse + True North Studios Crit Night is a safe place to get feedback on art or creative project. Allow us to be your sounding board and help you create the best work possible. Aren't ready to present? All are welcome to join in supporting creatives regardless of experience. Sliding suggested donation $5-$25 – nobody will be turned away for lack of funds! Masks recommended for those not vaccinated. About the host Sarah Lofthouse is a mixed media artist. She holds a Post Bacc Certificate from School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Studio Arts and BA in Studio Arts from California State University, Los Angeles. Her primary mediums are painting and photography. When…

Free – $25

Rafia Zakaria in Conversation With Jean Guerrero

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Rafia Zakaria’s Against White Feminism (W. W. Norton) is a radically inclusive, intersectional, and transnational approach to the fight for women’s rights. Elite white women have branded feminism, promising an apolitical individual empowerment along with sexual liberation and satisfaction, LGBTQ inclusion, and racial solidarity. As Zakaria expertly argues, those promises have been proven empty and white feminists have leant on their racial privilege and sense of cultural superiority. Drawing on her own experiences as an American Muslim woman, as well as an attorney working on behalf of immigrant women, Zakaria champions a reconstruction of feminism that forges true solidarity by bringing Black and brown voices and goals to the fore. Ranging from the savior complex of British feminist imperialists to the condescension of the white…

Free

August 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

Slamlandia Digital Open Mic ft. Adrienne Novy

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. -- Slamlandia is hosting another digital poetry open mic. This open mic - only poetry, no music please - will take place on August 19th. We'll be hosting this event with the help of Literary Arts. You can access our Zoom link in advance. Here is the link…

Free

Unrepeatable Peattie/Abel Yard Sale!

1005 SE 36th Avenue 1005 SE 36th Avenue, Portland, OR, United States

Extraordinary . . . Eclectic . . . Esoteric . . . International . . . Exquisite . . . Artistic Don't miss this unforgettable extravaganza!    & please tell your friends! Saturday, August 21 11:00 am – 5:00 pm (or so) Sunday, August 22 (BARGAIN DAY) 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm 1005 SE 36th Avenue (at Yamhill) No early birds and sorry, no pre-sales Cash, cards, and payment apps accepted Screaming deals! Vintage! Mod! Strange and Marvelous! Weird and wonderful home decor Select photos can be seen on the Facebook event page Tchotchkes & bibelots Adult trapeze with ropes 1920s Conn alto saxophone Chinese & Turkish ceramics Three Islamic-style side tables Large collection of mid-century lucite paperweights & objects Floor and table lamps Decorative…

Free

Revivify: Breathing Life into Dead Matter with Lidia Yuknavitch

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

WHAT: A three-hour online webgasm with a 15-minute intermission WITH: Lidia Yuknavitch and at least one special guest. WHEN: Saturday, August 21st 1PM-4PM Pacific (4PM-7PM Eastern) WHERE: ZOOM! (But of course.) 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. "No one is better at revealing how the stories we carry in our bodies need to find form and expression, before they eat us alive." —The New Yorker Revivify: Breathing Life into Dead Matter Do…

$150

Exploring Our Inner Monsters

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Exploring Our Inner Monsters: So many times we talk about our interests and desires, but what if we took the time to discover our inner monsters? What does that monster eat and thrive off? Ever wonder if someone else shares the same monster? Through guided writing prompts and dialogue, we will attempt to normalize our monsters and create from the exploration. Each participant will make a mini zine by the end of the workshop. *FREE* Register here Materials needed: Yourself, a pen or pencil, some paper, collaging material (an old magazine or two), scissors, glue stick or tape Age Range: All ages, but please have an adult with those who are 6 years and younger Artist Bio: A’misa Chiu (she/they) is a zinester, librarian and…

Free

Nick Flynn in Conversation With Melissa Febos

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

When Nick Flynn was seven years old, his mother set fire to their house. The event loomed large in his imagination for years, but it’s only after having a child of his own that he understands why. He returns with his young daughter to the landscape of his youth, reflecting on how his feral childhood has him still in its reins, and forms his memories into lyrical bedtime stories populated by the both sinister and wounded Mister Mann. With the spare lyricism and dark irony of his classic, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, Flynn excavates the terrain of his traumatic upbringing and his mother’s suicide. His searing new memoir, This Is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire (W. W. Norton), unravels the story…

Free

Delve Readers Seminar: The Book of Embraces

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

The vignetted format of this text sometimes expands into short stories and sometimes shrinks into prose-poems, but regardless of any section’s length, this book is always intimate, charming, and transportive. Galeano uses journalistic research, autobiographical anecdotes, and interviews to emphasize how there really is no distinction between the personal and the political. He writes of the military dictatorship in Uruguay that forced him into exile, an Italian pantomime performance that reminded him the importance of loving your craft, a pet guinea pig that’s too afraid to leave its cage, the Chilean government’s despoiling of Pablo Neruda’s home, the fantastic dreams of his wife, and a few hundred other vignettes that advocate for love, friendship, and determination. A powerful text that uplifts humanity in the face…

$110