LitPDX seeks to amplify marginalized voices, and welcomes all, their ideas, their events, and their words.

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Winter Writing: A Poetry Prompt Workshop w Matthew Dickman | Jan 15 – Mar 5 | Online FULL — WAITLIST ONLY

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Winter is a time for going indoors, breaking out the extra blankets, and hibernating. But it can also be a time of thoughtfulness, of preparing one for the renewal of Spring to come. In this spirit Winter Writing will be a generative poetry class. A class of first drafts. Over eight weeks we will write poems from a diverse list of prompts, suggestions, and examples from poets such as Morgan Parker, Dorianne Laux, Major Jackson, Sharon Olds, Richie Hoffman and others. Each week we will bring in our first draft to share, discuss, and celebrate. Come write with us! Zoom link provided prior to start of workshop. Teacher: Matthew DickmanTime: Sundays, Jan 15 - Mar 5, 1-3pm Pacific TimeTotal Fee: Discounted Early Registration is due seven (7) days…

Continue readingWinter Writing: A Poetry Prompt Workshop w Matthew Dickman | Jan 15 – Mar 5 | Online FULL — WAITLIST ONLY
$350 – $379

Delve Readers Seminar: The Feminine Gothic: Victorian and American Horror

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

Novels of ghosts and haunted landscapes can open the door to discussions of sociology and repression, trauma, and the cathartic function of horror. In this seminar, we will examine themes of possession, repression, haunting, and the mad woman in the attic in four Victorian and American horror novels from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries: Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, and Laura van den Berg’s The Third Hotel. In-Person Seminar Note: This seminar meets in-person at Literary Arts, 925 SW Washington.Please see our complete Covid-19 policy here. Access Program We want our 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…

Continue readingDelve Readers Seminar: The Feminine Gothic: Victorian and American Horror
$245

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. …

Continue readingSo, You Wanna Be A Writer w Wayne Gregory | Jan 17 – Feb 14 | Online
$219 – $248

A Writer’s Toolkit: Plot and Structure w Wayne Gregory | Jan 19 – Feb 16 | Online

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

It has to come to life! Bit by bit, putting it together Piece by piece, only way to make a work of art --- Stephen Sondheim This class is about helping the emerging writer take her pile of random chapters, character sketches, fragments, scenes, ramblings, and moments of literary brilliance, into something of a coherent and emotionally resonant story. During this class we will explore how a writer can look within their narrative to identify the key scenes, to understand the most critical trajectory for the character(s) from beginning to end, and to build the necessary narrative to connect those key scenes and move the journey of the characters forward. Finally, each student will develop their own revision practice and understand better what their story…

Continue readingA Writer’s Toolkit: Plot and Structure w Wayne Gregory | Jan 19 – Feb 16 | 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

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,…

Continue readingDelve Readers Seminar: Plato On Love
$245

Six Month Screenwriting Intensive

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

“Screenplays…are primarily a narrative blueprint for cinematic interpretation. They require certain beats, certain layouts, and certain terminology to communicate the visual and audio needs of an eventual production — a production that hundreds of professionals will collaborate on.” – Ken Miyamoto, Screencraft “The challenge of screenwriting is to say much in little and then take half of that little out and still preserve an effect of leisure and natural movement.” – Raymond Chandler The art and craft of writing for the screen is a skill that all authors would do well to have in their creative arsenals. On one level, prose fiction, memoir, non-fiction, all these forms have been, and will continue to be, sought out by the film industry as foundations for works in…

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$1,100

Delve Readers Seminar: The Brothers Karamazov

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

The American novelist Walker Percy described The Brothers Karamazov as “maybe the greatest novel of all time . . . . almost prophesies and prefigures everything—all the bloody mess and the issues of the 20th century.” It’s fair to extend Percy’s observation to include the mess of the present century as well. The Brothers K is Dostoevsky’s masterpiece: a gripping tale of murder and family conflict that explores profound questions of faith, doubt, free will, morality, and the existence of God. The novel’s structure is equally complex, featuring multiple narrators and shifting points of view, and a wide cast of characters and voices. Dostoevsky considered the book a complete expression of his thinking about the human condition. This Delve will offer participants the opportunity to…

Continue readingDelve Readers Seminar: The Brothers Karamazov
$340

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

Delve Readers Seminar: “Real Women Have Bodies”: the grotesque in women writers’ short stories

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Genre-defying writers Carmen Maria Machado, Sayaka Murata and Bora Chung incorporate elements from fairy tales, horror and science fiction to give us lopsided but chillingly familiar scenes from our society. Whether in Machado’s rewriting of folklore in “The Husband Stitch”, Murata’s imaginings of a world where we eat dead people in “Life Ceremony”, or Chung’s nightmarish rendering of a body made of a woman’s excrement in “The Head”, these stories don’t shy away from body horror, rather choosing to dive right into the messy as well as the sometimes disgusting realities of being a human, and woman, in our world. Texts (selected stories) Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung Access Program We…

Continue readingDelve Readers Seminar: “Real Women Have Bodies”: the grotesque in women writers’ short stories
$160
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