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!

Exploring Fiction Narratives: How’d They Do That?

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

When was the last story you read that really changed you? Maybe you thought about it for days, weeks, you’ve re-read it over the years. And maybe you said to yourself, “I wish I could write like that. How’d they do that?” This course is all about the how. In this combination craft and workshop class, we will read and dissect the work of writers from different times and places and we’ll answer the question: how did they do that? What makes a story good? What makes it feel complete? What details will strengthen a story and enhance plot and which are unnecessary? How do writers use their words to evoke emotion, create setting and carry us through the story effectively and make a story—or…

$285

Portland Correspondence Co-op

IPRC (Independent Publishing Resource Center) 318 SE Main Street #175, Portland, OR, United States

PDXCC is a monthly gathering where participants make and share analog correspondence in the great mail art tradition of Ray Johnson and Anna Banana: art and conversation through the mail. This uniquely democratic, DIY art form incorporates writing, drawing, collage, rubber stamps, faux postage, decorative tape, typewriters – anything goes, as long as it goes through the mail. Hang out, skill share and send the glorious results through the mail. Monthly events hosted by the Portland chapter of the Correspondence Co-op and Niko Courtelis. Basic materials will be on hand (scissors, glue sticks, envelopes’85), but you’re encouraged to bring whatever materials fuel your creative spirit. Free and open to the public, every third Tuesday of the month  

Free

Modernist Design & Literature with Melanie Nead

Lewis & Clark College 0615 SW Palatine Hill Road, Portland, OR, United States

Melanie Nead (LC ’03) of Lonesome Pictopia is a muralist and wallpaper/ textile designer. Melanie will discuss the Arts & Crafts Movement and its relationship to modernist design and literature. Hosted by Professor Rishona Zimring and her ENG 450-02 Senior Seminar class. Free Miller Hall, Room 102

Free

October Virtual Collage Night

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join us for Virtual Collage Night on the 1st Sunday of the month, 5-6pm. The first 40 mins or so will be open collage with occasional prompts, followed by a show & tell. Register here and we’ll send a zoom link the day of the event.

Free

Risograph Basics @ Outlet!

Outlet 2500 Northeast Sandy Boulevard, Portland, OR, United States

About the Workshop 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…

$85 – $100

Halloween Craft

Ledding Library of Milwaukie 10660 SE 21st Avenue, Milwaukie, OR, United States

Drop-in and make your own monster stick puppet to keep. All ages. Library Community Room. Room Location: Community Room

Free

November Collage Night

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join us for Virtual Collage Night on the 1st Sunday of the month, 5-6pm. The first 40 mins or so will be open collage with occasional prompts, followed by a show & tell. Register here and we’ll send a zoom link the day of the event.

Free

Collage Night In-Person RSVP

IPRC (Independent Publishing Resource Center) 318 SE Main Street #175, Portland, OR, United States

*This community event is in-person; Masks & Proof of Vaccination + Booster Required Capacity: 25 This month, we’re offering a hybrid Collage Night. You can still participate virtual by zooming in but we’ll also have the option for an in-person Collage Night for anyone who is local. Space is limited, RSVP here.

Free

Fall | Erasing the Male Gaze (and Other Power Structures) in Creative Nonfiction w Paige Thomas | Nov 9 – Dec 7

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

It is not groundbreaking news that the literary canon and the study of writing has been dominated by work that was created for and by men. Slowly and imperfectly, the reasons behind their presence is being questioned, and rightfully so. The canon is diversifying, but that does not mean that our implicit writing techniques—how we think about writing, how we create narrative tension, how we read literary texts—is not still being influenced by a history that is saturated by the male gaze. In this class, group discussions and generative, prompt-driven exercises will be geared toward experimenting with modes of thinking and writing about life that undermines dominant narrative traditions. You see, a great work of writing does not need to have a plot. It does…

$175 – $197

Risograph Basics @ Outlet!

Outlet 2500 Northeast Sandy Boulevard, Portland, OR, United States

About the Workshop 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…

$85 – $100