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!

Refuse the Given World: Generating Short Fiction Through Play: Afternoon session

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

“When I sit down and start writing, I feel the given world recede, and I can just play.”- Sam Lipsyte In this generative short fiction writing course, we will tap into that playful mindset—by using silly rules, obstructions, oblique strategies, games, dreams, collage, odd perspectives, glimmers and more—to unlock problematic stories and/or generate new material. Stories from short fiction and flash writers including Jayne Anne Phillips, Jess Arndt, Gary Lutz, Amy Hempel, Sandra Cisneros, Ben Marcus, Isaac Babel, Carmen Maria Machado, and others will guide our discussions and exercises. Access Program We want our writing 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 Program offers writing class registrations…

$290

Six Love Stories in Six Weeks

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Using Jeffrey Eugenides, My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead, Great Love Stories from Chekov to Munro, we will fall in love, once again, with our writing. Did the pandemic take a toll on your creative spirits? I invite you to join me, speed date your way back to the page with a new story each week. We will read great love stories, then use them as (lovers’) leaps into new work. Come prepared to swipe right on many generative prompts, to share your work, to end the workshop with 6 flash fiction pieces, or starts to new stories, or opportunities to invigorate old loves. Access Program We want our writing classes to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition…

$290

Love Notes: Flash Prose

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

In this prompt-driven 2-day intensive participants will create a series of connected flash love stories. With the aid of experimental exercises exploring prose and poetry (epistolary, lists, photo captions, etc.) we will celebrate and write about love in all its forms, including the flip side of love and more! Special attention will be paid to voice and technique. Fiction, non-fiction, all genres welcome. Access Program We want our writing 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 Program offers writing class registrations at a reduced rate. The access program for writing classes covers 60% of the class tuition. Most writing classses have at least one access spot available.…

$145

Submission Deadline: The Gravity of the Thing: Summer 2021

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Our Summer 2021 reading period is open until July 31st. We accept defamiliarized works in the following general categories: Short: tell us a story in 3,000 words or less; we are interested in fiction, creative nonfiction, self-contained excerpts, and genre-bending forms. Flash: a fiction, creative nonfiction, or genre-bending story under 500 words. Poetry: share one or more poems, prose poems, or multimedia works for a combined count of 500 words or less. Six Words: a story in six words; you may share up to five stories per submission, but only one will be chosen. Baring the Device: essays about defamiliarization—or defamiliarized essays about storytelling, literary craft, or publishing—for our Baring the Device column and resources; click here to learn more. The Gravity of the Thing publishes work on a rolling basis throughout its quarterly reading periods. A majority of submissions…

Free

The Stacks Coffeehouse: October 2021 Writing Class

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Generative, Drop-in Writing Class @ The Stacks Coffeehouse $20 for 4 weeks Buy now This class will be focused exclusively on creating new work, with prompts sent out every Friday morning via email (starting October 1st) and live student readings via Zoom every Thursday at 7pm PST, where everyone will be encouraged to share their works-in-progress in answer to the prompt (The last class reading will be October 28th). All levels are welcome. Prompts are geared toward flash fiction, but we love nonfiction and poetry too. Generative: This class is generative, which means we’ll be focused on generating new work rather than polishing existing work. Prompts will be emailed on Fridays, and the class with meet live every Thursday at 7pm to share work. Unlike…

$20

The Stacks Coffeehouse: November Write-In

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Gather online with a group of writers on a Saturday morning! This will be focused, dedicated writing time, filled with inspiration, writing exercises, guided writing time, and discussion about writing craft. All levels are welcome. All you need is three hours of Saturday morning that you can steal from the rest of your daily obligations, a device that can connect with us on Zoom, and something to write on, whether that’s pen/paper, laptop, or a typewriter.

Free

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…

$80 – $200

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…

$80 – $200