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!

Using Persona To Reveal Our Many Selves

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

In “Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman wrote, “I am large, I contain multitudes.” We’ll follow in Whitman’s footsteps by reading and writing poems that explore the multiple people we have been, are, and could be. We’ll also blend autobiographical and fictional details and invite in personae—selves who seem vastly different from us—to discover new strategies for writing from the fullness of our messy, contradictory lives. October 11 – November 1, 2020 Sundays, 2:00-4:00 p.m (4 sessions) online via Zoom Instructor: Jennifer Perrine Jennifer Perrine is the author of four books of poetry, most recently Again (Airlie Press, 2020). Perrine’s other books include No Confession, No Mass, winner of the Publishing Triangle Audre Lorde Award and the Prairie Schooner Book Prize; In the Human Zoo, which was…

Free

Brian Komei Dempster and Jennifer Perrine

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Brian Komei Dempster’s latest book of poems Seize focuses on his experience of raising a son who suffers from intractable epilepsy and pervasive developmental delays. Moreover, the book explores wartime incarceration, domestic/familial/racial tensions, and legacies of trauma and violence—along with paths towards resolution. Through juxtaposition, the poems link seemingly disparate events through a central metaphor: seizure. Dempster will be interviewed by Portland author Jennifer Perrine. Jennifer is the author of four books of poetry, most recently Again (Airlie Press, 2020). Register in advance for this webinar https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_adX_8KcnSaKl2kkhsZP4WQ Brian Komei Dempster’s debut book of poetry, Topaz, was published by Four Way Books in 2013 and received the 15 Bytes 2014 Book Award in Poetry. His most recent book is Seize. He is the editor of both…

Free

Incite: Queer Writers Read—March 2021

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Incite: Queer Writers Read is a curated, monthly reading series for Queer writers. Join us in March as we explore the topic of Repair/Rebuild with Ajai Terrazas Tripathi, Megan Alpert, Nastashia Minto, and Daniel Gyu. Incite: Queer Writers Read is a curated, monthly reading series for Queer writers. Incite’s hope is to create conversation, connection, and greater understanding both within the Queer community and with other communities. Hosted by Vinnie Kinsella and Jennifer Perrine. The theme for March is Repair/Rebuild. Register for this event in advance.

Free

Contents Under Pressure: Using Constraints to Stretch Your Creativity

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

for BIPOC writers only Putting constraints on our writing can feel like a challenge, but sometimes a little pressure is what’s needed to push our writing in a new direction or to find language for what seems unsayable. We’ll draw on Oulipian constraints like the lipogram and the Beatiful Outlaw, as well as visual constraints such as erasures and collage, to radically depart from our typical writing habits. We’ll also invent our own extreme constraints to discover what happens when we challenge ourselves to write our way out of seemingly impossible restrictions. 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…

$240

Incite: Queer Writers Read

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Incite: Queer Writers Read is a curated, bimonthly reading series for Queer writers. Incite’s hope is to create conversation, connection, and greater understanding both within the Queer community and with other communities. Hosted by Vinnie Kinsella and Jennifer Perrine. The theme for May is Wayfinding.  Register for this event in advance. Wayne Bund is a multidisciplinary artist weaving fantasy and identity through photography, performance, and writing. He wrote his own evening length solo performance, "Strong Female Protagonist," which he performed in Portland in 2018.  His works and performances have been exhibited nationally with Seattle Art Museum, On the Boards, and Gage Academy of Art in Seattle, the Ludlow Festival in the UK, SOMarts in San Francisco, and Risk/Reward Festival of New Performance, Portland Institute for Contemporary…

Free

Airlie Press May Mixer Reading & Fundraiser

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join us to celebrate our 2020 titles and preview our 2021 and 2022 titles. Readings by Megan Alpert, Brittney Corrigan, Amelia Díaz Ettinger, Jennifer Perrine, David Pickering, Jennifer Reimer, and Connie Soper. Plus a raffle and special surprises! If you'd like to make a donation to Airlie Press, you can do so at the time of registration or anytime before and during the event. For every $10 you donate, your name will be entered into the raffle drawing. If you donate $100 or more, your support will be included in the acknowledgments for our 2022 titles. Donate here: http://www.airliepress.org/donate

Free

Talking Back: Writing in Conversation with Other Texts

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

for BIPOC writers only We all know that words carry weight, but some words—especially those bound up with the cultural power of political speeches, sacred texts, and canonical literature—can seem overwhelming in their authority. We’ll choose texts that have influenced us—for better or for worse—and use a variety of techniques to respond to them, play with them, challenge them, and upend them. 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. Contact…

$240

Writers in the Schools End of Year Celebration

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join Writers in the Schools classroom teachers and writers-in-residence in celebrating the culmination of an incredibly challenging and fruitful 2020-21 school year filled with moments of creativity and community-building. Writers and teachers will take to the mic to share their own words and stories including WITS writers Alex Behr, Ed Edmo, Matt Smith, and Jennifer Perrine, Director of Youth Programs, Emilly Prado, and many more. Hosted by Jules Ohman, WITS Program Specialist. Alex Behr is a writer and editor based in Portland, Oregon. After receiving an MFA in creative writing from Portland State, she’s taught fiction and creative nonfiction at Portland high schools through Writers in the Schools residencies. Her writing has appeared in many online and print publications, including Bitch, Mutha, Propeller, Nailed, Salon, and Tin House. Her debut…

Free

Incite: Queer Writers Read – September

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Incite: Queer Writers Read is a curated, bimonthly reading series for Queer writers. Incite’s hope is to create conversation, connection, and greater understanding both within the Queer community and with other communities. Hosted by Vinnie Kinsella and Jennifer Perrine. The theme for September is “History Lessons.” Register for this event in advance. Alan Rose is the author of The Legacy of Emily Hargraves (2007), a gay paranormal mystery, Tales of Tokyo (2010), a modern quest novel based on his years of living and working in Japan, and a novella The Unforgiven (2012), a complex psychological thriller that explores the relationship between memory and guilt. Alan's most recent novel, As If Death Summoned, was published by Amble Press, an imprint of Bywater Books, on World AIDS Day,…

Free

Writing the Intersection of Our Identities: Tuesday nights

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Through autobiographical writing about our identities—including race, gender, sexuality, dis/ability, and class—we’ll explore where we hold power and privilege and where we have experienced marginalization and oppression. In addition to experimenting with craft techniques such as audience, point of view, research, dialogue, and figurative language, we’ll also discuss how to use our writing in service of reflection, healing, truth-telling, and culture change. By the end of the course, I hope you’ll emerge with several drafts, and that we’ll each emerge with a deeper understanding of what it means to have lived in our individual bodies. Access Program We want our Delves and writing classes to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present obstacles for some…

$240