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!

Craft Conversations: Focus on Scenes: Build Back Better

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

The scene is a building block of fiction and memoir. During this discussion we will take a deep dive into the components of scene writing. What makes a scene compelling? How can we make scenes vivid and earn their place on the page? If scenes must move stories forward, and reveal character, how can you include both external events and interiority? What about handling time? Character’s goals? Obstacles? And, when is it best to use summary? Through writing examples, prompts and ample discussion, you will leave this workshop with a firmer grip on how to enliven your work with scene. Each writer should come to the workshop with a scene that has been dogging them, either it isn’t coming to life on the page, or…

$75

2021 Tin House Virtual Craft Intensive: Character in Scene, with Kim Fu

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

*Saturday is sold out, join waitlist by emailing workshop@gmail.com or purchase Sunday below* The best fictional characters, like real people, can seldom be boiled down to a simple list of traits and adjectives. They exist in communities and relationships, are borne from and generate conflict, and are inseparable from the story being told. They might draw from the writer’s personal knowledge and experiences, while blossoming into someone wholly different and new. Who they are dictates what they do, but what they do also tells us who they are. In this class, we will practice building story and character in tandem, and writing key scenes that reveal a character to the reader—and to the writer. Participants will leave with new writing: new ways to understand and…

$75

2021 Tin House Virtual Craft Intensive: Character in Scene, with Kim Fu

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

*Saturday is sold out, join waitlist by emailing workshop@gmail.com or purchase Sunday below* The best fictional characters, like real people, can seldom be boiled down to a simple list of traits and adjectives. They exist in communities and relationships, are borne from and generate conflict, and are inseparable from the story being told. They might draw from the writer’s personal knowledge and experiences, while blossoming into someone wholly different and new. Who they are dictates what they do, but what they do also tells us who they are. In this class, we will practice building story and character in tandem, and writing key scenes that reveal a character to the reader—and to the writer. Participants will leave with new writing: new ways to understand and…

$75

Creative Nonfiction II

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Creative nonfiction utilizes non-linear structures to “think” into complex or ambiguous subjects. In this class, we will explore the relationship between form and content in memoir, deepening our practice by working with a draft of a story or essay. Outside reading assignments and in-class writing and revision exercises will encourage experimentation and writing play. We will examine lyrical essays, braided forms and collage pieces. Writing prompts and drafting techniques will allow students to experiment with organization and voice, considering when silence works to make meaning. There will be scene writing and figurative language practice. Students will have an opportunity to discuss and workshop short excerpts of their drafts in an inspired, supportive setting. This class will build upon some of the topics covered in Creative Nonfiction…

$245

Nine-Month Memoir Intensive

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

This class begins in September, with the goal of finishing a complete draft of a memoir by June. Participants do not need to be published writers; however, they should have some experience with elements of memoir, including character, setting, dialogue and scene, and have a clear project in mind that they will devote nine months to. They should also be comfortable in a workshop setting, giving and receiving criticism on works in progress. Contact Susan Moore at susan@literary-arts.org with questions. Access Program We want our writing classes and Delves 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 and Delve tuitions at a reduced rate. The…

$1450