FEATURING: Claire Vaye Watkins Kaitlyn Greenidge Matthew Salesses Moderated by Kelly Luce Sponsored by GrubStreet’s Muse & the Marketplace conference The idea that parenthood is a barrier to art creation is outdated, even dangerous—that we create in spite of having children rather than making complex work productively informed by parenthood in all its glory, sorrow, and ambivalence. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought parenting issues to the forefront of the national conversation, and the result has been that the discussions around parenthood specific to writing have evolved, too. Novelists Claire Vaye Watkins (I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness), Kaitlyn Greenidge (Libertie), and novelist and essayist Matthew Salesses (Craft in the Real World) will talk about the struggles, triumphs, stereotypes, and assumptions of writing as parents…
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FEATURING: Jami Attenberg Deesha Philyaw Tommy Pico Moderated by Denne Michele Norris Sponsored by GrubStreet’s Muse & the Marketplace conference Whether you’re just starting out or a seasoned pro, all writers face rejection—but how we cope with that rejection plays a huge role in shaping our literary future. Rebounding can be tough, but rather than allowing rejection to stop us in our tracks, we can reframe it into a motivational and instructional tool. Some rejections actually make us stronger—as writers, editors, applicants, and people—while others just need to be ignored. Poet and TV writer Tommy Pico (JUNK, Reservation Dogs), memoirist Jami Attenberg (I Came All This Way to Meet You), and award-winning short story writer Deesha Philyaw (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies) will share…
Comments closedPlease join the Middle East Studies Center for our next installment of the Scholarly Lecture Series. Author and Portland State University English Faculty Diana Abu Jaber will be discussing her new novel Fencing With the King with award-winning author Omar El Akkad. Zoom Registration About the Book A mesmerizing breakthrough novel of family myths and inheritances by the award-winning author of Crescent. Amani is hooked on a mystery—a poem on airmail paper that slips out of one of her father’s books. It seems to have been written by her grandmother, a refugee who arrived in Jordan during the First World War. Soon the perfect occasion to investigate arises: her Uncle Hafez, an advisor to the King of Jordan, invites her father to celebrate the king’s sixtieth birthday—and to fence…
Comments closed“We would be together and have our books, and at night be warm in bed together with the windows open and the stars bright.” -Ernest Hemingway It’s time to get warm and cozy with us as Lacy Productions and The Alberta Rose Theatre present BOOKLOVER’S BURLESQUE: Cozy Classics Booklover’s Burlesque is the world’s sexiest literary salon which matches titillating, inspiring, and empowering book readings with burlesque, boylesque, and draglesque performances all in one show! Professional readers, actors, and/or local authors & writers read aloud a piece of poetry, fiction (from any genre), memoir, non-fiction, etc, which is then followed by a burlesque performance inspired by the piece. Join us as we bring the sensual heat of words and wantonness rivaling the warmth of a fireplace…
Comments closedRegister here for the Creative Writing Alumni Reading. You will receive a Zoom link upon registration. Thea Prieto is the author of From the Caves (Red Hen Press, 2021), which won the Red Hen Novella Award and was a finalist in American Book Fest’s Best Book Awards. Her work has also appeared in The Kenyon Review, Longreads, and New Orleans Review, among other journals, and she writes and edits for Poets & Writers and The Gravity of the Thing. She graduated from Portland State University’s MFA program in 2016. LaVonne Griffin-Valade is the author of two novels, Dead Point and Murderers Creek (Severn River Publishing). Her work has also appeared in Oregon Humanities Magazine and Clackamas Literary Review. She was a finalist for the 2018 Fellowship for Emerging Writers at Fishtrap’s Writing and the West. Her third novel, Desolation Ridge, will be published in…
Comments closedIn a first-class lounge at JFK airport, our narrator listens as Jeff Cook, a former classmate he only vaguely remembers, shares the uncanny story of his adult life — a life that changed course years before, the moment he resuscitated a drowning man. Jeff reveals that after that traumatic, galvanizing morning on the beach, he was compelled to learn more about the man whose life he had saved, convinced that their fates were now entwined. But are we agents of our fate — or are we its pawns? Upon discovering that the man is renowned art dealer Francis Arsenault, Jeff begins to surreptitiously visit his Beverly Hills gallery. Although Francis does not seem to recognize him as the man who saved his life, he nevertheless…
Comments closedPerhaps you snuck a peek at your grandma’s romance novels and giggled at the over-the-top metaphors. Maybe your writing group said you could use a sex scene but you’re mortified by putting it on the page. Maybe you write erotica and want to polish your craft. Sex can be one of the most exciting and emotionally resonant moments in a novel. It can also be cringe-worthy and awkward. Join author and sex-positivity advocate, Karelia Stetz-Waters, for a talk on writing fabulous sex scenes. This fun, unembarrassed look at sex scenes will cover plot and character elements as well as the physicality of sex on the page, Karelia will practical tips and tricks that any writer can use. All heat levels, sexual orientations, and gender identities…
Comments closedCome here these 5 wonderful people read their work around grief. Your Jan 6th self will thank you. Its a heart balm. [Featuring: Daniel Elder, Janice Lee, Jen Violi, Mary Mandeville, Pamela Moore Dionne] Readings are about an hour and start at 7 PM Pacific on zoom. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83156663544?pwd=dml2Ymd1eEhnNEVVQXhtOG44SzF3UT09 Meeting ID: 831 5666 3544 Passcode: 103969
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