Each month, Literary Arts staff will round up news, events, and more happening in Portland, and beyond. Let us know if you have any events or news to share.
EVENTS
I’m Black When I’m Singing, I’m Blue When I Ain’t (Third Rail Repertory Theatre produced in association with Advance Gender Equity in the Arts: AGE and World Stage Theatre)
March 16–April 2 at 7:30 p.m., March 19, 26, and April 1 at 2:00 p.m. | Runtime: 70 minutes | In person at CoHo Theater, 2257 NW Raleigh St., Portland, OR 97210
“Sonia Sanchez is a lion in literature’s forest. When she writes she roars, and when she sleeps other creatures walk gingerly.” —Maya Angelou
Legendary poet, activist, and scholar Sonia Sanchez’s stirring choreopoem brings us face to face with Reena, a woman who embodies the collective stories of Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, and Abbey Lincoln—iconic Black artists whose genius and grace push against and through layered forces of oppression. A lyrical, musical, powerful production that evokes evolution, revolution, and the persistent possibility of transcendence. They are offering Pay-What-You-Will tickets to anyone who identifies as BIPOC for all of Third Rail’s progamming this season. Use the promo code: BIPOC at checkout!
International Booklover’s Burlesque Festival
April 13–16 | Various venues | Attendees must be 21+ | Tickets on sale now
The International Booklover’s Burlesque Festival is an annual celebration of literary and performing arts, highlighting burlesque, boylesque, and draglesque artists from around the world and some of your favorite literary pieces and some you have never heard before. Our four-day festival takes place in Portland, Oregon USA at multiple locations, including two main “open-themed” showcases celebrating all genres of the written word at the historic Alberta Rose Theatre, our exclusive “classic literature” burlesque brunch show at the Victorian Belle Mansion, and our opening night “gothic literature” themed show at Swan Dive. Our festival features different acts and performers for every show, including world-renowned “Guests of Honor,” performing artists and authors, professional actors/readers, and specially-curated burlesque, boylesque, and draglesque acts.Each show is entirely different, with different casts and acts, so audience members should buy a separate tickets for each day. Come join us for our unique, inaugural festival!
True Story by E.M. Lewis (Artists Repertory Theatre)
May 6–June 4
A troubled writer, raw with grief from the death of his wife, is hired to ghostwrite the biography of a wealthy man accused of murdering his wife but acquitted on technical grounds. Drawing from the classic noir detective stories about the slipperiness of truth and blurring the lines of good and bad, True Story propulsively examines how facts, biases, and perceptions are manipulated – and asks if discovering the truth is worth the ultimate price? Written by Oregon Book Award finalist E.M. Lewis.
RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARTISTS AND WRITERS
Oregon Media Arts Fellowship
Deadline: March 31
The Oregon Media Arts Fellowship is a biannual award provided by the Oregon Arts Commission and overseen by the Portland Art Museum’s Center for an Untold Tomorrow (PAM CUT) for outstanding achievement and creativity in the field of media arts in the state of Oregon.
The 2023 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant
Deadline: April 25
The 2023 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant of $40,000 will be awarded to as many as ten writers in the process of completing a book-length work of deeply researched and imaginatively composed nonfiction for a general readership. It is intended for multiyear book projects requiring large amounts of deep and focused research, thinking, and writing at a crucial point mid-process, after significant work has been accomplished but when an extra infusion of support can make a difference in the ultimate shape and quality of the work. Projects must be under contract with a publisher in Canada, the UK, or the US by April 25 to be eligible. Contracts with self-publishing companies are not eligible.
2023 Waterston Desert Writing Prize (High Desert Museum)
Deadline: May 1
The High Desert Museum is now accepting submissions for the 2023 Waterston Desert Writing Prize. The Prize honors outstanding literary nonfiction that illustrates artistic excellence, sensitivity to place, and desert literacy with the desert as both subject and setting. Emerging, mid-career and established nonfiction writers are invited to apply.
Call for Submissions: Wild Birds (Red Shoe Press)
Deadline: May 31
Red Shoe Press accepts submissions March 1, 2023 through May 31, 2023 for the 2024 Oregon Poetry Calendar. The glossy wall calendar pairs expressive poems with compelling photographs. This year’s theme is wild birds. Work is accepted only from poets currently living in Oregon. Responses sent by July 2023, publication in August 2023. Poets whose work is published in the calendar receive one free copy. Submit 1-5 poems in a single Word document. Limit poems to 30 lines max. in length (including title and blank lines), and 50 characters max. in width (including spaces, letters, and punctuation). Previously published and simultaneous submissions are okay. There is no submission fee.
Call for Submissions: Wild Birds (Red Shoe Press)
Deadline: May 31
Red Shoe Press accepts submissions March 1, 2023 through May 31, 2023 for the 2024 Oregon Poetry Calendar. The glossy wall calendar pairs expressive poems with compelling photographs. This year’s theme is wild birds. Work is accepted only from poets currently living in Oregon. Responses sent by July 2023, publication in August 2023. Poets whose work is published in the calendar receive one free copy. Submit 1-5 poems in a single Word document. Limit poems to 30 lines max. in length (including title and blank lines), and 50 characters max. in width (including spaces, letters, and punctuation). Previously published and simultaneous submissions are okay. There is no submission fee.
Pick Your Wilderness Writing Adventure (Fishtrap’s 2023 Outpost Programs)
June 19–24 and September 3–8
Give yourself the time to explore a remote, natural environment as a way to find solitude, connect to the landscape in a meaningful way, and write about your experience. Registration opens December 1, 2022. Each Outpost experience includes a week of discovery, writing instruction, meals, and camping in an inspiring and unforgettable setting.
FOR KIDS/ TEENS
Scribes Summer Camps (Hugo House)
Online options available | June 27–August 25
Scribes Summer Camps provide young writers the opportunity to participate in week-long, all-day workshops, during which you can focus on, dig deep into, and nurture your inner writer. You’ll work alongside instructors who are published writers and educators themselves, as well as guest teaching artists. Every camp offers the option to pay at 30%, 60%, 90%, or 100% of the registration amount. Just click on the pay option you prefer when you register online! If you are having trouble, please contact us at 206.322.7030 or email welcome@hugohouse.org.
IN THE NEWS
A Voice Among the Stars: Poem by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón Will Ride to Europa on NASA Spacecraft
U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón is writing an original poem dedicated to NASA’s Europa Clipper mission. The poem will be engraved on the spacecraft, as a way to connect two water worlds – Earth and Europa, a moon of Jupiter believed to contain a vast ocean. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. We’re so excited for this!
Can Poetry Heal a Broken World? (Elle Magazine)
A profile of Ada Limón, the first Latina US poet laureate (and our final 22/23 Portland Arts & Lecture speaker), who believes that the power of words can help us navigate this time of crisis.
The Academy of American Poets to Award Capacity-Building Grants to Fifty-Three Literary Organizations Across the US (Poets.org)
Literary Arts is honored to be among the nonprofit recipients of grants supporting work serving poetry and poets.
The 2023 Oregon Book Award finalists were covered in KOIN-6, Library Journal, Locus Mag, Portland Monthly, and Willamette Week.
RECOMMENDED READING
A Reading List for Women’s History Month 2023 (CLMP)
Kelly Link in Praise of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Genuine Magic (Lit Hub)
Kendrick Lamar’s New Chapter: Raw, Intimate and Unconstrained (The New York Times)
This incredible profile was written by Literary Arts board member Mitchell S. Jackson.
