2,000 WRITERS SUPPORTED
From Literary Arts’ 2022/23 Annual Report
We celebrated and recognized the remarkable work being created by local writers and publishers through awards and fellowships. We also hired local and national authors to teach classes and partnered with artists and organizations to host free events in our space and in the community.
Oregon Book Awards
The 2023 Oregon Book Awards (OBA) finalists included 34 titles in seven genres, selected from 202 submissions. The annual Oregon Book Awards ceremony was held in-person, on April 25, at Portland Center Stage. Hosted by Luke Burbank, the evening included a music performance from Dao Strom, the announcement of the Oregon Book Award winners in seven categories, and special awards presented to Dawn Babb Prochovnic and Gary Miranda.
Oregon Book Awards Author Events
The Oregon Book Awards Author Tour visited Enterprise, Monmouth, Springfield, Grand Ronde, McMinnville, and Corvallis for readings and classroom visits.
Books Distributed to Libraries
Literary Arts shipped books by Oregon Book Awards authors, donated by their publishers, to 18 libraries across the state.
OBA Finalists Readings
In March 2023, we hosted online readings featuring the 2023 Oregon Book Awards finalists, and posted the recordings afterwards on our YouTube channel. We also hosted an in-person reading with poetry and fiction finalists.
Oregon Literary Fellowships
We received 536 applications from writers and 27 applications from publishers for the 2023 fellowships. Out-of-state judges spent several months evaluating these applications, using literary excellence as the primary criterion.
The fellowship feels like a big hug from my home state. It’s an energizing affirmation in a career that can feel like yelling into the sky.
— Cecily Wong, Oregon Arts Commission Fellowship recipient
Writers Forums with Portland Arts & Lectures Authors
As part of their participation in this year’s series, Portland Arts & Lectures authors met with current and former fellowship recipients and book awards authors for a one-hour Q&A session.
@LiteraryArts Events
We continued to offer our ongoing resident series: INCITE, One Page Wednesday, Slamlandia, and the BIPOC reading series. We also partnered with the Alano Club, Chin Music Press, Kundiman, PEN America, Portland Opera, and local and national authors for events. In November and May, in partnership with Ooligan Press, we offered BIPOC publishing events that included virtual and in-person components. The panel in November featured local editors and grantors, discussing creating a successful pitch, submission, and grant proposal. The BIPOC panel in May featured literary agents DongWon Song and Melanie Figueroa.
Writing Classes
Students expanded their writing knowledge with classes in memoir, the novel, short story, lyric essay, longform journalism, and other topics. We also offered classes in screenwriting for the first time. Classes met in-person and online. Over half of our students were from outside Portland.
“Literary Arts teachers, in my experience, are very well prepared and knowledgeable.”
— Writing class student
Committed to Equity
- 30% of 2023 OBA judges are BIPOC.
- 25% of writing teachers are BIPOC.
- 65% of 2023 OLF judges are BIPOC.
- 74 writing class and Delve students received an access tuition scholarship, which covers 60% of the class tuition.
Read the full report below.
Click here for a PDF version of the report.
