2,000 WRITERS SUPPORTED
From Literary Arts’ 2024/25 Annual Report
We honored the work of published writers with Oregon Book Awards and provided financial support to emerging and established writers and publishers through fellowships. We featured local and national writers at our new bookstore and community space, and brought writers to towns across Oregon for readings and workshops. We also hired writers to teach a variety of classes, in-person and online.
Oregon Book Awards
The 2025 Oregon Book Awards finalists included 35 titles in seven categories, selected from 212 submissions by out-of-state judges. Omar El Akkad hosted the 38th annual Oregon Book Awards ceremony, held in-person on April 28, 2025, at Portland Center Stage at The Armory. The ceremony included the announcement of the Oregon Book Award winners and the presentation of the the Walt Morey Young Readers Literary Legacy Award to Jelani Memory, founder of A Kids Co., and the Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award to Laura Moulton, founder of Street Books.
Oregon Book Awards Author Events
The Oregon Book Awards Author Tour visited Springfield, Corvallis, Grande Ronde, and Monmouth for readings and discussions. We also hosted two readings with finalists at the Literary Arts Bookstore at 716 SE Grand Ave.
Books Distributed to Libraries
Literary Arts shipped 265 books by Oregon Book Awards authors, donated by their publishers, to 19 libraries across the state.
Oregon Literary Fellowships
We received 479 applications from writers and 24 applications from publishers for the 2025 fellowships. Recipients were selected by a panel of out-of-state judges who spent several months evaluating these applications, using literary excellence as the primary criterion. Four of these fellowships were funded by the Oregon Arts Commission.
Writers Forums with Portland Arts & Lectures Authors
As part of their visit to Portland, several of our Arts & Lectures writers met with current and former fellowship recipients and book awards authors for one-hour Q&A sessions.
Events for Writers
We hosted our ongoing resident series featuring local and emerging writers: INCITE, One Page Wednesday, Slamlandia, and the BIPOC Reading Series. We also hosted the Bigfoot Poetry Slam.
Writing Classes
Writers honed their craft and explored a variety of genres in our classes, including autofiction, memoir, novel writing, and poetry. Classes met in-person and online. Over half of our students were from outside Portland.
Committed to Equity
- 47% of 2025 OBA judges identified as BIPOC.
- 20% of writing teachers are BIPOC.
- 28% of 2024 OLF judges identified as BIPOC.
- 48 writing class and readers seminars students received an access tuition scholarship.
Read the full report below.
Click here for a PDF version of the report.
