Each week, 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
Liberation in Practice: Anti-Racism Workshops for API Heritage Month (APANO)
May 2021
The State of the Arts in COVID Times (Siren Nation Speaks)
Sunday, May 9 at 1:00 p.m. (PDT)
Siren Nation Speaks showcases Oregon/PNW female artists and arts topics the second Sunday of every month, with free events ranging from performances and interviews to hands-on workshops and tutorials.
This Sunday, May 9, we’re honored to bring you a discussion on The State of the Arts in COVID Times. Join us to explore how the arts have struggled, survived, and sometimes thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pacific StorySLAM: FRESH (The Moth)
Monday, May 10 at 7:30 p.m. PDT
Spring is in the air and with that comes a fresh new season of discovery, growth, and opportunities.
For this month’s Pacific StorySLAM: FRESH, bring us stories about the crispest and cleanest of life’s offerings. A new zip code, spouse, haircut or nose. Out with the stale, and in with the freshly baked. Tales of reinvention, from love life shakeups to a test drive of the new and improved you!
Come and listen to stories or prepare a five-minute tale of your own to share!
From Concept to Object: The Zine as a Creative Conduit (Northwest Film Center)
May 26, 2021, 6:00–7:30 p.m.
Join Mila Matveeva, illustrator, film producer, and zine-maker, for a virtual workshop on how the zine can become part of your creative work as a tool in exploring, developing, and materializing your ideas. We will look at examples of filmzines and explore how they can help you get started on a project with no equipment or funding, be a gateway to other mediums, and allow you to visualize an idea from your head to the page.
The Immigrant Story | I Am My Story: Voices of Hope
May 14, 2021, through Aug. 22, 2021
The Oregon Historical Society
The 2021 PEN World Voices Festival: Power to the People
Tuesday 5/18 – Saturday 5/22
The PEN World Voices Festival is the premier celebration of international literature in the U.S., and this year’s theme is “Power To The People.” We’ll be joined by distinguished guests like Jhumpa Lahiri, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Joy Harjo, Richard Flanagan,and many more. Check out the full lineup and get your tickets now »
RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARTISTS AND WRITERS
MAKE | LEARN | BUILD Grants Available through RACC
Deadline: May 19
MAKE | LEARN | BUILD grants are designed to support the ongoing work of our arts community in all stages. They offer funding at either the $1500 or $3000 level for artists and arts-based businesses/organizations in three categories:
MAKE: the creation of work in any artistic discipline
LEARN: artistic or administrative learning, skill buildings or
professional development to improve art practice or business
BUILD: a transition or pivot for an art business or operations,
including equipment purchase or staffing costs.
Round two closes: 5 p.m., May 19. Awards announced by June 30.
The Black River Chapbook Competition
Entry deadline for the Spring Competition: May 31, 2021
is a semi-annual prize from Black Lawrence Press for a chapbook of poems or prose (including fiction, creative non-fiction, lyric essay, and prose hybrid manuscripts). Entries should be between 16 and 36 pages in length. The winner will receive $500 and publication. Recent winners include: Ruth Baumann, Jacqueline Doyle, Nancy Reddy, Amy Sayre Baptista, Ashley Morrow Hermsmeier, Alan Chazaro, Christopher Locke, Veronica Montes, Danielle Rose, and Ashanti Anderson.
Don’t Write Alone (Catapult)
At Catapult, we believe there’s a better—or at least less lonely—way to write. Here you’ll find writing resources, advice, job and fellowship opportunities, prompts and craft talk, and more.
FOR KIDS/ TEENS
Bodecker Foundation Spring Workshops
Led by professional artists, writers, musicians, and educators, our FREE creative workshops for high school students include a mix of online group activities and offline individual and/or collaborative project work. Class size is generally limited to 12 students.
Virtual Genre-Based Writing Camps (Write the World)
In each session, up to 25 campers will explore new styles of writing and connect across continents as they create pieces they’re proud of. Writers of all levels are invited to participate in the following offerings (for full camp descriptions, please click here):
Sci-Fi/Fantasy — July 5-9
Screenwriting — July 12-16
Writing Poetry for Social Justice — July 19-23
Flash Fiction — July 26-30
Writing to Change the World — August 2-6
Humor Writing — August 9-13
Learning from Agents & Editors: Writing for Publication — August 16-20
Micro Memoirs — August 23-27
RECOMMENDED READING
12 Essential Books to Read for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (Powell’s)
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and Powell’s partnered with APANO (Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon) to share a curated reading list.
Beyond the Margins: Putting in the Work, by Jonathan Hill (OregonHumanities)
Literary Arts board member Jonathan Hill’s comic explores how people can stay engaged in politics and advocate for the changes they want to see outside of major election cycles.
Capturing the Moment artist – Terrance Burton (via RACC)
Writer, poet, multi-media artist, and educator Terrance Burton describes his response to the pandemic, protests, and his personal journey. See the artwork selected for RACC’s newest public art collection, Capturing the Moment.
Joy Harjo: A poem is a sacred site (Oregon ArtsWatch)
Literary Arts’ Portland Arts & Lectures event with Joy Harjo on April 20, 2021 celebrated the publication of a new book of her poems and recently published Native Nations poetry anthologies (and a geography) that she has edited. Amy Leona Havin reports on the sacred sites compiled.
