Events, Classes, and Seminars
We have moved many of our offerings online! We hope you will join us.
Featured Events
April 2021
Free Events
Slamlandia
Thu, April 15 from 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm PDT
An event every month that begins at 7:00 pm on day Third of the month, repeating until Fri, May 21, 2021
Slamlandia is a poetry open mic and slam that meets every month. This mic provides a creative, fun, and welcoming space for all literary communities in Portland. We encourage poets new and old to come share their work. We strive towards a safer space for poets to read their own poetry, witness others, and participate in community. Hosted by Julia Gaskill. Register in advance for this event If you have any questions, please contact slamlandia@gmail.com or jessica@literary-arts.org.
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Free Events Oregon Literary Fellowships
2021 Oregon Literary Fellowship recipients announced
Fri, April 16
Oregon Literary Fellowships are intended to help Oregon writers at all stages of their career initiate, develop, or complete literary projects in poetry, fiction, literary nonfiction, drama, and young readers’ literature. Fellowships are also awarded to support Oregon’s independent publishers and small presses that demonstrate a commitment to literary publishing.
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Free Events Oregon Book Awards & Fellowships
General Nonfiction Finalists Webinar
Fri, April 16 from 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm PDT
Join the five finalists for the Frances Fuller Victor Award in General Nonfiction for an hour-long discussion and reading of their work. FRANCES FULLER VICTOR AWARD FOR CREATIVE NONFICTION FINALISTS: Judges: Jordanna Bailkin, Farid Matuk, Adam Sowards Edwin Battistella of Ashland, Dangerous Crooked Scoundrels: Insulting the President, from Washington to Trump (Oxford University Press) Nicholas Buccola of Portland, The Fire Is upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate over Race in America (Princeton University Press) Kelsey…
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Free Events Oregon Book Awards & Fellowships
Oregon Book Award Fiction Finalists at Springfield Public Library
Sat, April 17 from 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm PDT
Join the five 2021 Oregon Book Award finalists for the Ken Kesey Award for a reading as part of Springfield Celebrates Authors. Chelsea Bieker of Portland, Godshot (Catapult Press) Genevieve Hudson of Portland, Boys of Alabama (Liveright Publishing, W.W. Norton) Mark Savage of Portland, Fictional Film Club (Deep Overstock) Vanessa Veselka of Portland, The Great Offshore Grounds (Alfred A. Knopf) Lidia Yuknavitch of Milwaukie, Verge (Riverhead Books, Penguin Random House PPG)
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SPRING 2021 Writing Classes
The Writers’ Gymnasium: The Writing Workout
Sun, April 18 from 9:00 am - 11:00 am PDT
Six-week Class: This prompt-driven generative workshop will give writers an opportunity to flex their literary muscles. Classes will provide an intimate, structured, and supportive time to broaden basic and complex writing skills.
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For Bipoc Writers SPRING 2021 Writing Classes
April BIPOC writer workshop
Sun, April 18 from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm PDT
One-day Workshop: Open to writers of color at all levels writing in poetry, fiction, or nonfiction. A variety of prompts will be presented as avenues for generating and sharing new work in an informal setting. You can also bring your own prompts and questions about the writing process, and explore them with the group.
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Portland Arts & Lectures
2020/21 Portland Arts & Lectures: Joy Harjo
Tue, April 20 from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm PDT
A limited number of single tickets to this event have been made available (no need to purchase a full subscription). Scroll down to purchase a general admission ticket for this event. Joy Harjo is a renowned performer and writer of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and was named the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States in 2019. Harjo is the author of nine books of poetry—most recently An American Sunrise—several plays and children’s books, and a memoir, Crazy Brave.…
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Portland Arts & Lectures
Portland Arts & Lectures 2020/21 Season
Tue, April 20 from 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm PDT
One event on Tue, May 18, 2021 at 7:30 pm
One event on Thu, Jan 28, 2021 at 7:30 pm
One event on Thu, Feb 18, 2021 at 7:30 pm
One event on Tue, Apr 20, 2021 at 7:30 pm
Literary Arts is pleased to announce the author line-up for the 2020/21 Season of Portland Arts & Lectures. Subscriptions start at just $90 for the series. Subscribe today! At this time, all lectures are scheduled to take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
Find out moreFree Events Oregon Book Awards & Fellowships
Creative Nonfiction Finalists Webinar
Fri, April 23 from 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm PDT
Join the five finalists for the Sarah Winnemucca Award in Creative Nonfiction for an hour-long discussion and reading of their work. SARAH WINNEMUCCA AWARD FOR CREATIVE NONFICTION FINALISTS: Judges: May-Lee Chai, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Heather Sellers Sierra Crane Murdoch of Hood River, Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Country (Random House) Ruby McConnell of Eugene, Ground Truth: A Geological Survey of a Life (Overcup Press) David Oates of Portland, The Mountains of Paris (Oregon…
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Free Events
BIPOC Reading Series- April
Fri, April 23 from 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm PDT
The theme for April is "Uses of Anger" inspired by Audre Lorde's groundbreaking essay. This bimonthly reading series is intended to prioritize the safety, creativity, and stories of Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color. Come listen to our featured readers, or sign up to share your work in our open mic. Readings will be followed by a short community discussion. Click here to register for this event. This event is open to everyone, but only people who self-identify…
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For Bipoc Writers Free Events
Oregon BIPOC Writers Publishing Event
Sat, April 24 from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm PDT
Literary Arts, Ooligan Press, and Portland State University's English Department partner to present the Oregon BIPOC Writers Publishing Event. This event is designed for writers who self-identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color to connect to the publishers and authors seeking to hear their voices. Pitching a Book 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM (PST) Distilling the important elements of a book into a concise and gripping pitch is a true art. In this presentation, seasoned literary agent Fiona Kenshole…
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Free Events Oregon Book Awards & Fellowships
Children’s Literature Finalists at Green Bean Books
Sat, April 24 from 2:00 pm PDT
Join the five Oregon Book Award finalists for the Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award, presented by Green Bean Books on Independent Bookstore Day. ELOISE JARVIS MCGRAW AWARD FOR CHILDREN’S LITERATURE Judges: Nikki McClure, Eliot Schrefer, Wendy Wahman Deborah Hopkinson of West Linn, Butterflies Belong Here (Chronicle Books) Jody J. Little of Portland, Worse Than Weird (Harper Collins Children's Books) Susan Hill Long of Portland, Josie Bloom and the Emergency of Life (Paula Wiseman Books, Simon & Schuster) Jenn Reese of Portland,…
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Delve Readers Seminars Spring 2021
From Another Angle: Marilynne Robinson’s Home, Lila, and Jack
Tue, April 27 from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm PDT
In this seminar we will read Robinson’s third, fourth, and fifth novels, Home, Lila, and Jack. These novels complete the quartet that begins with Gilead. Home takes up the story of one of that novel’s characters, Jack Boughton. Nemesis of Gilead’s narrator John Ames and son of Ames’s best friend, Rev. Robert Boughton, Jack has returned to his childhood home unexpectedly after a twenty-year absence. Now he, his aging father, and his recently-divorced younger sister Glory must navigate a difficult…
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Delve Readers Seminars Spring 2021
New York City: Paul Auster and Jonathan Safran Foer
Wed, April 28 from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm PDT
Paul Auster and Jonathan Safran Foer are two contemporary authors who have explored New York City not only as a space where a person works, transits, and lives, but more as a symbolic space at a certain time that interacts with the fictional characters as if the city were also one of them—a living entity that actively affects the fates and actions of every person that inhabits it. Memory, chance, the double, and disobedience as a way to dig into…
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Free Events Oregon Book Awards & Fellowships
Oregon Book Awards Finalists in Drama: Panel Discussion
Wed, April 28 from 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm PDT
Join the five Oregon Book Award finalists for the Angus Bowmer Award in Drama for a panel discussion, moderated by Chip Miller, Associate Artistic Director of Portland Center Stage at The Armory. Streamed live at Portland Center Stage on their You Tube and Facebook pages atYouTube, and Facebook ANGUS BOWMER AWARD FOR DRAMA Judges: Michelle Carter, Diana Grisanti, KJ Sanchez Sara Jean Accuardi of Portland, The Delays Conor Eifler of Portland, You Cannot Undo This Action E.M. Lewis of Monitor,…
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Ticketed Events Youth Events
#Virtualandia! 2021: YOUTH POETRY SLAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Thu, April 29 from 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm PDT
#Virtualandia! 2021 is an exciting opportunity for students from eligible Portland metro area high schools to take part in a dynamic virtual slam poetry competition, and to win prizes like the title of #Virtualandia Slam Champion and corresponding $1,000 Visa gift card. Up to 300 youth poets will submit original work via video by midnight on Wednesday, March 31 to be reviewed and judged by a diverse group of artists and fans with a pulse on the literary scene. Ten poets will…
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Free Events
Elissa Washuta, Kristin Arnett, Morgan Parker and Tommy Pico: White Magic
Thu, April 29 from 7:00 pm PDT
Join Elissa Washuta, Kristin Arnett, Morgan Parker and Tommy Pico for "a Sagittarius group chat" about Washuta's new book, White Magic. Register in advance for this webinar
Find out moreMay 2021
SPRING 2021 Writing Classes
Looking Back to Look Forward: A Daily Writing Practice
Sat, May 1 from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm PDT
This class will help you adopt crucial creative habits using your memory of the past to build a practice for the future. Using a series of daily in-class and at-home prompts that focus on ideas of home, trek childhood, and position memory as present, you will generate new work and use research-based ways to bring a sustainable practice into your life.
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Free Events Oregon Book Awards & Fellowships
Oregon Book Awards Show: The Archive Project
Sun, May 2 from 7:00 pm PDT
The 2021 Oregon Book Award winners will be announced on May 2, 2021, on a special episode of The Archive Project, airing on OPB Radio at 7:00 p.m. The hour-long show will be hosted by Omar El Akkad and Elena Passarello, and will feature readings from Oregon Book Awards winners, archival audio from previous Oregon Book Awards ceremonies, and an interview with CES Wood recipient Molly Gloss.
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Delve Readers Seminars Spring 2021
Versions, Erasures & Omissions: Raymond Carver
Wed, May 5 from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm PDT
In this Delve we will compare versions of Raymond Carver’s short stories published originally in the collection titled What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (1981), edited by Gordon Lish, and the collection titled Beginners (2009) which contains the same seventeen stories restored to Carver’s original versions posthumously by his wife, poet Tess Gallagher. Our discussions will revolve around the differences such editorial decisions make in terms of tone and message received by the reader: When these cuts…
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Free Events
Wordplay Festival: West x Midwest Present Alison Bechdel in Conversation with Cheryl Strayed
Thu, May 6 from 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm PDT
Join The Loft's virtual Wordplay Festival for a conversation between Alison Bechdel and Cheryl Strayed about Bechdel's new graphic memoir.
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Free Events
Wordplay Festival: Intercontinental Series featuring Helen Oyeyemi
Fri, May 7 from 10:00 am - 11:00 am PDT
Helen Oyeyemi, bestselling author of What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, crafts a mesmerizing portrayal of two lovers forever changed by an unusual train journey in her new novel Peaces. As Otto and Xavier Shin depart on what appears to be a train constructed by their wildest imaginations, we discover that the past is never truly behind us—and could possibly be sitting right next to us. The Loft's Virtual Wordplay is presented by St. Catherine University and Star Tribune. In partnership…
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Free Events
Mary Jo Bang, Joshua Beckman and Zachary Schomburg
Fri, May 7 from 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm PDT
An evening of poetry, to celebrate the publication of Fjords Vol. 2 by Oregon Book Award author Zachary Schomburg. Register in advance for this webinar
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SPRING 2021 Writing Classes
Writing Breakage: The Collage Essay
Wed, May 12 from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm PDT
in the broken thing, human agency is oddly implied: breakage, whatever its cause, is the dark complement to the act of making; the one implies the other. - Louise Gluck Do you have a nonfiction story or essay that struggles to mold to a traditional structure? Sometimes the most personal stories or essays do not want to follow a linear trajectory. Collage and braided forms of creative nonfiction rely instead on fragmentation, silence and resonance to build suspense and/or complex…
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SPRING 2021 Writing Classes
Craft Conversations: Place: Setting Down Roots
Sat, May 15 from 10:00 am - 1:00 pm PDT
Everything that happens in our lives and in our stories happens somewhere. Setting is a building block of fiction and memoir. During this discussion and workshop we will take a thorough look at how to build a vibrant and invigorating setting. Be it the cereal aisle of a grocery store, hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, a classroom, or in bed at night—settings are opportunities to reveal character, heighten theme, and create tone. Through writing examples, prompts and ample discussion, you…
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For Bipoc Writers SPRING 2021 Writing Classes
Talking Back: Writing in Conversation with Other Texts
Mon, May 17 from 4:30 pm PDT
for BIPOC writers only We all know that words carry weight, but some words—especially those bound up with the cultural power of political speeches, sacred texts, and canonical literature—can seem overwhelming in their authority. We’ll choose texts that have influenced us—for better or for worse—and use a variety of techniques to respond to them, play with them, challenge them, and upend them. Access Program We want our writing classes to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We…
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Delve Readers Seminars Spring 2021
Moby-Dick
Mon, May 17 from 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm PDT
There are Great American Novels and then there is Moby-Dick, Herman Melville’s 1851 masterpiece. Have you read it years ago and forgotten it already? Have you thought you should read it? Should you read it right now? All signs point to “yes.” Melville is great, he is strange, he is important, and Moby-Dick stands atop the mainmast of American letters. It’s a novel, a poem, an opera, a play, the subject of countless New Yorker cartoons…and maybe it’s a story…
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Portland Arts & Lectures
2020/21 Portland Arts & Lectures: Yaa Gyasi (RESCHEDULED)
Tue, May 18 from 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm PDT
SCROLL DOWN TO PURCHASE SINGLE TICKETS TO THIS EVENT. Yaa Gyasi is the author of the forthcoming novel, Transcendent Kingdom (Knopf, August 2020). Her best-selling debut novel, Homegoing (2016), is an intergenerational saga following two split branches of a Ghanaian family through three hundred years of history. Homegoing won the PEN/Hemingway Award and the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Award for best first book, was shortlisted for the British Book Award – Debut of the Year, was named a…
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Delve Readers Seminars Spring 2021
The Madwoman in the Attic and the Monstrous Feminine
Tue, May 25 from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm PDT
The “mad woman in the attic" is a common trope in gothic literature, but who is she? And how did she end up there? Integral to the gothic genre are stories of madness and haunting, which often serve as metaphors for social violence, race, gender and class warfare, and the abject. Stereotypically, the female protagonist in gothic literature plays the role of victim, but what about when she participates in her own monstrosity? In this seminar, we will explore some…
Find out moreJune 2021
Summer 2021 Writing Classes
Refuse the Given World: Generating Short Fiction Through Play
Sat, June 5 from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm PDT
In this generative short fiction writing course, we will tap into that playful mindset—by using silly rules, obstructions, oblique strategies, games, dreams, collage, odd perspectives, glimmers and more—to unlock problematic stories and/or generate new material. Stories from short fiction and flash writers including Jayne Anne Phillips, Jess Arndt, Gary Lutz, Amy Hempel, Sandra Cisneros, Ben Marcus, Isaac Babel, Carmen Maria Machado, and others will guide our discussions and exercises.
Find out moreSummer 2021 Writing Classes
Refuse the Given World: Generating Short Fiction Through Play: Afternoon session
Sat, June 5 from 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm PDT
In this generative short fiction writing course, we will tap into that playful mindset—by using silly rules, obstructions, oblique strategies, games, dreams, collage, odd perspectives, glimmers and more—to unlock problematic stories and/or generate new material. Stories from short fiction and flash writers including Jayne Anne Phillips, Jess Arndt, Gary Lutz, Amy Hempel, Sandra Cisneros, Ben Marcus, Isaac Babel, Carmen Maria Machado, and others will guide our discussions and exercises.
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Summer 2021 Writing Classes
Complexity and Simplicity: Unlocking the Genius of Your Craft
Tue, June 15 from 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm PDT
Balancing craft elements without calling attention to them is the hallmark of a virtuoso. Reimagine the world of your story by examining its craft subsets in this intensive workshop for advanced writers. Learn new techniques to strengthen your narrative and deeply inhabit compelling fictional worlds. Participants will analyze their own works with a critical and compassionate eye. This class is ideal for writers who have some experience with craft. Students can expect to write 20-30 pages over the course of…
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