1. Events
  2. Writing Classes

Events, Classes, and Seminars

Our events, classes, and seminars bring the community together to hear, learn, and discuss the most compelling issues and ideas of our day. We hope you will join us in our community space and bookstore at 716 SE Grand Avenue, Portland, OR, online, and at partnering venues across Portland and Oregon.

Views Navigation

Event Views Navigation

Wednesday

Feb 5

Online Class   WINTER 2025   Writing Classes  

WRITE THE SELF: 8 weeks

We will read and discuss excerpts from contemporary authors who write the self (or write from the basis of personal experience) such as Annie Erneaux,Carmen Maria Machado, Kate Briggs, Emmanuel Carrere, Zadie Smith, Rachel Cusk, Hilton Als, Melissa Febos and others, in addition to weekly craft essays on various genres (memoir, personal essay, autofiction).

There will be an opportunity to submit either one or two short excerpts of your writing (can be from a short story or novel-in-progress) to be workshopped during the class.

This course is generative, so participants should plan to write at least 1500 words per week. Most importantly, the goal of this course is to be inspired and to feel supported in your writing.

Find out more
Saturday

Feb 8

In-person   WINTER 2025   Writing Classes  

Poem or Picture Book: Writing the Lyrical Children’s Book

Do you write poetry and wonder if you could turn your poems into picture books? Do you write picture books and want to make them more poetic? Explore the wavy grey line between poem and lyrical picture book.

In this collaborative workshop, we’ll study some masters of the lyrical picture book, look at some new picture books coming out by well-known poets, and explore the roles of language, perspective, page turns and “illustratable moments” in separating these two closely related crafts.

Participants will come away with tools to help their picture book texts read more lyrically, as well as tips to help an editor or agent see the visual potential in your poetry.

Find out more
Monday

Feb 24

Wednesday

Feb 26

In-person   WINTER 2025   Writing Classes  

Nature Writing: Digging Deep

This course invites students to dig deep, observe the world around them, slow down, bask in the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, and discover how their own unique stories can spring from nature.
By reading great writing and engaging with the natural world from a personal standpoint, students will develop their understanding of ecology and our human connection to it as a species.

Find out more
Thursday

Feb 27

In-person   Writing Classes  

Resources for Refining Your Creative Writing Practice

This four-week class offers an in-depth exploration of how to optimize writing habits and routines for productivity and mental health. This class will have two main components. The first component will be a review of the resources available to writers who wish to refine their creative practices. The second component will be in-class writing, reflection, and discussion exercises. These exercises will help us hone our creative practices to feel happy and productive throughout our most arduous creative undertakings. Subjects will include: managing goals and deadlines; when, how, and who to ask for feedback; writing alone vs. working together. After four weeks, students will have composed a clear, concise, personalized work plan, including goals, routines, resources, and assigned reading.

Find out more
Saturday

Mar 1

Online Class   WINTER 2025   Writing Classes  

The Art of Observation: Developing the Memoir

Ideal for writers looking to develop a memoir idea or take an existing draft to the next level, this class will employ the art of observation as a core skill to mine memory and the present. Participants will generate 10-20 pages of a memoir in-progress. The class will also explore unconventional narrative structures and work extensively on imagery and creating authentic character development on the page.

Find out more
Saturday

Mar 1

In-person   WINTER 2025   Writing Classes  

The Art of Brevity: Crafting Short-short Stories

In flash fiction, the whole is a part and the part is a whole. The form forces the writer to question each word, to reckon with Flaubert’s mot juste, and move a story by hints and implications. Flash stories are built through gaps as much as the connective tissue of words, so what’s left out of a story is often more important than what’s included.

Find out more
Saturday

Mar 8

Alex Behr
Tuesday

Mar 18

Wednesday

Mar 26

Monday

Mar 31

Wednesday

Apr 16

Saturday

Apr 19

In-person   Poetry   Writing Classes  

The Things Themselves: Poetry

The title of this workshop is a line from a Lucille Clifton poem. We’ll use this poem and a range of others as lenses to consider the ways our cultural and ecological moment is an invitation to widened wonder and love. This workshop is open to everyone. No prior experience with writing or reading poetry is needed or expected. We will talk, read, and write together

Find out more
Saturday

Apr 26

Thursday

May 1

Online Class   Spring 2025   Writing Classes  

The Finish Line

This 8-week class is focused on helping each writer push one story, essay or poem through the drafting and revision stages on over the finish line. We'll meet weekly to share accountability updates, read some work-in-progress with the group, set or revise goals for your weekly writing practice, and share successes and challenges with fellow writers.

Find out more
Saturday

May 3

Tuesday

May 6

Spring 2025   Writing Classes  

Following the Brush: Experimenting with the Zuihitsu form

In this generative class, we’ll explore the form’s history, then follow the brush into the ecotone between prose poem and lyric essay. Along the way, we’ll push, stretch, and experiment with the form’s possibilities for internal reflection. Writers will leave class with first drafts of zuihitsu on topics of their choosing, which can be further refined at home.

Find out more
Wednesday

May 7

Online Class   Writing Classes  

Missions and Manifestos: the artist statement and beyond

This is a course for artists, writers, or any human wanting to better define their purpose in life. We will read historical manifestos as well as contemporary artist statements and look at those artist and writer's work in the context of their words. Participants will then write their own statements, leaving the class with a long version, a condensed version, and a sense of how their practice will change to follow their stated purpose.

Find out more
Saturday

May 10

In-person   Writing Classes  

Where Do I Go From Here: Writing the Novel

This weekend intensive is designed for writers who have written at least the first two chapters of a novel. Limited to 8 students, each participant will have their work discussed, with feedback from the class and the instructor. Discussions will be focused on character development and plot and how to chart the next steps with your novel.

Find out more
Thursday

May 15

Spring 2025   Writing Classes  

From Idea to Manuscript: Crafting the Picture Book

Have you ever wondered how to turn your brilliant idea into a captivating picture book? In this 8-week course, you’ll learn the art of crafting picture books that leave a lasting impression. We'll explore the world of children's literature, studying beloved classics and contemporary favorites, to inspire your creativity. Through engaging lessons and hands-on workshops, you'll develop a picture book manuscript from concept to completion.

Find out more
Saturday

May 17

In-person   Writing Classes  

Write with Emily

Join novelist Emily Chenoweth for an afternoon of writing and community. Participants will spend time writing to a variety of prompts, sharing their work with classmates, and learning tips and tricks for creating and maintaining their writing practice. Writers of fiction, memoir, and poetry are all welcome for this fun, focused afternoon. Access Program We

Find out more
Tuesday

May 20

Wednesday

May 21

Friday

Jun 6

Wednesday

Jun 11

Thursday

Jun 12

Online Class   Summer 2025   Writing Classes  

WRITE THE SELF: 8 weeks intensive

This course is for all levels of writers and readers. We will read and discuss excerpts from contemporary authors who write the self (or write from the basis of personal experience), in addition to weekly craft essays on various genres (memoir, personal essay, autofiction).There will be an opportunity to submit either one or two short excerpts of your writing (can be from a short story or novel-in-progress) to be workshopped during the class.

Find out more
Tuesday

Jun 17

In-person   Summer 2025   Writing Classes  

Creative Clarity, Focus and Momentum

Learn creative process skills for sticking with a writing project from initial idea to completion. If you dream of writing that novel or finishing that poem, but you feel scattered, overwhelmed, or stuck with many beginnings but no finished product, this workshop will offer you gentle and effective ways to work through creative blocks so you can finally share your creative expression with your readers.

Find out more
Wednesday

Jun 18

Saturday

Jun 21

Wednesday

Jun 25

In-person   Summer 2025   Writing Classes  

Experiments in Fiction

In this six-week generative course we will read, watch, and listen to a wide range of sources—from traditional short stories to anonymous online forum posts, podcast excerpts, and short videos of people arguing at home or in the street. Each week we’ll discuss what story lives inside our experimental source, and will then come up with a prompt based on that source together.

Find out more
Thursday

Jul 10

In-person   Summer 2025   Writing Classes  

Leading with Suspense: writing the unputdownable story

In this eight-week workshop, we will focus on leading with suspense to evoke curiosity and engagement. In our first class, we’ll discuss the craft of making big and little promises to the reader and fulfilling them in fresh but satisfying ways. Sterling examples of engaging openings from the canon will provide fodder for our discussion of how to captivate a reader. In our subsequent classes, we’ll workshop two student submissions per each class.

Find out more
Saturday

Jul 12

Wednesday

Jul 23

Monday

Aug 4

In-person   Summer 2025   Writing Classes  

The Art of the Gut Renovation: Revising as Rebuilding

This class is designed for nonfiction writers. Essayists, memoirists, and writers of literary reportage are all welcome. Please come with a complete early draft of a project — maybe it’s something fresh, or maybe it’s simply a piece on which you feel a bit stalled. By the end of the month, writers will emerge with a new set of revision strategies, and a clear path forward for revising their work-in-progress.

Find out more
Saturday

Aug 9

Saturday

Aug 16

Saturday

Aug 16

Wednesday

Aug 20

Tuesday

Sep 2

In-person   Writing Classes  

Get Writing

Each week we’ll use new prompts and guided activities to inspire new creation. We’ll look at the work of writers we admire and ask: how’d they do that? As they say, writing is a muscle, and no matter what your experience level, you have to continually exercise that muscle and practice new tools to keep your writing nimble and moving.

Find out more
Wednesday

Sep 3

In-person   Writing Classes  

The Art of Fiction

While this course will predominantly take the form of a fiction workshop, it will also feature discussions of published works to interrogate the “absolutes” that govern the art of fiction, as well as to equip students to appreciate how they might bend if not break these rules in service of the stories that they hope to tell.

Find out more
Wednesday

Sep 3

Online Class   Writing Classes  

Personal Landscapes: The Braided Essay

In this workshop we will read braided essays by contemporaries such as Terese Marie Mailhot, Kyo Maclear, Rebecca Solnit and Melissa Matthewson who show that the landscapes we traverse are the exact right starting point to explore our own stories and when we braid our important places with our own experience, the result can be an extraordinary juxtaposition, leaving behind an unimaginable deer trail for others to follow. We will spend time discussing the writing of others, exploring our own personal landscapes, and working toward a complete braided personal essay by the end.

Find out more
Saturday

Sep 6

Saturday

Sep 6

Sunday

Sep 7

Alex Behr
Wednesday

Sep 10

Filters

Changing any of the form inputs will cause the list of events to refresh with the filtered results.