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.
This eight-week memoir workshop teaches writers how to transform personal experiences into compelling scenes that captivate readers. Students will learn to craft authentic moments from memory, weave reflection seamlessly into narrative, and build scenes that invite readers into their lived experiences while revealing deeper emotional truths.
This monthly 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. Hosted by Kyle Yoshioka and Jessica Meza-Torres. The featured reader
Join us for an evening of poetry and conversation celebrating janan alexandra's debut poetry collection come from (BOA Editions). janan will be speaking in conversation with Jennifer (JP) Perrine, author of five books of poetry including the recently published Beautiful Outlaw (Winner of the Kelsey Street Press QTBIPOC Book Prize). This event is free to
A generative writing workshop to create material from a variety of prompts, models, and methods. We will build community with each other, learn some revision hacks, share feedback, and come away from the weekend intensive with plenty more to think about and develop in our writing practice.
2024 Oregon Literary Fellow, Karleigh Frisbie Brogan, joins us to celebrate her new memoir, Holding with Jon Raymond. A stunning debut memoir about addiction, self-discovery, and the relationships between mothers and daughters, from an exciting new literary talent Brogan “ the world’s harshest truths into golden, beautiful sentences” reminiscent of the powerful writing in Wild and In the
Here is an opportunity to share or listen to one page of work in progress from talented writers from everywhere. Come with a single page of work and sign up to read—or come to listen and prepare to be inspired. Our host is the one and only, Emme Lund. The featured reader for October is Matthew
This eight-week class is focused on helping each writer push one story, essay, or poem through the drafting and revision stages and 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. You’ll also learn strategies for keeping focused and staying on track. All genres welcome.
Join us for a solo violin performance and talk by Oregon Symphony 2025/26 Artist-in-Residence, Simone Porter. Porter’s presentation is inspired by the works of philosopher Simone Weil, and Weil’s insight that “Attention, taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer... Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.” The Latin root of the word “attention,” ad
Join First Matter Press in celebrating the launch of their 2025 titles: The Dying Room by Annemarie Eayrs, Brava by Violeta Garza, first you must destroy the world by Claudia Saleeby Savage, and waling waling palpitations by nawa angel a.h. Covers feature art by Pearlyn Tan. Readings begin at 6:00 p.m. This event is free
Visual poetry is as expansive as it is playful which can complement any writer’s practice. Over the course of this six-week workshop, writers can expect to generate four new poetry experiments, one complete visual poetry project, and leave the workshop with a working knowledge of this exciting genre.
In this focused workshop, you’ll learn the key components of a compelling book proposal—from crafting a powerful overview and defining your audience to identifying comps and writing a sample chapter that shines. Ideal for nonfiction writers with a solid book concept who are pursuing traditional publishing and want to create a professional, pitch-ready proposal.
In this six-week class, using 2024’s Best American Short Stories as our guide, we’ll explore a selection of contemporary fiction—deemed this year’s best—with an eye to steal from them. This year’s guest editor, Lauren Groff, writes that these stories “buzz with their own strange logic.” We’ll examine the inner workings of these stories to decipher some of that strange logic, but more pointedly, we’ll focus each week on one technique, discuss how the author is achieving a desired effect, and practice employing it in our own writing.
Throughout this eight week course, students will look at the many ways in which humans are connected to our natural surroundings, both urban and remote. Weather, soil, plants, wildlife, changing systems, and more will all be explored. By delving into the inherent close relationship humans have with the natural world, each student’s path to writing their own stories using the natural world as scaffolding will emerge.
Join us in welcoming Jeff VanderMeer and Omar El-Akkad for a conversation on the work of Katherine Dunn, celebrating the posthumous release of her short story collection Near Flesh.
Join us in celebrating Jade Chang's latest novel, What a Time to Be Alive. About the book: A deeply moving and often hilarious novel following a woman who becomes an internet folk hero in the most unexpected way, catapulting her into fame and influence just as she’s finally beginning to reckon with her complicated past Lola Treasure Gold can’t figure out her life. She’s broke, unemployed,
The Literary Arts Bookstore and Cafe are thrilled to welcome Lit Mic for a very special immersive writing workshop! Participants will search for clues, interview witnesses, and conduct their own investigation via creative writing prompts and sharing to solve the murder. About Lit Mic: Portland Lit Mic is a community-oriented organization, dedicated to getting writers
In this six-week course, we will develop stories we are not yet sure how to write and uncover just how effective and dynamic our unique storytelling can be. We’ll bring them to their fullest consideration by adventuring through our ideas and returning to the joy of imagination and invention.
Roberto Bolaño’s posthumous novel 2666 attempts to explore the totality of evil in the 20th century. Ranging from World War II to Detroit to the deserts of Mexico, the nearly 1000-page book presents a huge cast of characters, each individual offering their pain and hope as exemplifications of the human condition.
The Literary Arts Bookstore is pleased to welcome Victoria Redel in celebration of her latest,I Am You, in conversation with 2025 Oregon Book Award Winner Kimberly King Parsons. An unforgettable love story about sex, art, and politics in 1600s Amsterdam. At age eight, Gerta Pieters is dressed as a boy and put to work
Psychology wouldn’t be what it is today if it weren’t for Swiss psychologist C.G. Jung. Ever curious about the depths and machinations of the psyche, he developed an intellectual life and therapeutic practice based in a profound abiding with the human soul. In his singular memoir Memories, Dreams, Reflections, written in his later years, we’re treated to a panoply of reminisces, revelations, and personal myths.
This is a workshop for self-identifying Muslim artists to join together in a joyful, supportive, and courageous community space to share their short fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or screenplays and receive feedback with the expressed goal of submitting their work for publication upon conclusion.
A spooky write-in with someone pulling tarot cards, a taro latte, and maybe the monster mash? About write-ins: Write-ins are community gatherings where writers come together to share space, write, and make connections. Whether you’re here to hit word count or make a new friend, we’re here to support you!
Readers generally considered The Plague, published in 1947 (and a large factor in Camus receiving the Nobel Prize for literature a decade later), to be a superior metaphorical novel about life during wartime and Nazi occupation. As we learned in 2020, it was also a pretty accurate look at how humans react to life during
On Thursday, October 16, First Draft Writers Series, in partnership with Literary Arts, will present Oregon Book Awards Authors Becky Ellis, Charlie J. Stephens and tina ontiveros for a free reading.
Literary Arts is pleased to present Elizabeth Gilbert as the first speaker of the 2025-26 Portland Arts & Lectures series. Click here to view the full lineup. Please note: a subscription to the entire 2025-26 Portland Arts & Lectures series is required to attend this event. Subscriptions are now SOLD OUT at all levels.
In partnership with Fishtrap, Literary Arts brings the Oregon Book Award Author Tour to Wallowa County.
The Oregon Book Awards Author Tour will be in Baker City, with four Oregon Book Awards authors.
Learn the craft of narrative writing. Participants will learn to write perceptively – deploying their five senses and delving into feelings as they write. They will learn how to leverage narrative distance, writing between their ideas and the immediacy of their experiences to see how distance can affect the emotional weight of the work. They will learn how to use metaphors as a means of discovery, to harness verbs, and to modify sentences for focus and impact.
This six-week seminar is designed for writers interested in doing deep reads of contemporary literature from a craft perspective. We will dissect the structure and language from five very different short stories so that we can apply some of the same tools these writers use in their work to our own. Delve for Writers is an occasional series of seminars designed to help writers improve their craft through close readings of contemporary poetry and prose.
Since moving into our new permanent headquarters, a historic building turned bookstore and community space in Portland’s Central Eastside, we’ve been thinking a lot about the spaces we create and the communities we build. One thing is clear: when we share stories and experiences all together, our connections drive action and change. We invite you
Literary Arts is thrilled to present Timothy Snyder, bestselling author of On Tyranny. Literary Arts’ Executive Director Andrew Proctor will be in conversation with Snyder about his latest work, On Freedom at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Timothy Snyder has been called “the leading interpreter of our dark times.” As a historian, he has given us startling reinterpretations of political
This foundational series is for personal nonfiction writers ready to shape real-life experiences into engaging stories with intention and clarity. Over four sessions, you’ll learn how to identify your memoir’s deeper message, build a strong narrative arc, and make structural choices that serve both your story and your reader.
In this class we’ll study and practice specific techniques used by established speculative fiction authors such as N.K. Jemisin and Nalo Hopkinson. We’ll examine examples of “worldbuilding in small doses” and try our hands at it. We’ll discuss the merits of creating worlds from the inside out versus going from the outside in. We’ll cover viewpoint, voice, neologisms, “found” texts, and other elements of this aspect of writing with exploratory and generative exercises.
In this six-week class we will explore prompt and nurture creative ideas to create a dossier of possibilities for further development. Participants can expect to take home 5-10 new ideas for creative works-in-progress and strategies for infusing more joy and authenticity in their writing practice.
In this three hour interactive workshop, you’ll refine your nonfiction book concept and clarify what your book is really about, who it’s for, and how it stands out. Whether you’re writing a memoir, self-help, personal growth, or thought leadership book, this session will help you focus your purpose and shape your message.
At this three-hour class, we will read the beginnings of short stories, discuss their effectiveness, tone, and structure, and discuss whether they encourage us to keep reading and why.
In this four-week class, we’ll read and discuss ekphrastic poems by a wide selection of writers, creating our own definition of ekphrasis, pushing the boundaries of what an ekphrastic poem can be. We’ll engage with several essays by poets to get us asking questions and diving deeper into our craft.
Literary Arts is honored to present ‘A Conversation with Kamala Harris,’ November 5, 2025, at the historic Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, for the only Pacific Northwest stop on her 107 DAYS book tour. During this special event, Harris will share what she saw, what she learned, and what it will take to move forward. With
Join us in celebrating Shay Mirk and Eleri Harris for the debut of their new graphic novel, Making Nonfiction Comics! About the book: The definitive guide to writing, drawing, and publishing nonfiction comics from award-winning creators Shay Mirk and Eleri Harris Making Nonfiction Comics is an accessible guide to nonfiction comics perfect for graphic novel readers,
In this one day class, we'll work to demystify the submission process. We’ll discuss how to find publications you’re excited to send your work to, set up personalized submission goals and to-do lists, and organize our own systems for keeping track of our submissions.
Portland Book Festival's 11th year kicks off on Friday, November 7, with an evening of special giveaways and exclusive offers at Readers Night. It's the ideal opportunity for literary lovers—beat the festival crowds, shop the book fair’s 80+ vendors, then return on Saturday ready for book signings with all of your favorite authors! Readers Night
Portland Book Festival, presented by Wells Fargo, returns Saturday, November 8, 2025 to ten stages at six partner venues in downtown Portland’s south Park Blocks. General Admission Festival passes are $18 in advance and $25 at the door. All General Admission passes include admission to the Portland Art Museum; full-priced passes include a $5 voucher
Literary Arts is thrilled to present Rebecca Yarros at the 2025 Portland Book Festival. Note: This event requires an add-on ticket in addition to the General Admission Festival Pass (wristband) to attend. SPECIAL EVENT TICKETS REQUIRED Join us for a very special event with Rebecca Yarros, the #1 New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling
Join Michelle Kicherer afor a fast-paced 45 minute pop-up class focused on capturing the reader's interest.
In this pop-up class, we’ll capture the image as it appears and disappears through ekphrastic writing and erasure.
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