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 downtown Literary Arts space, online, and at partnering venues across Portland and Oregon.
We've added a second section! 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
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,
Verselandia! is the annual youth poetry slam championship presented by Literary Arts. It is the Grand Slam for the winners from individual school slams hosted by public high schools. Finalist
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
So much of life is transitional. We are moving from one job to another, one house to another, we dye our hair to become a different person, make resolutions, break old habits, make new rules, we end relationships and start new ones, we are haunted by the things we’ve done and the things that have
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
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) such as Annie Erneaux, Leslie Jamison, Kate Briggs, Emmanuel Carrere, Hilton Als, Melissa Febos, Edouard Louis and others, in addition to weekly craft essays
Writers can't decide what to do with grief. It has wrongly been called too sentimental or too cold. Too traumatic or too unoriginal. But regardless of the current writerly opinion about it, grief is going nowhere. So how do we write about it? How do we write with it? This generative class will help writers
Being alive is really a very strange endeavor. Bizarre coincidences, déjà vu, the fallibility of our own memory and perceptions, and inexplicable, seemingly magical occurrences are perhaps all more commonplace than we have the space to acknowledge while contending with our busy days. Fiction allows us to ramp this strangeness up just a notch, to
Slamlandia is a poetry open mic and slam that meets every month, on the third Thursday. This mic provides a creative, fun, and welcoming space for all literary communities in
During this weekend autofiction intensive, we will take a deep dive into the unique art of autofiction. Autofiction combines the disciplines of autobiography and fiction. It can be written like memoir or like fiction, but it generally comes down to style: autofiction is often highly introspective and mainly focuses on interior life. For this course,
Please join us for a reading featuring recipients of the 2024 Oregon Literary Fellowships: Karleigh Frisbie Brogan Jenny H. Lee Makiia Lucier Kieran Mundy Rosanna Nafziger Ami Patel Ösel Jessica
What is the relationship between art and life practice? Where does imagination originate in the psyche? How might the in-between spaces in the day lead to creativity later on? Does writer’s block mask resources just waiting to be tapped? These are some of the questions explored by Lynda Barry, Victoria Nelson, and Annie Dillard in
Willa Cather (1873–1947) is one of the most beloved writers in the American canon and is one of those writers whose works are embraced both by a mass audience and by scholars within the academy. Over the course of the past 40 years Cather’s work has been claimed and fought over by such a variety
Sometimes we become so focused on productivity or “doing it right” that we stifle our creativity. In this class we’ll focus on one of the hardest parts of writing: 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
Some real-life experiences are too bizarre, too painful, too otherworldly, to write about in a straight forward manner. What happens when point you can’t or refuse to work from point A to point B. When point A isn’t where you left it and point B has rambled off, looped back around, and jumped on 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
Slamlandia is a poetry open mic and slam that meets every month, on the third Thursday. This mic provides a creative, fun, and welcoming space for all literary communities in
“The simplest answer is that a writer who gardens is sooner or later going to write a book about the subject–I take that as inevitable,” writes Eleanor Perenyi in her forward to Green Thoughts, her collection of essays on gardening. In this course, we’ll explore literature of the garden, using Olivia Laing’s book The Garden
Incite: Queer Writers Read is a curated, bimonthly reading series for Queer writers. Incite’s hope is to create conversation, connection, and greater understanding both within the Queer community and with other
Slamlandia is a poetry open mic and slam that meets every month, on the third Thursday. This mic provides a creative, fun, and welcoming space for all literary communities in
Slamlandia is a poetry open mic and slam that meets every month, on the third Thursday. This mic provides a creative, fun, and welcoming space for all literary communities in
Amy Tan joins Literary Arts' 40th anniversary season of Portland Arts & Lectures on Wednesday, October 9, 2024.
Abraham Verghese joins Literary Arts' 40th anniversary season of Portland Arts & Lectures on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.
Timothy Egan joins Literary Arts' 40th anniversary season of Portland Arts & Lectures on Thursday, January 16, 2025.
Masha Gessen joins Literary Arts' 40th anniversary season of Portland Arts & Lectures on Thursday, February 13, 2025.
Emily Wilson joins Literary Arts' 40th anniversary season of Portland Arts & Lectures on Tuesday, April 15, 2025.
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