Events, Classes, and Seminars

In this generative writing workshop, we will explore a slice of Portland as flâneurs, or writers who walk and observe as part of their practice.

Write about difficult experiences with honesty and control. This six-week course helps you navigate vulnerability on the page without feeling exposed or stuck. Through guided exercises and discussion, you’ll develop strategies to approach sensitive material with clarity, emotional safety, and intention so you can tell the truth while staying grounded.

This class will provide an introduction to journalism for every writer. Learning the fundamentals of reporting, researching, writing, editing and fact-checking can enhance any writing practice. In five, two-hour sessions, students of all levels will learn basic journalistic skills they can apply to their own projects, whatever the genre.

Together we will read & write creative writing on substance abuse, addiction & recovery, with an emphasis on harm reduction, healing, and reclamation. We will look at poems, short stories, and essay writing centering themes of addiction by their loved ones and by those with lived experience.

Although this course will predominantly take the form of a workshop, it will also provide insights into the craft of writing by drawing upon principles from The Art of Fiction, essays on literary craft, and published short stories. Designed for beginner and advanced writers, this course meets for ten sessions total. Students will have the opportunity to share two pieces (up to 25 pages each) and receive constructive feedback in a thoughtfully facilitated, supportive atmosphere.

This class is designed to demystify the editing process with applicable tools for editing at each stage of your draft. From fiction to creative nonfiction, this five-week workshop offers in-depth looks at different editorial tools to use to help you refine your story and your language.

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.

This five-day intensive teaches writers the essential elements of compelling scene construction. Over five class meetings, students will learn to create authentic characters, ground readers in vivid and purposeful setting, weave exposition seamlessly into narrative, and build scenes that draw readers in and hold them page after page.

Memoir-writing challenges us to interrogate ourselves. Transcribing those memories can be difficult, but even more difficult is ensuring we are honest about how our important relationships have shaped us. This course will ask you who or what you have left out, and why it’s important to evaluate bringing them into the fold. We will look at how to treat that “character” with respect and look at examples from authors who use compassion and authenticity when looking at hard relationships.

This class will provide practical insights and techniques to craft short stories that captivate and create an emotional resonance with readers. We will explore the practice of writing fiction as an experience that not only includes putting words to page, but also as an act of listening, observing, and paying attention.

What about any story makes you want to keep reading? In this class, we’ll look at the openings of several short stories and creative nonfiction pieces with a special focus on the craft: how was the story written in a way that makes it successful?

The spiral holds great meaning for cultures all over the world and has captivated our attention throughout ancient and modern time. In this 3-part generative writing workshop, we’ll expand our writing across multiple genres including poetry, essay, and narrative with prompts inspired by multicultural authors.

Throughout this six week course, students will look at the many ways in which humans are connected to our natural surroundings, both urban and remote. 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.