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.

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Thursday

Sep 5

Friday

Sep 6

Wednesday

Sep 11

Saturday

Sep 14

Thursday

Sep 19

Wednesday

Sep 25

Thursday

Sep 26

Friday

Sep 27

Saturday

Sep 28

Monday

Sep 30

Thursday

Oct 3

Thursday

Oct 3

Monday

Oct 7

Sunday

Oct 13

Tuesday

Oct 15

Writing Classes  

Picture Book Writing Lab: Creative Prompts and Workshop

Ready to dive deeper into your picture book writing journey? In this course, designed for continuing students who have taken “Crafting Your Picture Book,” we’ll spark your creativity with unique prompts each week, along with template suggestions to help structure your stories. As we progress, you’ll have the chance to workshop what you’ve been writing, receiving feedback to refine and polish your work. This course is perfect for those looking to push their storytelling further and bring their picture book ideas closer to completion.

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Thursday

Oct 24

Sunday

Oct 27

Online Class   Portland Book Festival   Writing Classes  

POETRY LAB: COME PLAY

This will be a generative writing lab where we will read poems together and then write poems together. Be prepared to write and have fun and experiment in new ways.We will go from one set of poems and writing exercises to the next with some time at the end to share what we’ve written. Come to this workshop with a big imagination, an open mind, a laptop and/or a notebook.

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Monday

Oct 28

Monday

Oct 28

Tuesday

Oct 29

Friday

Nov 1

Saturday

Nov 2

Saturday

Nov 2

Saturday

Nov 2

Saturday

Nov 2

Saturday

Nov 2

Saturday

Nov 2

Saturday

Nov 2

Saturday

Nov 2

Monday

Nov 25

Monday

Dec 30

Tuesday

Jan 7

In-person   WINTER 2025   Writing Classes  

Get Writing: Unblocking Writer’s Block

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 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.

Through a variety of prompts, we’ll create new work every week and practice tools for expanding existing projects and unblocking writer’s block.

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Tuesday

Jan 7

Saturday

Jan 11

Online Class   WINTER 2025   Writing Classes  

Discovering and Embracing Your Literary Voice

Sometimes our literary voice can be hazy even after we have refined and shaped the plot and narrative arc. In this fast paced six-week class, participants will generate a 2–6-page fictional narrative and develop it through two drafts with a keen eye on voice and tone. Simultaneously, we will work on character development and pacing and observe how they can support literary voice. Ideal for writers both in the process of a draft or just starting a new project.

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Monday

Jan 13

Tuesday

Jan 14

Thursday

Jan 16

Delve Readers Seminars   In-person  

STRANGE DESCENT: SUPERNATURAL NOVELS

Strange and surreal, mysterious and dream-like, when “the supernatural” is conjured in story we find ourselves lifted out of the ordinary, material world and into more spectacular realms. In this seminar we’ll read novels that embrace this otherworldliness, stretching the familiar first into the unknown, then to the far reaches of personal and collective transformation.

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