Free Events Oregon Book Awards Author Tour
Oregon Book Awards Author Tour Enterprise: Becky Ellis, Charlie J. Stephens and tina ontiveros
In partnership with Fishtrap, Literary Arts brings the Oregon Book Award Author Tour to Wallowa County.
ON THE TENTH SEASON OF THE ARCHIVE PROJECT, ENJOY DISCUSSIONS FROM PORTLAND ARTS & LECTURES, PORTLAND BOOK FESTIVAL, AND OTHER COMMUNITY EVENTS FROM OUR HOME IN PORTLAND, OREGON AND BEYOND.
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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)
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.
Literary Arts is thrilled to present Stacey Abrams at the 2025 Portland Book Festival. Note: This event requires an add-on ticket in addition to the General Admission Festival Pass (wristband)
Creating suspense means posing questions. In this 45-minute workshop, we will focus on leading with suspense to evoke curiosity and engagement.
In this workshop, students will learn the fundamentals of what makes an effective pitch and receive guidance, insight and support about how to navigate the pitching process.
Percival Everett appears on November 12, 2025 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall as part of the Portland Arts & Lectures series.
In this four part class, we will consider the what, why, who, and how of form: what form is, why we might choose to write in an inherited form, alter an inherited form, or write in a made-up form, and how we might go about doing so.
This December, The Moth’s anticipated Mainstage season comes to Portland in partnership with Literary Arts. When’s the last time you did something… daring? This Fall, The Moth Mainstage is
Colm Tóibín appears at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on January 15, 2025 as part of the Portland Arts & Lectures series.
Imani Perry appears at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on February 12, 2026, as part of the Portland Arts & Lectures series.
Literary Arts is proud to present the culminating event of Multnomah County Library’s Everybody Reads program on March 12, 2026, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert
Patrick Radden Keefe appears at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on April 23, 2026, as part of the Portland Arts & Lectures series.
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