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.
Join us at the Literary Arts Bookstore & Cafe for our monthly write-in. At last, the long night has ended, and we're ready for Spring! With a bookseller-curated mix of songs featuring sunlight and brightness, we'll be channeling brighter days as we lock-in for a focused writing session. Our Food and Beverage Assistant Manager, Miah,
In this free, hands-on zine workshop, participants will use writing, drawing, and collage to creatively explore what they would like to see celebrated and remembered in Portland. Comics journalist and zine-maker Shay Mirk will lead this playful 90-minute workshop reflecting on Portland’s existing monuments and will lead the group through prompts to collaborate on a
In this free, hands-on zine workshop, participants will use writing, drawing, and collage to creatively explore what they would like to see celebrated and remembered in Portland. Comics journalist and zine-maker Shay Mirk will lead this playful 90-minute workshop reflecting on Portland’s existing monuments and will lead the group through prompts to collaborate on a
The Literary Arts Bookstore and Cafe is thrilled to partner with SCRAP PDX for monthly crafting events. Stay tuned for details on this month's crafts! Hand-sew decorative plush to celebrate the most important meal of the day... BREAKFAST! Sew felt eggs, pancakes, waffles, bacon, coffee, and more. ✨ Bring a friend! Make a friend! Grab
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 May is
Wallace Stevens is one of the most distinctive and extravagant voices in American poetry, an orator of the imagination and eloquent observer of the world's beauty. Beginning with the appearance of the astonishing Harmonium in 1923, Stevens published seven volumes of poetry while living an 'ordinary' life as an insurance executive in Hartford, Connecticut. His Collected Poems is a book of wonders, one of the landmarks of American literary modernism, and his poems are admired and studied for their lustrous language, their philosophical profundity, and their commitment to the importance of poetry in our everyday lives.
The Literary Arts Bookstore and Cafe is excited to welcome poet Erin L. McCoy to celebrate her debut novel, Underlake. McCoy will be in conversation with Erica Berry. About the book: Twelve years ago, Otta escaped her small town, determined to become a marine biologist. Now she’s returned, carrying the guilt of a friend’s disappearance
Read Willima Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom and Toni Morrison’s Beloved, both of which consider the many scars, healed and not, caused by enslavement and the Civil War. Thinking about history, memory, and what Morrison calls “rememory,” we’ll consider what it means to live in a nation, to inherit its past, and to fight for a better future.
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
The Literary Arts Bookstore and Cafe is excited to welcome Literary Arts board member Priscilla Bernard Wieden for a special reading from her poetry collection, Solitary Light. Priscilla will be in conversation with Oregon's former poet laureate, Kim Stafford. About the book: Poetry is a conduit for communicating our shared experiences and broadening our understanding
This class is for anyone ready to take a personal 5-minute story and actively shape it for an audience. You’ll work hands-on with one story. Drafting, refining, and testing it aloud. We’ll focus on structure, pacing, and point of view, helping you find the spine of the story and decide what belongs in this particular version of the story and what doesn’t.
Come celebrate Independent Bookstore Day at Literary Arts and take part in a free, two-hour condensed version of Miranda Schmidt's Writing With Tarot class.
Join us at The Literary Arts Bookstore and Cafe on Independent Bookstore Day for a special storytime featuring local author Leslie Barnard Booth. Saturday, April 25, is Independent Bookstore Day! Come celebrate with us at 716 SE Grand Avenue from 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m for a day full of books, community, festivity, and surprises!
Participants in this one day class will read, draft, and collaborate in revising letter poems that balance the public with the private, the close-to-bone with the common. Through generative, constraint-based prompts, participants will explore the tension between forms of direct address and forms of poetic allusion to speak to, or point towards, what’s been left unsaid in their poems.
Join us for a day of giveaways, free workshops, food and drink specials, and more as we celebrate indie bookstores! Saturday, April 25, is Independent Bookstore Day! Come celebrate with us at 716 SE Grand Avenue from 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m for a day full of books, community, festivity, and surprises! 🎧 Libro.fm Golden
The Literary Arts Bookstore & Cafe is thrilled to welcome Kanako Nishi, author of the Japanese language novel Sakura and Allison Markin Powell, the English translator of the best-selling novel. This event will be moderated by Jay Boss Rubin and feature musical guest Gabriella Page-Fort. About the book:Â Available in English at last, the international
Slamlandia is a poetry open mic and slam that meets every month at Literary Arts, on the third Thursday. This mic provides a creative, fun, and welcoming space for all literary communities in Portland. We encourage poets new and old to come share their work. We strive towards a safe space for poets to read their
The Literary Arts Bookstore & Cafe is excited to welcome local poets Rebecca Clarren, Margot Kahn, and Daniela Naomi Molnar for an evening of readings and conversation!
The three novels in this seminar all overlap in time and space with the mid-twentieth-century world of Gilead, while offering whole other stories and lives that offer perspectives on the great themes of race and racism, faith and family, punishment and reconciliation, love and loss and forgiveness. Set in the American past, Robinson’s novels nevertheless offer challenging insights and hope for today—hope for art, for the nation, for each other and individual selves.
Join us at the Literary Arts Bookstore & Cafe for our monthly write-in. April is National Poetry Month, so we are celebrating our poets. Whether you write poetry, prose, or something in between, all stories welcome! Our Food and Beverage Assistant Manager, Miah, cooked up a new special, the Sigh Swoon Sigh; a tangerine ginger
David Foster Wallace was uniquely prophetic in his ability to diagnose the ills of America and where they were headed in the early 2000s. Toxic masculinity, mental illness, authenticity, empathy, and dopamine exhaustion though media are constants in his work and are best showcased through his short fiction and nonfiction.
In this one-day class, we will learn about the history of the sijo, its relevance to Korean literature, and the unique sensibilities and affordances of the form, while also getting several opportunities to write our own with guided instruction.
Join us to hand-sew decorative plush to celebrate the rain! Sew felt raindrops, umbrellas, crows, and more. ✨ Bring a friend! Make a friend! Grab a beverage, browse the books, and gather round to sew some righteously rainy things to celebrate the equinox! Traceable templates & embroidery stitch print-outs provided. This event is self-guided and
The Literary Arts Bookstore & Cafe is thrilled to welcome Robyn Saunders Wilson to celebrate her debut, Junkyard Princess! Saunders Wilson will be in conversation with Michelle Kicherer. About Junkyard Princess The year is 1983. It’s a time of both mullets and glam, Bowie and the Smiths, and for twelve-year-old Robyn: rusty old vehicles, terrifying
Try a tarot reading for a character or write a poem inspired by tarot images! Tarot is both deeply symbolic and highly narrative, creating a system that can inspire and guide many forms of writing. This multigenre workshop will introduce techniques for using tarot in one’s writing practice.
The Literary Arts Bookstore & Cafe cordially invites you to the first annual meeting of the Dead Poets Society, an open mic for dead people and their enthusiasts. This National Poetry Month, we’re celebrating the voices of poets from the past. Join us to celebrate the work of your favorite dead poet by sharing it
Does what you write or how you write it change with the seasons? In these quarterly gatherings we’ll meet to be inspired by the turn of the world.
In this three week class, participants will diversify approaches to place-based writing by following the auditory threads within their poems and worlds alike. Each week, we’ll identify and write with sound-oriented devices to channel the sensuous qualities of our chosen environments.
The Literary Arts Bookstore & Cafe is pleased to welcome Emergency Horse for the launch of their latest issue. Join us for an evening of readings and celebration. This event is free and open to all. About Emergency Horse The relaunch of the magazine happened this past September. Emergency Horse #8 featured an interview of
The Literary Arts Bookstore & Cafe is excited to welcome Graywolf Press for a special discussion on non-profit and independent publishing in the modern age. This event will feature Carmen Giménez and Serena Chopra in conversation. About Graywolf Press Graywolf Press is a nonprofit literary publisher of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and work in translation.
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 April is
Are you writing a novel? Do you want company? Writing a novel is an intensive and often lonely experience. This course brings novel writers at all stages of the process together to support each other for 8 weeks.
Go beyond recounting events—discover how to write with emotional honesty and depth. This
class helps nonfiction writers translate lived experience into meaningful stories that resonate
with readers.
Join us to celebrate 2026 Pacific Northwest Book Awards Winner Karen Russell, and the paperback release of The Antidote. ABOUT THE BOOK Set in Nebraska during the Dust Bowl, trouble and magic are brewing in this modern-day epic. As we settle into the cast of characters, their memories, secrets, and desires push at the very seams
In this short story-specific workshop we will read, discuss, and critique each other’s complete short stories in a supportive environment. We will also read published stories, and practice craft and editing techniques. We will close with an emphasis on radical revision practices so that you may continue polishing your work.
The Literary Arts Bookstore is thrilled to welcome poet Maggie Smith to celebrate her latest collection of poetry, 'A Suit Or a Suitcase'. Tickets are required for this event, and include a copy of the book.
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
Feeling stuck or scattered in your writing project? This class helps you find direction, reconnect
to your creative purpose, and create a sustainable plan for momentum and flow in your work.
Slamlandia is a poetry open mic and slam that meets every month at Literary Arts, on the third Thursday. This mic provides a creative, fun, and welcoming space for all literary communities in Portland. We encourage poets new and old to come share their work. We strive towards a safe space for poets to read
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend us your pens—and join us for our monthly write-in! We'll be listening to some instrumental music inspired by the Ancient Romans as we lock-in for two hours of focused writing time. Stop by the cafe for the special, Brutus’ Kiss—an iced matcha layered with a cranberry orange float, beware, this delicious
Join us for an evening of celebration and readings from this year's Oregon Book Awards finalists in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Graphic Literature. This event is the second of two finalist readings hosted at the Literary Arts Bookstore. This event is free and open to the public. The reading line-up for the March 17 reading
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.
Join us to hand-sew decorative plush to welcome the new leaves with our friends from SCRAP PDX! Sew spring flowers, birds, raindrops, and more. ✨ Bring a friend! Make a friend! Grab a beverage, browse the books, and gather round to sew some sweet spring things to celebrate the equinox. Traceable templates & embroidery stitch
Join us for an evening of celebration and readings from this year's Oregon Book Awards finalists in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Graphic Literature. This is the first of two finalist readings hosted at the Literary Arts Bookstore, with the second taking place on Tuesday, March 17. This event is free and open to the public.
The Literary Arts Bookstore is excited to welcome Scott Broker to celebrate their debut book, The Disappointment. Broker will be joined in conversation by Peter Rock. About the book: Set during a doom-fated vacation to the Oregon coast, The Disappointment follows a couple trying to hold close to one another while a bent reality—warped by personal losses
Literary Arts, Inc. is a tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Tax ID# 93-0909494
Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
Copyright © 2026 Literary Arts
Made by Needmore Designs
