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.
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.
Join us for a special evening as local theatre collective Theatre Diaspora presents a staged reading of Isabel, a play by reid tang. This is event is free and open
While better known for her extraordinarily imaginative paintings, the British-born Mexican artist Leonora Carrington was also a dazzling writer, conjuring stories that alchemically transform the banal and infuse the imagination
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
Join us for a very special interactive event with local author Holly Capelle for her new cook book, Preserving the Seasons.Capelle will be joined in conversation by Liz Crain. About
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
Over the four weeks of this course, 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.
Join us in welcoming Denali Sai Nalamalapu and the IPRC for a celebration of Holler: A Graphic Memoir of Rural Resistance. About the IPRC: The mission of the Independent Publishing
This is a class to take if you’re new to writing picture books, if you’re curious about writing them, but don’t know quite where to start, or even if you’ve been writing for a while, but feel like you still have some unanswered questions.
Join two accomplished storytellers, Mark Roberts, whose work spans the stage to screen with credits including Mike and Molly, Two and a Half Men, as well as his acclaimed plays, and Jon Raymond, known for his novels, teleplays and screenplays including Mildred Pierce, Meek’s Cutoff and Wendy and Lucy, for an in-depth conversation on the art of crafting stories for both screen and stage.
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.
This class is designed for nonfiction writers. Essayists, memoirists, and writers of literary reportage are all welcome. Please come with a complete early draft of a project — maybe it’s something fresh, or maybe it’s simply a piece on which you feel a bit stalled. By the end of the month, writers will emerge with a new set of revision strategies, and a clear path forward for revising their work-in-progress.
Hosted by Kyle Yoshioka and Jessica Meza-Torres, this monthly reading series is intended to prioritize the safety, creativity, and stories of Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color. The featured readers for
Questions about applying to this year's Oregon Literary Fellowships? Join us at this information session! Drop in any time between 12:30 and 2:00 p.m.
Join us for a night of readings from this year's Stafford Challenge Anthology! About The Stafford Challenge The Stafford Challenge is a yearlong international poetry project inspired by the daily
Write, mingle, and be merry - The Literary Arts Bookstore and Cafe are excited to welcome local authors from the LGBTQ+ community for an evening of co-writing and and delicious
Join Orion's deputy editor Tara Rae Miner with Erica Berry, Oregon Book Award–winning author of Wolfish; Julie Beeler, artist and author of The Mushroom Color Atlas; and Elan Hangens, mushroom
Just in time for the Oasis Live '25 tour, join us for a conversation with DJ Greg Glover and Melissa Locker on her latest book, And After All: A Fan
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
A Physical Education traces Casey Johnston’s journey of calorie restriction and obsessive cardio—making herself small in almost every way—to finding healing through the (unexpected) practice of lifting weights. As she
Join us for a conversation between Jami Attenberg and Genevieve Hudson, discussing Jami's novel A Reason to See You Again.
Putting Your Creativity first will feature a talk, writing prompts and group write-along, followed by a Q&A on the creative process, writing community, and business of art.
The Literary Arts bookstore is excited to welcome Starri Merryweather for a very special drag storytime! From the imagination of multi-hyphenate performance artist Sonnei Verbena, Starri Merryweather brings whimsy, heart
In this eight-week workshop, we will focus on leading with suspense to evoke curiosity and engagement. In our first class, we’ll discuss the craft of making big and little promises to the reader and fulfilling them in fresh but satisfying ways. Sterling examples of engaging openings from the canon will provide fodder for our discussion of how to captivate a reader. In our subsequent classes, we’ll workshop two student submissions per each class.
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 communities. Hosted by Vinnie Kinsella and Jennifer (JP) Perrine. The featured readers for July are JP Perrine, Grey Traynor, and Eliot Feenstra. The theme is
Please join us for a special reading event featuring recipients of the 2025 Oregon Literary Fellowships. This event is free and open to the public. Featuring . . . Zoë
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. July's featured reader is 2024 Oregon Book
Join us for a timely conversation with two local journalists Rebecca Grant and Zoë Carpenter about Grant’s forthcoming title, Access: Inside the Abortion Underground and the Sixty-Year Battle for Reproductive Freedom. About the book: From the award-winning author of Birth, a journey into the underground activist networks that have been working to protect women’s autonomy
Slamlandia is a poetry open mic and slam that meets every month, on the third Thursday (although this month is an exception, meeting on the fourth 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
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 readers
In this six-week generative course we will read, watch, and listen to a wide range of sources—from traditional short stories to anonymous online forum posts, podcast excerpts, and short videos of people arguing at home or in the street. Each week we’ll discuss what story lives inside our experimental source, and will then come up with a prompt based on that source together.
Literary Arts welcomes Our Bold Voices founder Paul Iorrobino and readers from the new Defiant Moments anthology: Noah Grabeel, Kyle Lang, Brandy Penner and Scott Strickland.
About the book: A genre-bending exploration of that most elemental force–water–through Indigenous storytelling, personal memory, and the work of influential artists and writers For many years, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson took solace in skiing—in all kinds of weather, on all kinds of snow across all kinds of terrain, often following the trail beside a beloved
Explore Turkish Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk’s Nights of Plague (2022), an epic narrative which depicts the outbreak of the bubonic plague in the late Ottoman era. The stage is the fictional island Mingheria in the Levant, and the year is 1901.
Learn creative process skills for sticking with a writing project from initial idea to completion. 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.
Literary Arts welcomes Peyton June to celebrate her debut young adult horror, Bad Creek. Peyton will be joined by fellow debut novelist Isa Aganjanian, the author of Modern Divination, for a conversation about writing YA horror, life as a debut novelist, and more! Bad Creek Iris, Gum, and Aidan are vacationing in Bad
Join us on Saturday, June 14 to celebrate the opening of the Literary Arts Cafe! We will be open all day, but between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. we will have some fun giveaways courtesy of our cafe partners: Farina Bakery, Upper Left Coffee Roasters, OKAPI reusable cups, and Minor Figures oat milk.
Known for her “fearless and unbridled” writing about the natural world, Annie Dillard’s first three non-fiction books conjure lyrical insights so vivid that they seem to burn. So much more than a “nature writer,” Dillard’s observations of whatever she’s looking at—the transient effects of an eclipse viewing in a small town, a near-deadly airplane crash on an island in the Pacific Northwest, the unraveling of a tangled snake-skin she finds wandering through the woods—reveal the living textures of things: their ordinary strangeness and transcendent beauty.
Join Literary Arts for a social mixer event to meet local children's authors and learn about their work! It's the middle of Portland Book Week AND The American Booksellers Association's Children's Institute will be in town — what better time to celebrate the amazing Portland-area authors creating books for children. (Not a story time but
Join us at Literary Arts for a social event to meet local children's authors and learn about their work! It's the middle of Portland Book Week AND The American Booksellers Association's Children's Institute will be in town—what better time to celebrate the amazing Portland-area authors creating books for children. (Not a story time but kids
Literary Arts is thrilled to be a part of Portland Book Week 2025! Come on down to the store, buy a Portland Book Week tote bag, and check some items off your Bingo card! a bookstore that hosts classes or events a bookstore with metaphysical or spiritual books a bookstore that hosts a story time
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 June is Amy
Join us for a night of music and literary conversation with Gabriel Kahane and Ross Barkan, celebrating Glass Century. About the book: It's 1973 and Mona Glass is a 24-year-old amateur tennis star in a long-running affair with Saul Plotz, her former college professor. Her parents like Saul and desperately want the free-spirited Mona to
Join us in celebrating Jonny Garza Villa's latest, Futbolista! A classmates-to-friends-to-lovers romp that is equal parts raunchy and heartfelt. About the book: A classmates-to-friends-to-lovers romance that's equal parts raunchy, heartfelt, queer, and Mexican-American, centered on college football (the REAL football)! Gabriel Piña knows who he is: a college goalkeeper, a future Liga MX or MLS
Join us for a very special story time reading and illustration demo with visiting author/illustrator Tom Toro to celebrate his newest book, Crocodiles Need Friends, Too! Tom Toro is an acclaimed New Yorker cartoonist, cover artist, and award-winning children's book author and illustrator. His books include Crocodiles Need Friends, Too! (Little, Brown), How to
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