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.
Kick off Banned Book Week with us on Sunday, October 5th , between 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.! We’ve teamed up with Libro.FM, Silent Bookclub, and over 400 bookstores nationwide to host a Read-In in protest of censorship. Bring your own book or try a recommendation from our shelves, grab a bite from our cafe, and come
Visual poetry is as expansive as it is playful which can complement any writer’s practice. Over the course of this six-week workshop, writers can expect to generate four new poetry experiments, one complete visual poetry project, and leave the workshop with a working knowledge of this exciting genre.
Join First Matter Press in celebrating the launch of their 2025 titles: The Dying Room by Annemarie Eayrs, Brava by Violeta Garza, first you must destroy the world by Claudia Saleeby Savage, and waling waling palpitations by nawa angel a.h. Covers feature art by Pearlyn Tan. Readings begin at 6:00 p.m. This event is free
Join us for a solo violin performance and talk by Oregon Symphony 2025/26 Artist-in-Residence, Simone Porter. Porter’s presentation is inspired by the works of philosopher Simone Weil, and Weil’s insight that “Attention, taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer... Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.” The Latin root of the word
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 October is Matthew
2024 Oregon Literary Fellow, Karleigh Frisbie Brogan, joins us to celebrate her new memoir, Holding with Jon Raymond. A stunning debut memoir about addiction, self-discovery, and the relationships between mothers and daughters, from an exciting new literary talent Brogan “ the world’s harshest truths into golden, beautiful sentences” reminiscent of the powerful writing in Wild and In the
A generative writing workshop to create material from a variety of prompts, models, and methods. We will build community with each other, learn some revision hacks, share feedback, and come away from the weekend intensive with plenty more to think about and develop in our writing practice.
Join us for an evening of poetry and conversation celebrating janan alexandra's debut poetry collection come from (BOA Editions). janan will be speaking in conversation with Jennifer (JP) Perrine, author of five books of poetry including the recently published Beautiful Outlaw (Winner of the Kelsey Street Press QTBIPOC Book Prize). This event is free to
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
This eight-week memoir workshop teaches writers how to transform personal experiences into compelling scenes that captivate readers. Students will learn to craft authentic moments from memory, weave reflection seamlessly into narrative, and build scenes that invite readers into their lived experiences while revealing deeper emotional truths.
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 Portland. We encourage poets new and old to come share their work. We strive towards a safe space for poets to read their own poetry,
Don your vegetables and celebrate the harvest season with us! We're channeling Fall energy with an Over the Garden Wall themed write-in this month, complete with molasses latte to celebrate. If you haven't seen OTGW, don't worry—but prepare to be converted to the greatest autumnal media of the century. All you need is something to
The Golden Ass is an outsider’s portrait of life in the Roman Empire, which is both shockingly familiar and alsi truly strange. It is the only complete surviving novel from Greco-Roman antiquity,
A rich young Roman named Lucius goes to the annual Festival of Laughter in a town in Thessaly and meets a witch. She mistakenly turns him into a donkey. On his travels to find the plant with the magic antidote that will restore his humanity, he experiences his society from the animal's point of view.
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 September are Elizabeth Weinberg, kim thompson, and Stacey Rice. The theme
In Western literature, scholars often reduce supernatural fiction to pulp, pop, or entertaining"fluff," which is somehow less noteworthy than other works of literature. Yet horror fiction often uses supernatural tropes of haunting and monstrosity to depict oppression, marginalized identities, gender, and "madness."
Through conversation and writing, we can consider how these modern and postmodern feminist authors expand Western literature and the gothic tradition through provocative first-person narratives.
The Bostonians is Henry James’s most explicitly American novel—and not only because the characters spend their time arguing about politics and gender. Set in the wake of the U.S. Civil War, the book explores loyalty and love, fanaticism and friendship, family feuds and Boston marriages.
In this generative and craft-focused class, we’ll explore how close reading can unlock our own voice. We’ll study excerpts from your favorite authors, examine sentence structure, tone, rhythm, and emotional pacing, and organize our findings into a living document you can return to again and again.
You have a great idea—but is it ready to become a book? In this interactive workshop, you’ll refine your nonfiction concept and clarify what your book is really about, who it's for, and how it stands out.
Calling all graphic novel readers! Join us in welcoming Johanna Taylor to discuss her latest, The Ghostkeeper. About the book: Dorian Leith can see ghosts. Not only that, he listens to their problems and tries to help them move on to the afterlife. It’s a gift that’s made him an outcast to everyone in town.
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 September is Genevieve
Join us in welcoming Montana Poet Laureate Chris La Tray for the paperback release of his bestselling memoir, Becoming Little Shell. “Nothing less than the history of a people in the form of an absorbing and emotionally searing memoir.”—David Treuer, author of The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee “I’m committed to uncovering the culture of my people.
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 to the public, but we encourage attendees to RSVP online here. Isabel It's the staircase in the woods again. You know the one. Mysterious, abandoned,
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 with a smorgasbord of dreamlike images. Brandishing a surrealism that outflanks even the most worthy of her male counterparts, Carrington creates worlds in which the
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
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 the book: Clear instructions for preserving the seasons’ bounty, with 100+ recipes for using what you’ve preserved. Preserving the Seasons is a straightforward and beautifully photographed
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
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 Resource Center (IPRC) is to provide affordable access to space, tools, and resources for creating independently published media and artwork, and to build community and
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 July are Jzl Jmz and Adolfo Cantú-Villarreal. This event is open to everyone, but only people who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color
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 writing practice of poet William Stafford. Launched on January 17, 2024—Stafford’s birthday—by poet and storyteller Brian Rohr, the challenge invites participants to write a poem
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 drinks! Come with your laptop or journal and a story to tell. We've got outlets, caffeine, and plenty of great books for inspiration. About write-ins:
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 forager, educator, and owner of Temptress Truffles. We'll host a short panel about Orion's summer issue featuring writing on all things fungi, paint with 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 History of Oasis. About the Book This oral history documents the story of Oasis as told by the fans who were there. Discover never-before-seen perspectives
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 Portland. We encourage poets new and old to come share their work. We strive towards a safe space for poets to read their own poetry,
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 progresses, carrying groceries and closing heavy doors become easier. As she diligently practices checking in with how she feels, she begins to question not only
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 & JOY to a world in great need of these attributes. Starri has taught creative workshops with teens and has been a camp counselor for
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.
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