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.
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,
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
The Bigfoot Poetry Festival returns to Literary Arts with an all-day celebration of the written and spoken word, featuring poetry slams, a poetry market, open mics, and writing and performance workshops. All events are FREE and open to the public. Accessibility Note: The Poetry Market, Youth Poetry Slam, and New Sh*t Open Mic will take
The second in a two-night series for the Bigfoot Poetry Festival, this event features poets from all over the Pacific Northwest (and beyond!) who will engage in a battle of words for the enjoyment of an audience. Teams of poets will compete with their spoken word at Literary Arts—the first bout starting at 5:00pm, and
The first in a two-night series for the Bigfoot Poetry Festival, this event features poets from all over the Pacific Northwest (and beyond!) who will engage in a battle of words for the enjoyment of an audience. Teams of poets will compete with their spoken word at Literary Arts—the first bout starting at 5:00pm, and
Come celebrate the culmination of the Short Story Intensive writing class. Readings by class participants, hosted by class instructor Margaret Malone. If you have any questions about this event, please email Alexa Winik at alexa@literary-arts.org. Free and open to the public!
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
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.
Flaubert’s Madame Bovary is the quintessential modern novel. This is the paradigmatic “show don’t tell” writer who, by sheer force of talent, sweat, style, and restraint was able to turn a small, inconsequential notice in a provincial newspaper into one of the greatest stories of the Western tradition. Morally complex, ironic, insightful, and brilliant—if this
Please join us for a reading featuring recipients of the 2024 Oregon Literary Fellowships: Karleigh Frisbie Brogan Jenny H. Lee Makiia Lucier Kieran Mundy Rosanna Nafziger Ami Patel Ösel Jessica Plante-Curl Eric Simons Joe Wilkins Evan Morgan Williams with special appearances from publishing fellowship recipients, Fonograf Editions and First Matter Press.
During this weekend autofiction intensive, we will take a deep dive into the unique art of autofiction. Autofiction combines the disciplines of autobiography and fiction. It can be written like memoir or like fiction, but it generally comes down to style: autofiction is often highly introspective and mainly focuses on interior life. For this course,
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,
Being alive is really a very strange endeavor. Bizarre coincidences, déjà vu, the fallibility of our own memory and perceptions, and inexplicable, seemingly magical occurrences are perhaps all more commonplace than we have the space to acknowledge while contending with our busy days. Fiction allows us to ramp this strangeness up just a notch, to
Writers can't decide what to do with grief. It has wrongly been called too sentimental or too cold. Too traumatic or too unoriginal. But regardless of the current writerly opinion about it, grief is going nowhere. So how do we write about it? How do we write with it? This generative class will help writers
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 Perrine. The featured readers for May are Liz Asch, Aliya Bree Hall, and Sara Jaffe. The theme is
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
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.
April is National Letter Writing Month! Spend some time writing letters and catching up on your correspondence with like-minded writers and fans of the postal system. Some supplies, snacks, and typewriters will be provided, but feel free to bring your favorite stationery, pens & art supplies. Hosted by Squeezebox Press
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,
DELVE FOR WRITERS: An occasional Delve series that offers seminars that focus on close readings of narrative, form, and stylistic choices that writers can incorporate into their own writing practice. Contemporary poetry and prose-poetry is a fabulous place to find rich, novel ideas about both form and content. This year’s final Portland Arts & Lectures
The key to any unforgettable work of prose resides in the quality of its scenes. In this class, we’ll look at some of the best scenes ever written and investigate what it takes to write a scene that keeps readers on the edges of their seats. We’ll also discuss how structuring scenes can create a
One of the central struggles in storytelling is that human beings are, in essence, time travelers. We live in the past of our memories and the future of our hopes. Thus, when we tell stories, we often shuttle around in time. This can be exciting, but more often it winds up confusing the reader, and
Are you ready to get real about the emotional struggles that we bring to our writing? In this evening of conversation, we’ll explore everything from the anxiety of exposure to the crippling doubts that drive us into writer’s block—without judgment or platitudes. No question is off limits: Can I tell the truth about my abusive
Are you ready to get real about the emotional struggles that we bring to our writing? In this evening of conversation, we’ll explore everything from the anxiety of exposure to the crippling doubts that drive us into writer’s block—without judgment or platitudes. No question is off limits: Can I tell the truth about my abusive
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
Please join us for a reading featuring some of this year's Oregon Book Awards finalists in Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, and Poetry: Creative Nonfiction: Erica Berry Alyssa Graybeal Steven Moore Fiction: Patrick deWitt Marcelle Heath Lydia Kiesling Rachel King Jen Wheeler Poetry: Stephanie Adams-Santos Jessica E. Johnson Sara Quinn Rivara
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.
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,
Emily Wilson's new translation of the Iliad, building on the accomplishment of her recent translation of the Odyssey, has kindled fresh interest in Homer's perennially relevant war epic. In this six-week seminar, we will read our way through Homer's text while exploring the rewards of this remarkable translation, a work of both scholarly acuity and
The Wild West has always been a fiction. The heroic cowboy settling the frontier is a myth. The Western novels of the mid-20th century rewrote genocide & colonialism to justify the existence of the United States. As a needed response, The Anti-Western works to undermine this false history by complexifying & subverting the tropes of
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 Perrine.
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. March's featured reader is
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. The theme for February is "time." Our
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,
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. February's featured reader is Eric
In this Delve, we will read Portuguese Nobel-laureate José Saramago’s breathtaking novel, Blindness (1995), focusing in particular on the concept of “community.” The novel posits the trope of community as an ethical imperative when the human condition has become utterly wretched. In a nameless city, contaminated by a sudden white blindness, the only inhabitant who
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,
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
Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) was maybe the greatest short story writer in English that you might not have read. In this Delve, we will read the two dozen stories she wrote describing life in London and throughout Britain during World War II. She describes a world coming apart at its most intimate level—the homes, the lives
Literary Arts, Inc. is a tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Tax ID# 93-0909494
Copyright © 2026 Literary Arts
Made by Needmore Designs
Literary Arts appreciates the continuing support of…
