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Literary Arts News, Writers

Spotlight on Alexa Winik, Programs for Writers Coordinator

Literary Arts recently welcomed Alexa Winik as the new Programs for Writers Coordinator. Alexa will support all aspects of Programs for Writers programming, including the Oregon Book Awards and Fellowships, writing classes, seminars and our free literary events. If you take a class or seminar you might see her before or after your class, and if you attend any of our free literary events at 925 SW Washington, you’ll see here behind the microphone at the start of every event. We asked her a few questions about what brought her to Literary Arts and what she’s looking forward to as she settles in to her new role.

What brought you to Literary Arts?

There are so many ways I could answer this question! Sometimes it feels like I’ve landed here through some fortunate portal, or a hidden door in the aftermath of many life changes. I’d been living in Scotland for almost six years when Covid hit and effectively shattered my plans for living there long-term. In the summer of 2021, I crash landed back in my Canadian hometown, missing my friends and feeling adrift in the characteristic uncertainty of those first pandemic years.

But throughout these more uncertain times in my life, I can at least point to one consistent thread, and that’s my love for reading and writing, and of the people who attune their lives to these practices. Following this thread has never failed me in most labyrinths, gently guiding me to the right people and revealing new sources of whatever it is I’ve needed when I’ve needed it most. You could call it trusting that intuition or acting out of desperation, but all through that summer, I started googling things like “best US cities for literature that aren’t New York or LA”, and somewhere in the mix I came across an intriguing arts organization in Oregon called Literary Arts. I remember I wrote down that name + PORTLAND in a notebook. Two months later, I was boarding a plane bound for PDX.

I think what I’m trying to say is that my path to Portland and my path to Literary Arts feel intertwined from the beginning. Since moving here, I’ve worked various jobs—starting out as a bookseller at Powell’s—but I’ve always been hopeful that the right position might open at Literary Arts, the magnet that first drew me to this city. Now that it has, I have a sense of something a little mysterious coming full circle.

What are some things you worked at previously?

As part of the Programs for Writers team, I’ll be drawing a lot from my years of working with writers and literary communities. In the UK, I taught creative writing workshops for undergraduate students, edited the poetry section for an online journal called The Scores, and led community reading groups for the StAnza International Poetry Festival. More recently, I’ve worked as a bookseller, starting out at The Portobello Bookshop in Edinburgh and continuing at Powell’s City of Books, where I helped the Events Team. Like many writers, I’m always hustling to balance creative work with work that pays the bills, so I’ve held many kinds of jobs, all formative in their own ways—from bartending in a Scottish pub to office administration to many, many years of retail and customer service. Before Literary Arts, I was working at a plant nursery.

What are you looking forward to in the coming months at Literary Arts?

As someone who is passionate about non-traditional educational pathways and knowledge-sharing, I’m excited to connect with and support our incredible writing teachers. And of course, I’m excited to jump into the events side of things, from One Page Wednesdays to the upcoming 2024 Oregon Book Awards. This will be my first time attending!

Any current book recommendations?

For poetry: The visceral and grief-stricken Phantom Pain Wings by Kim Hyesoon, translated by Don Mee Choi, which recently won the National Book Critics Circle Award, and The Miraculous Season: The Selected Poems of V.R. ‘Bunny’ Lang, edited by Rosa Campbell. Perennial picks would also include the works of Dionne Brand and Lisa Robertson, as well as Diane di Prima’sRevolutionary Letters, which have been life-sustaining for me. Other current recommendations: Adania Shibli’s Minor Detail, Anahid Nersessian’s Keats’s Odes: A Lover’s Discourse, and local writer Erica Berry’s Wolfish.

Anything else you’d like to share..

When I moved to Portland, I was impressed by the range of events happening at Literary Arts, many of them free to attend. If you’re new in town or unsure of how to connect with fellow writers/booklovers, attending these events can be a great way to start. And if you do, say hi! Tell me what you’re reading.

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