Events and readings for February

We update this calendar frequently; subscribe to our newsletter to have the latest news sent to you.

11 January 2015, 2:00pm|

Literary Arts Offers Memoir Writing Boot Camp with Oregon Book Award Winner Jay Ponteri

$350

January 11 – March 1, 2015
Sundays, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. (8 class meetings)

This class for aspiring memoir writers will help you complete the first draft of a memoir in just eight weeks. Participants will commit to an aggressive writing schedule and explore aspects of memory based writing in a supportive environment. You do not need permission to register, however you should have some prior experience in writing nonfiction, as well as a specific project to which you will devote these eight weeks. Participants will present their work to the class for discussion 3-4 times. Limited to 12 students.

Jay Ponteri’s memoir, Wedlocked, won the 2014 Oregon Book Award in Creative Nonfiction.  Jay directs the undergraduate creative writing program at Marylhurst University and show:tell, The Workshop for Teen Writers & Artists. He is the founding editor of both the online literary magazine M Review and HABIT Books, a publisher of prose and poetry chapbooks. His chapbook of short prose, Darkmouth Strikes Again, was published in 2014 by Future Tense Books.  His essay “Listen to this” was mentioned as a Notable Essay in Best American Essays 2010. He has published prose in Del Sol Review, Seattle Review, Salamander, Cimarron Review, Puerto Del Sol, and Forklift, Ohio, among others. Most recently he published an essay on a Robert Walser sentence in Tinhouse.com‘s “Art of the Sentence” series.

To register, go to Literary Arts.

locationLiterary Arts
925 SW Washington St., Portland, OR 97205
503.227.2583

3 February 2015, 6:00pm|

"Dangerous Writing" with Tom Spanbauer

Considered the patriarch of the Portland writing scene, Spanbauer is the founder and creative force behind Dangerous Writing, a legendary workshop that has many famous alumni, including Cheryl Strayed, Chuck Palahniuk and Chelsea Cain. He has written five novels known for their fresh and lyrical prose style alongside solid storytelling. His latest, “I Loved You More” (2014), explores the relationships in a love triangle over 25 years.

The opening night of WSU Vancouver’s Professional Writers Series begins with a reception, 6:15 - 7 p.m., in the Writing Center, Library, Room 203. Refreshments will be served.

Series are held in the Library Building, Room 240. Author presentations are free and open to the public.

locationWashington State University
Library Building, Room 240, Vancouver, WA 98660
360 487-8600

5 February 2015, 7:00pm|

Winter Coat at Powell's

Winter Coat opens February 5th, First Thursday. Powell’s will host an opening reception and reading of “Winter Coat” by Loretta Stinson. Copies of Little Green will be available for purchase.

Ben Rosenberg


What is Winter Coat? Curator Ben Rosenberg says, “I was invited to curate a show at Clatsop Community College early this year and the first thing that popped into my mind was that I wanted to do something that hadn’t been done before. Instead of making a show that revolved around a specific theme or group of artists, I wanted to make a show that would pull a group of artists together around a work of literature, not as illustration, a field I worked in for many years, but as an exploration of literature through art making.”

To read more, go to the Winter Coat website.

locationPowell's Books
1005 West Burnside Street, Portland, OR 97209
503 228-4651