Literary Arts

Mission
Literary Arts has a 38-year history of engaging readers, supporting writers, and inspiring the next generation with great literature. Our programs include Portland Arts & Lectures, one of the country’s largest lecture series; Oregon Book Awards & Fellowships, which celebrates Oregon’s writers and independent publishers; Youth programs, which inspires public high school students to revise, edit, publish, and perform their own creative writing; Portland Book Festival, which builds community around literature through authors events, workshops, a book fair, and more; Delve, a series of discussion based groups led by experienced scholars that engage readers in exploring challenging books; and The Archive Project, our radio show on Oregon Public Broadcasting and a podcast that presents the best of our live readings, conversations, and talks completely free to listeners in Oregon, SW Washington, and throughout the world.
The Portland metro area has a thriving arts community, and we ensure that writing and reading are included in that proud tradition. Each year, Literary Arts provides the space for 20,000 Portlanders to share their stories and engage in meaningful conversations about some of the most important ideas of our time. Our work builds a more inclusive and empathetic community by providing the space for diverse voices to be heard. Storytelling and literature ask a reader to experience what it means to be another human being, encouraging tolerance and understanding. By serving both readers and writers, we are bringing together content creators and consumers, and providing the space for difficult conversations. We believe literature is essential to the well-being our community. Whether you read two books a year or twenty, if you are an aspiring poet or a seasoned novelist, or if you are 16 or 60, we provide programming that creates meaningful connections through a shared love of stories.
Bottom Line for Portland
By supporting Literary Arts, you help us offer diverse programming to our community and bring together readers and writers of all ages. Together we will build bridges and ignite conversations that will create a more engaged, empathetic, inclusive, and strong community.
Quote
“Literary Arts does an excellent job of connecting readers and writers. It is a mix of literary salon and community gathering, merging the best of both worlds. The staff and audience are among some of the most passionate and engaged readers I have come across, including the high school students, whose love of reading and writing blew me away. Chapo ba, as we say in Creole, or hats off to Literary Arts.” -Edwidge Danticat, 2021-2022 Portland Arts & Lectures author
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Literary Arts staff and board are committed to continuing and advancing our equity work, and serving our whole community. Each of our programs have their own diversity, equity, and inclusion goals that support larger organizational goals that are detailed in our Strategic Framework. Over the past few years, we have made great strides towards our equity goals including implementing a $10,000 Writer of Color fellowship, ensuring a diverse lineup of authors for the Portland Book Festival, and formalizing an internal DE&I workgroup to keep us accountable for progress towards our equity goals.
Incentives
New incentive added from Tin House!
$50-$99: Win the full 2022 new book collection from Tin House!
The first 200 gifts of $50-$99 through Give!Guide will be entered into a raffle to win a collection of 26 books released by Tin House publishers this year. Titles include Wading in Waist-High Water: The Lyrics of Fleet Foxes by Robin Pecknold, Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty, and A Pros and Cons List for Strong Feelings by Will Betke-Brunswick, plus memoirs, poetry, novels, and more.
Update as of 1 pm on December 31: still 100+ spots left!
The fine print: Qualifying entries will be added to a raffle, with entries capped at the first 200 qualifying donations. Donors entered into the raffle will receive an email with full details, including a link to the live, online winner selection on Friday, January 6, 2023. Gifts must be made by 11:59 pm on December 31st, 2022. The winner will be notified by email. As per Oregon law, entrants must be in Oregon when entering the raffle. Qualifying gifts made prior to this incentive announcement will be entered into the raffle. Limit one Literary Arts incentive per gift; if you have already received an incentive for your gift, it will not be counted as a qualifying entry. Fair market value of raffle prize: $520.
$100: Access to Our Moth Event
-Update: All claimed!
$200: Access to An Evening with Amor Towles – more tickets released!
The first TEN donors to give between $200 and $249 will each receive a pair of tickets to An Evening with Amor Towles on February 1, 2023 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Literary Arts is proud to present an evening with #1 New York Times bestselling author Amor Towles in celebration of his third novel, The Lincoln Highway.
-Update: All claimed!
$250: Two Spots in a Writing Class of Your Choice
-Update: Both claimed!
$300: Two Spots in a Delve Reader Seminar of Your Choice
The first two donors to give between $300 and $500 will each receive a pair of spots in one of our Delve Seminars, which are discussion-based groups led by experienced scholars, and are a perfect combination of a book group and a college English class. Find our current schedule here.
-Update: Both claimed!
$500: Spring 2023 Literary Arts Season Pass
-Update: Both claimed!
Business Partner(s)
Thank you to our wonderful partner Tin House for once again providing their collection of 26 fantastic books released from their publishing house this year. See details above for how to enter to win!

Literary Arts is in the Creative Expression category which is sponsored by The Oregon Cultural Trust