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Posted by literaryarts | October 9, 2008 - 3:27pm
Literary Arts Our story at Literary Arts begins in 1984 with a small lecture series designed to bring leading authors and cultural thinkers to Portland, which was hardly a dot on the literary map. Within four years, demand for tickets moved Portland Arts & Lectures to the 2,700–seat concert hall at which it currently resides. Now a Portland tradition, the series brings the brightest minds of our day to present original talks about literature, art, history and contemporary culture before one of the largest lecture audiences in the country. In 1993, we joined with the Oregon Institute of Literary Arts to support and celebrate Oregon writers and publishers. This new chapter brought the Oregon Book Awards and Oregon Literary Fellowships, through which we have honored nearly 500 Oregon writers and publishers and distributed more than a half–million dollars in fellowships and awards. In 1996, we started Writers in the Schools (WITS) to cultivate young readers and writers, and support Oregon authors, through residencies in the public schools. The program has grown to employ 25 Oregon writers each year, who teach semester–long writing workshops in all ten Portland public high schools and several alternative programs. In 1997, we made literature a part of commuters’ everyday lives with Poetry In Motion®, which displays artfully designed poem cards on buses and lightrail trains throughout the Portland metro area. In 1998, we introduced the Oregon Book Awards Author Tour, presenting readings by award-winning authors and finalists in rural and underserved communities throughout the state. In 2001, we began Poetry Downtown, bringing world–renowned poets to Portland to read from and discuss their work in a four–part series. In 2004, we brought short fiction to the stage through Verb: Literature in Performance. And in 2005, we offered Delve: Readers’ Seminars, an intimate way for community members to connect around classic works of literature. In all, our programs reach more than 12,000 writers, readers, teachers and students across the state each year. We hope you will become part of our story; we want you to share your stories with us. Please call or write to us, or join us at one of our events. 224 NW 13th Ave, Ste 306 Information Resources |