Classes at the Attic

APPS DUE: June 1: Atheneum Master Writing Program for 2025-2026

Portland's Best Alternative to the MFA

An annual certificate program, the Attic Atheneum melds independent study under close faculty supervision, student receptions, public readings, and other special Atheneum events created around good food and great conversation, dialogue, and literary community.

What do you experience? Writing salons. Genre meetings. Monthly private, one-on-one conferences with published writers. Writing Partners. Manuscript Readings. Public Reading. Revision Retreat. Publication Strategies. Community. Feedback. Literary friendship.

Running for just under a year, the Atheneum is designed to advance your writing and seed literary life in the city. Atheneum Fellows form a unique community of literary artists and citizens.

Learn more

 

APPS DUE: May 4 | Fiction Studio | Novel Intensive w Karen Karbo | May 17 - Nov 8 | Online

26 Weeks to Focus on Your Novel

Fiction Studio is based on the idea that inspiration, accountability, and community are essential to every novelist’s growth. Fiction Studio meets weekly for half the year, and its curriculum is designed to help you deepen your writing through a keener understanding of both literary craft and your own voice. Fiction Studio is open to applications from all writers (see application information below). This creates the Studio’s special "novel intensive" experience: a consistent, deep, and supportive study of your writing in the company of other writers.  

Learn more about applying to the Fiction Studio

To Apply: To apply to join the next Fiction Studio, please send a writing sample of 20 pages of the novel you're workin on and a 250-word statement of purpose. 

NOTE: This session of the studio is slated to run virtually, via Zoom. Applications are open until spots are filled.

APPLY here by May 4

 

Teacher: 
Karen Karbo
Time: 
Saturdays, 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. ** Depending on the number of accepted students, there may be two sessions on Saturdays, additional times TBA.
Location: 
Zoom | Online Workshop
Total Fee: 
Registration: $1395 (cash/check); $1445 (PayPal). Payment plans available (inquire).

APPS DUE: SEP 28 | CNF Studio | Oct 9 - Dec 18

Write What You Want to Know

 

The Creative Nonfiction (CNF) Studio is based on the idea that inspiration, accountability, and community are essential to every writer’s growth. The CNF Studio meets weekly for multi-month sessions, and its curriculum is designed to help you deepen your writing through a keener understanding of both literary craft and your own voice. The CNF Studio is open to applications from all writers, and members often return for multiple sessions. This creates the Studio’s special experience: a consistent, deep, and supportive study of your writing in the company of other writers. Each weekly session includes a close-reading and discussion of a selected work of creative nonfiction, a roundtable reading of take-home prompts, and in-depth critique of several works-in-progress. Over the course of their time in the CNF Studio, writers can expect to read widely and gain deep insight into their own writing, all the while exploring questions of structure, form, narration, truth, memory, influence, and voice.  | Maximum 9 students  

Learn more about the CNF Studio

To Apply: To apply to join the next Creative Nonfiction Studio, please send a writing sample of up to 3,500 words and a 250-word statement of purpose.

Send your application to: cnfstudio@atticinstitute.com

Teacher: 
Brian Benson
Workshop Day: 
Thursday
Time: 
Thursdays, 5:30 - 8:30 Oct 9 - Dec 18
Total Fee: 
Registration: $715

Spring Fling: Exploring Nature in Poetry Workshop w Matthew Dickman | Apr 6 - May 11 ONE SPOT OPEN!

In this generative class we will be looking at interesting ways nature shows up in our lives and our poems. We will be reading work by Sylvie Baumgartel, CA Conrad, Kazim Ali, Matthew Zapruder, Rita Dove, and others as well as writing and sharing our own. 

Register for this workshop

Teacher: 
Matthew Dickman
Time: 
Sundays, Apr 6 - May 11, 10am - Noon Pacific Time
Location: 
Via Zoom
Total Fee: 
$335

The A.M. Memoir Workshop w Laura Moulton | Apr 7 - May 12 FULL -- WAITLIST ONLY

Writing the Self

Using prompts, short readings, and discussion, this generative nonfiction workshop will focus on mining our personal histories and crafting them into the form they deserve. We’ll also explore the ways we sometimes get in the way of our own stories — and how to use that to break through and write around the blocks. CNF, personal essays, journaling...all are welcome. Open to all writers.

Register for this workshop

Teacher: 
Laura Moulton
Workshop Day: 
Monday
Time: 
Mondays, Apr 7 - May 12, 10 - 11:30am
Location: 
Attic Institute, 1033 SW Yamhill St., Suite #405
Total Fee: 
$249

Poetry of the Everyday Workshop w Lila Cutter | Apr 29 - June 3 | Zoom

Poetry is as much a practice in observation as it is in writing. In this generative workshop we will cull our daily environments for sensory details and inspiration—letting the mundane, move us. We will engage in readings, writing prompts, and activities that encourage us to see the humor and beauty of the everyday. No prior experience with poetry is needed, just a curiosity in capturing moments.

Register for this workshop

Teacher: 
Lila Cutter
Time: 
Tuesdays April 29 - June 3,  6:30 - 8pm, Pacific Time
Location: 
Via Zoom
Total Fee: 
$249

Music of Poetry Workshop w Craig Brandis | May 1 - June 5 | Zoom

Have you been wondering how to make your poems grab the reader right away and also linger in the mind after they are finished reading? Musicality of poetry is the answer. Let's gather to study how some modern masters make their poems sing, without relying on traditional metrical structures. Let's focus on rhythm and pacing, the use of silence, flow, lyricism and emotional resonance. We will then apply those lessons to your own poems. Discover how your poems start to sing out. Share your work in an environment of acceptance and exploration. Reading list: poems from Ocean Vuong, Michael Zapruder, Ada Limón and others help light our way. Come join us! Give your poems fresh sound and meaning.

Register for this workshop

 

Teacher: 
Craig Brandis
Time: 
Thursdays, May 1 - June 5 6:30pm to 8pm, Pacific Time
Location: 
Via Zoom
Total Fee: 
$249.

Intro to Flash Nonfiction Workshop w Brian Benson | May 6 - June 3 | Zoom

Minimum Words, Maximum Impact

Flash nonfiction, simply put, is true-to-life writing defined by extreme compression. It's saying what you've got to say using as few words, and as much beauty, as possible. An endlessly accessible, playful, potent form, flash nonfiction is evermore popular; from Brevity to Barren, The Forge to The Sun, legions of journals are publishing great flash. This class is open to all writers, whether you're new to flash or finishing your first collection. Over five weeks, students will read stellar flash, begin new pieces, workshop works-in-progress, and move toward submitting work for publication. | Maximum: 16 writers. Open to all writers.

Register for this workshop

Teacher: 
Brian Benson
Workshop Day: 
Tuesday
Time: 
Tuesdays, May 6 - Jun 3, 6 - 8pm Pacific
Location: 
Zoom | Online Workshop
Total Fee: 
$275.

The A.M. Writing Your Grief Workshop w Ed Sage | June 17 - July 22 | Zoom

In this exploratory, generative workshop we will be using our writing to be in relationship with our grief and compassion. We will reimagine our losses and bring light to the shadows. Often this work provides moments of connection and joy. We will do our best to interrupt the "arrangements" in our lives that perhaps are not serving us well and redefine stubborn “truths” about our sorrow.  You can expect to discover new threads in your work as well as create drafts of pieces that inspire more commitment.  Writing about grief can free us to be more empathic and compassionate with ourselves and others; it can help us discover the universal in our experience and blessings we would share.

Register for this workshop

 

Teacher: 
Ed Sage
Time: 
Thursdays, June 17 - July 22, 10 - 11:30am, Pacific Time
Location: 
Via Zoom
Total Fee: 
$249.00

The Art of Prose Poetry Workshop with Craig Brandis | July 10 - Aug14 | Zoom

Have you been wondering how to make exciting poems that combine the best elements of poetry and prose? The secret to prose poetry lies in layering cadences within narrative verse. Let's focus on building layers of rhythm, emotional resonance and imagery within storytelling. We will then apply those lessons to your own poems.  Watch your poems start to blossom with new depth and vitality.  Reading list: poems from Carolyn Forché, Charles Baudelaire, Claudia Rankine, and other innovators in the form help light the way. Share your work in an environment of acceptance and exploration. Come join us! Give your poems fresh cadence and depth in a new form, merging the best of poetic and narrative traditions.

Register for this workshop

 
Teacher: 
Craig Brandis
Time: 
Thursdays, July 10 - Aug 14, 6:30 - 8pm, Pacific Time
Location: 
Via Zoom
Total Fee: 
$249
Deposit: 

A Statement of Our Values

The Attic Institute of Arts and Letters opposes the legitimation of bigotry, hate, and misinformation. As a studio for writers, we do not tolerate harassment or discrimination of any kind. We embrace and celebrate our shared pursuit of literature and languages as essential to crossing the boundaries of difference. To that end, we seek to maintain a creative environment in which every employee, faculty member, and student feels safe, respected, and comfortable — even while acknowledging that poems, stories, and essays delve into uncomfortable subjects. We accept the workshop as a place to question ourselves and to empathize with complex identities. We understand that to know the world is to write the world. Therefore, we reaffirm our commitment to literary pursuits and shared understanding by affirming diversity and open inquiry.