Classes at the Attic

APPS DUE: Dec 15 | Fiction Studio | Novel Intensive w Karen Karbo | Jan 10 - July 25 | 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 to info@atticinstitute.com. 

NOTE: This session of the studio is slated to run virtually, via Zoom. Students will receive a schedule of meetings, no-class dates, &c. at the start of the session Applications are open until spots are filled.

APPLY here

 

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: JAN 5 | CNF Studio w Brian Benson | Jan 22 - Mar 26

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. The CNF Studio includes close-readings and discussions of stellar creative nonfiction, roundtable readings of take-home prompts, and peer critique of writers’ works-in-progress. During the 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

Location: The CNF Studio will be held offsite, in the Gotham Building in North Portland.

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 - 8:30pm, Jan 22 - Mar 26
Total Fee: 
Registration: $715 (by check) / $740 (by PayPal)

The A.M. Memoir Workshop w Laura Moulton | Nov 3 - Dec 15 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
Time: 
Mondays, Nov 3 - Dec 15, 10 - 11:30am (no class Nov 17)
Location: 
Attic Institute, 1033 SW Yamhill St., Suite #405
Total Fee: 
$249

Reclaiming Attention: The Power of the Notebook Workshop II w Laura Moulton | Nov 5 - Dec 17 FULL -- WAITLIST ONLY

“To take back your focus, to make art – is a radical act. To take all of that scattered energy and send it in a single direction is no small thing. It is revolutionary to take back your mind..” – Sarah Sentilles

Writing in the age of distraction and dire news often requires a Herculean effort to stay focused. What does it mean to reclaim our attention and what kind of revolutions can we mount with a pen, a notebook and renewed focus?  In this workshop we’ll pay attention to what we pay attention to, retool our writing practices and cultivate the concentration needed to do deep work. All genres welcome.

Register for this workshop.

Teacher: 
Laura Moulton
Time: 
Wednesdays, 10 - 11:30am, Nov 5 - Dec 17 (no class 11/19)
Location: 
Attic Institute, 1033 SW Yamhill St., Suite #405
Total Fee: 
$249

Writing through Time Workshop w Lila Cutter | Nov 5 - Dec 10 | Zoom

Writing has the power to transport us through time. With a few words, we can return to childhood, suspend a moment, see into the future or perhaps write a better one. In this generative workshop, we will practice movements through time based on readings and creative prompts like writing off personal photographs and noticing patterns of change. This workshop encourages writers from all genres and all skill levels. Open to all writers in all genres. A generative morning workshop.

Register for this workshop.

Teacher: 
Lila Cutter
Time: 
Wednesdays, Nov 5 - Dec 10, 10:30am - 12pm
Location: 
via Zoom
Total Fee: 
$249

Craft of Poetry: Voice and Vision Workshop w Craig Brandis | Nov 6 - Dec 11 | Zoom

Have you been wondering how to move your poetry practice to the next level? Leveling up means expanding your vocabulary of poetry moves. “For me, meaning arrives, almost unbidden, from an accumulation of details,” says Ted Kooser, and we're going to study how some modern masters make their poems work by focusing on details: physical, emotional and temporal, and their use of literary devices and motifs. We will then apply those lessons to our own poems. Reading list: poems from Arthur Sze, Mary Ruefle, Li-Young Lee and others. Come join us! Discover how your poetic voice and vision emerge, change and grow.

Register for this workshop.

Teacher: 
Craig Brandis
Time: 
Thursdays, 6:30 - 8pm Pacific Time, Nov 6 - Dec 11
Location: 
via Zoom
Total Fee: 
$249

The Camera Work of Poetry Workshop w Lila Cutter | Jan 7 - Feb 11

The zoom, the jump cut, the montage, the pan: in this generative poetry workshop we will learn to borrow cinematic approaches and apply them to our own writing. This workshop will delve into the impact of line and stanza breaks on our images and sounds to shape attention and feeling. Together we will engage in weekly writing experiments, delve into published poems, and share our own. We might even explore when and how to turn the camera on ourselves. All are welcome in this generative workshop.

Register for this workshop

Teacher: 
Lila Cutter
Time: 
Wednesdays, 6 - 7:30pm, Jan 7 - Feb 11, 6 weeks
Location: 
Attic Institute, 1033 SW Yamhill St., Suite 405
Total Fee: 
$249

Intro to Flash Nonfiction Workshop w Brian Benson | Feb 24 - Mar 24 | 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, 6 - 8pm, Feb 24 - Mar 24, Pacific Time
Location: 
Zoom | Online Workshop
Total Fee: 
$275.

Poetry Craft: Tools for Moving Beyond the Self w Craig Brandis | Jan 15 - Feb 19 | Zoom

Looking for new poetic territory to explore? Maybe it's time to move beyond the “I” in your poems. Tools like persona, mask, and re-framing language and worldview can help poets look through and beyond the self. They help create distance and refraction between poet and subject. We will explore how some modern masters use these tools to reveal truths the self resists. We’ll then try them in our own work. Share your work in an atmosphere of acceptance and celebration. Reading list: poems from Ai, Patricia Smith, Louise Glück, and others. Come join us!

Register for this workshop

Teacher: 
Craig Brandis
Time: 
Thursdays, Jan 15 - Feb 19, 6:30 - 8pm Pacific Time
Total Fee: 
$249

Poetry of the Everyday Workshop w Lila Cutter | Feb 25 - Apr 1

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: 
Wednesdays, 6 - 7:30pm, Feb 25 - Apr 1, 6 weeks
Location: 
Attic Institute, 1033 SW Yamhill St., Suite 405
Total Fee: 
$249

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.