Workshops for Writers

Studio for Writers: Gather. Study. Enjoy.

Since 1999, the Attic Institute has been a haven for mindful creativity in Portland with a focus on the writing fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Writers have come up to the Hawthorne Boulevard studio to generate, revise, and publish new stories, essays, poems, and novels, screenplays, and more.

All writers are welcome: Novelists and poets, fiction writers and memoirists, creative nonfiction essayists and literary experimentalists.

Led by some of the most acclaimed writers in Portland, workshops at the Attic Institute give you a supportive and intensive enviornment to create, explore, and innovate — plus bring you into the heart of a creative community unmatched in the city.

Come on up!

Find a workshop now

The Attic Experience

"As a closet poetry writer with no background in poetic dictionary terms, I journeyed to Dufur with great trepidation. The incredible setting, organized process, building, and determined sharing and acceptance of all proved my fears pointless. I left the weekend with an agenda and a plan and realistic expectations. As a bonus, being read poetry by David Biespiel was like a back rub and a bubble bath, like a parental storytelling, which all of us loved."

Pat Brim-Williams, Creative Renewal Weekend participant

The Classic Book for Writers, Updated and Revised

EVERY WRITER HAS A THOUSAND FACES

"This book has been in print forever because what it offers works for people." — Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club

"Finally, an anti-bullsht book on creativity!"* — James Marcus, former editor of Harper's

"Does for the creative process what Strunk and White did for our approach to grammar and style. Indispensible." — Marjorie Sandor, National Jewish Book Award winner

"Buoyant...unorthodox...A provocative and anti-intuitive manual for making fresh art." — Kirkus Review

"Biespiel offers a number of best practices—not just for writing...but for living a creative life." — The Rumpus

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.