The Attic's 25th Anniversary in 2024

In 2024, the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters celebrates our 25th year as a welcoming, vibrant writing studio where people from across Portland and from around the globe come to get inspired, find literary community, and grow as writers.

Our mission at the Attic is to help people turn that glimmer of an image or overheard bit of conversation in a coffee shop or the difficult (or joyous) memory into new writing. 

Since 1999, thousands of poets, nonfiction writers, and fiction writers have walked through the Attic's doors (real and virtual) to be empowered to write and to connect their stories to others.

Day in and day out, each of the Attic's celebrated faculty creates workshops to help writers pursue new ideas and skills.

Together, by taking a workshop, joining a Studio, participating in the Atheneum Master Writing Program, or working one-on-one finishing a manuscript, Attic writers achieve their ambitions and inspire others.

With this special 25th anniversary, we hope you'll join us.

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.