Teachers & Staff

Lee Montgomery

Senior Fellow at the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters

Lee Montgomery is the author of The Things Between Us, A Memoir (Free Press, August 2006), Whose World Is This? Stories (University of Iowa Press, September 2007), and Searching for Emily: Illustrated (Nothing Moments Press, October 2007). The Things Between Us received the 2007 Oregon Book Award in creative nonfiction and Whose World Is This? received the 2007 John Simmons Iowa Short Fiction Award and was a finalist for the Ken Kesey Award in Fiction in 2008. Montgomery received her MFA from the Iowa Writer's Workshop. Her work has appeared in publications such as the New York Times magazine, Glimmer Train, Black Clock, Iowa Review, Denver Quarterly, Tin House, Story Magazine, Glimmer Train, Alaska Quarterly, the Santa Monica Review and the Antioch Review, among many others.

Lee Montgomery

Adjunct Fellow at the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters

 

Lee Montgomery teaches nonfiction in the Atheneum. She is the author of The Things Between Us, A Memoir (Free Press, August 2006), Whose World Is This? Stories (University of Iowa Press, September 2007), and Searching for Emily: Illustrated (Nothing Moments Press, October 2007). The Things Between Us received the 2007 Oregon Book Award in creative nonfiction and Whose World Is This? received the 2007 John Simmons Iowa Short Fiction Award and was a finalist for the Ken Kesey Award in Fiction in 2008.

Montgomery's fiction has appeared in Glimmer Train, Black Clock, Iowa Review, Denver Quarterly, Story Magazine, Black River Review, the Santa Monica Review and the Antioch Review. Nonfiction has been published in the New York Times, Alaska Quarterly, the American Book Review, Boston Magazine, Travel Holiday, 'Scape, The Hollywood Reporter, Tin House, Paris Passion, Boston Phoenix, the Oregonian, Willamette Week, New England Monthly, the Antioch Review and the anthology The Honeymoon is Over (January 2007, Warner Books).

Montgomery is also an editor. For the last ten years she has been at Tin House as the associate publisher and editor of Tin House Books and an executive editor of the magazine. Also, while at Tin House, she founded the Tin House Writers Workshop in 2003 and directed it for three years. Previous to this, she was the fiction editor at the Iowa Review, the editor of the Santa Monica Review, and various anthologies including Transgressions: The Iowa Anthology of Innovative Fiction (University of Iowa Press), Absolute Disaster: Fiction from Los Angeles (Dove Books), Woof! Writers on Dogs (Viking Penguin, September 2008).

She lives with her husband, daughter, and two bizarre schnauzers in Portland, Oregon.

John Morrison

John Morrison

Associate Fellow at the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters

John Morrison's book, Heaven of the Moment, won the Rhea & Seymour Gorsline Poetry Competition and was a finalist for the 2008 Oregon Book Award in poetry. He received his MFA from the University of Alabama. John's poetry has appeared in numerous national journals including the Cimarron Review, Poet Lore, Poetry East, and the Southern Poetry Review. A former Attic Institute Studio for Writers participant, John has taught poetry for the University of Alabama, Washington State University, and in the Literary Arts Writers in the Schools program where he served as director from 2006-2009. His new book of poetry, Monkey Island, is due out from redbat books in 2020.

WHY I LIKE TO TEACH AT THE ATTIC INSTITUTE: "What makes teaching at the Attic special has an easy answer: the writers who are curious enough to climb the stairs and join a class or workshop. Whether novice or master — and I’ve had both in the same class — everyone shares a dedication to poetry and, very quickly and deeply, to each other. Often their talent brings them to the Attic. They know they can write. They’ve seen flashes of brilliance in their metaphors, images, and in the music of their lines. Now they want to know what to do to weather the challenges and risks and write at their potential. So the workshops are always home to energetic discussions of craft and of fresh, sharp poetry (who doesn’t love that?), and home to writers poised to explore and develop a practice that can sustain their artistic life and lift their poetry to its potential. These writers are what make the Attic so special to me: they inspire me to teach my best and encourage me to write my best."

Laura Moulton

Associate Fellow at the Attic Institute

Laura Moulton is the author of Loaners: The Making of a Street Library, (Perfect Day Publishing). She is founder and director of Street Books, (https://streetbooks.org), Portland’s bicycle-powered mobile library for people living outside and at the margins. She also created Truth & Dare, a contemporary arts and writing workshop, (https://truthanddare.substack.com). Her work has taken her into public schools, prisons, shelters and universities. Participatory art projects have featured postal workers, poets, immigrants and writers incarcerated at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. She has taught writing at Lewis & Clark College and for Literary Arts. She earned an MFA from Eastern Washington University. She is the recipient of the 2025 Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award.

Jules Ohman

Associate Fellow at the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters

Jules Ohman is the author of the debut novel Body Grammar (Vintage 2022). Jules has been the Kittredge Distinguished Visiting Writer in the University of Montana’s MFA program and has writing in Electric Literature, Lit Hub, Buckmxn Journal, Willow Springs, Camas Magazine, and others.

Whitney Otto

Associate Fellow at the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters

Whitney Otto is the author of five novels: How To Make an American Quilt, which was a New York Times Best Seller (as well as other bestseller lists) and NY Times Notable Book; nominated for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award, and adapted into a feature film produced by Steven Spielberg. Now You See Her was nominated for an Oregon Book Award, and optioned for film. The Passion Dream Book was a Los Angeles Times bestseller, optioned for a film, and an Oregonian Book Club selection. A Collection of Beauties at the Height of Their Popularity was a Multnomah County Library selection. Eight Girls Taking Pictures was published by Scribner in November 2012. Her novels have been published in fourteen languages.

Her work has also appeared in anthologies, magazines and the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle and The Oregonian. In 2006 she had an art exhibition of her shadow boxes at the Littman & White Galleries in Portland, OR.

Paulann Petersen

Paulann Petersen

Senior Fellow in Poetry at the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters

Paulann Petersen’s books of poetry are The Wild Awake, Blood-Silk, A Bride of Narrow Escape, which was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award, and most recently Kindle. A former Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and the recipient of the 2006 Holbrook Award from Oregon Literary Arts, she serves on the board of Friends of William Stafford, organizing the annual January Stafford Birthday Events. She’s been on the faculty for Summer Fishtrap, and has given workshops for Oregon Writers Workshop, Oregon State Poetry Association, Mountain Writers Series, OCTE and NCTE Conferences, and the Northwest Writing Institute at Lewis & Clark College. From 2010-2014 she was the Oregon Poet Laureate.

Other links: 

Oregon Poet Laureate Page

Stephen Phillips

Teaching Fellow at the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters

Stephen Phillips is a writer and critic. He has written for The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, NPR, The Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times, The Economist, Times Higher Education, South China Morning Post, The Oregonian, Sight & Sound, Wall Street Journal, The Dublin Review of Books and other publications. His monthly “Bit by Bit” roundup of the latest tech books appears in The San Francisco Chronicle.

Emilly Prado

Writing Fellow at the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters

Emilly Prado is a writer and library assistant living in Portland, Oregon. As a freelance journalist, her writing has appeared in nearly two dozen local and national publications including NPR, Marie Claire, The Oregonian, The Portland Mercury, Bitch Media, and more. Using an intersectional feminist framework, her journalism typically focuses on amplifying the stories of people from marginalized communities in music, culture, activism, and art. In 2016 she was the recipient of a Spectrum Scholarship through the American Library Association and a professional development grant through the Regional Arts and Culture Council. In 2017, she was named one of Remezcla's 15 Latinx Music Journalists to Read. She is in the process of writing a body of personal works about the intersections of her experiences with identity, trauma, biculturality, systems of oppression, and family history as the foundation for a future book. When not writing or working, Emilly makes zines, sells homemade pinback buttons, and travels as much as possible.

Ruben Quesada

Associate Fellow at the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters

Ruben Quesada is editor of Latinx Poetics: Essays on the Art of Poetry (2022), author of two poetry collections Revelations (2018) and Next Extinct Mammal (2011), and the translator of Exiled from the Throne of Night: Selected Translations of Luis Cernuda (2008). His writing appears in Harvard Review, Best American Poetry, American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, and Pleiades. 

He has been honored by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events in the City of Chicago, Canto Mundo, Lambda Literary Writers’ Retreat, Napa Valley Writers Conference, and Vermont Studio Center. In addition to the Attic Institute, Quesada has taught courses on poetry and poetics for Vermont College of Fine Arts, UCLA Writers’ Program, Northwestern University, Chicago High School for the Arts, School of the Art Institute, Columbia College Chicago, and University of California, Riverside. He lives in Chicago.

WHAT STUDENTS SAY ABOUT RUBEN QUESADA:

"I just wanted to share the wonderful experience I had in Ruben Quesada's class on Saturday (6/12/2021). I really enjoyed his generative teaching style. I am reinvigorated to write more prose poetry and left with so much material to work from! I look forward to participating in future Attic Institute classes with Ruben!"  Maria Guzman

"Can’t say enough about how I enjoyed and learned from Ruben Quesada on Saturday.  He is an inspiring teacher who is well prepared, insightful, and highly skilled with Zoom mechanics. He treated each participant with respect and was neither “stuffy” nor too erudite.  I would happily take another workshop from/with him!"  M K Moen

"This class was excellent, one of if not the best class I've taken at The Attic. He gave us tools, time to write, time to share, examples, etc. I am so impressed." Pattie Palmer-Baker

"Really enjoyed Ruben Quesada’s prose poetry workshop. He’s a wonderful teacher. Ruben's course was well-organized, well-paced, and well-prepared. I loved the readings that were sent ahead of time, and those that we read closely in classes. I usually struggle with generative exercises in 3-hour workshops -- there doesn't seem to have any time, or it's hard to get into the mindspace to write anything. I found that not only Ruben created a safe and supportive space that made writing easy, but his prompts were effective in generating work. I am looking forward to taking more workshops taught by Ruben at the Attic Institute."  Mariko O. Gordon

"I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed Ruben Quesada's prose poem class.  I found it to be informative, inclusive, and practical.  I am looking forward to implementing the new information and skills he introduced us to.  I am definitely looking forward to  joining more of his classes in the future to continue to improve my craft.  Thanks so much for providing the opportunity." 

"I just wanted to let you know what a great experience I had in Ruben Quesada's poetry workshop this past Saturday. I attend these types of offerings quite often but this one stood out for several reasons. First, the material was organized and accessible, providing clear and useful illustrations of the topics being covered. I am somewhat new to prose poetry and felt that this class cleared up a lot for me. Second, and in my opinion most importantly, the prompts we were given in combination with the example poems were dramatically more effective for me in the generation of new work than any other class or set of prompts I have looked at. Generally I don't care much for prompts, but the way Ruben introduced each with a sample from a lauded contemporary (mostly) poet was just the magic formula. And finally, his welcoming, positive demeanor was very encouraging."  S.K.

 

Pages

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.