Teachers & Staff

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

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.

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.

Jon Raymond

Adjunct Fellow at the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters

Jon Raymond is the author of the novels Freebird, Rain Dragon and The Half-Life, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2004, and the short-story collection Livability, a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection and winner of the Oregon Book Award. He is also the screenwriter of the film Meek’s Cutoff and cowriter of the films Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy, both based on his short fiction, and the film Night Moves. He also cowrote the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce, winner of five Emmy Awards. Raymond’s writing has appeared in Playboy, Zoetrope, Tin House, Bookforum, Artforum, and other publications. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Joanna Rose

Associate Fellow at the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters

Joanna Rose is the author of the award-winning novel Little Miss Strange (Algonquin Books). Other work has appeared in ZYZZYVA, Story Magazine, Artisan Journal, Northern Lights, Oregon Humanities, High Desert Journal, VoiceCatcher, and Portland Review and the anthologies The Night and The Rain and The River and Brave on the Page (Forest Avenue Press). Her poetry has appeared in Windfall, Bellingham Review, Cloudbank, and the on-line journals 2Grlz Review, and Four and Twenty. Her essay, "That Thing With Feathers," was honored as Notable in 2015 Best American Essays. Her novel, A Small Crowd of Strangers, is forthcoming from Forest Avenue press in Fall 2020.

Ed Sage

Teaching Fellow at the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters

Ed Sage teaches writing and literature. His poetry and creative nonfiction appear in ZYZZYVA, Verseweavers, The Portland Review, 4th Street Journal, The Ponder Review, Plainsongs, BULL Lit and The Passionfruit Review.

Miranda Schmidt

Assistant Fellow at the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters

Miranda Schmidt is the author of the novel, Leafskin (Stillhouse Press 2025), and the poetry chapbook, The Cemetery Cure (dancing girl press 2026). Their hybrid writing moves between poetry and prose to circle folklore, ecology, and queer magic. Miranda's work has appeared in Triquarterly, Orion, Electric Literature, Catapult, and more. With an MFA from the University of Washington and PhD from Bath Spa University, they have taught creative writing at Portland Literary Arts, the Loft, University of Washington, and Portland Community College. Miranda's newsletter and teaching project, Writing Toward Nature, explores methods for bringing the more-than-human more deeply into our writing craft. Miranda lives in Portland, Oregon.

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Natalie Serber

Associate Fellow at the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters

Natalie Serber is the author of a memoir, Community Chest, and the story collection, Shout Her Lovely Name, a New York Times Notable Book of 2012, a summer reading selection from O, the Oprah Magazine, and an Oregonian Top 10 Book of the Pacific Northwest. Her fiction has appeared in The Bellingham Review, Gulf Coast, Inkwell, and Hunger Mountain and is forth coming in Zyzzyva. Essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine, The Huffington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Oregonian, The Rumpus, Salon, and Fourth Genre. Natalie has received the John Steinbeck Award, Tobias Wolff Award, and H.E. Francis Award, and has been short listed in Best American Short Stories. She teaches fiction and the personal essay in and around Portland, and at various conferences including Squaw Valley Community of Writers. Natalie received her MFA from Warren Wilson College.

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