Ready to Explore Your Writing?
At the Attic, students gather to dream, discover, and share new writing. We are dedicated to engaging lively conversation about the creative process, reflecting on ideas and the imagination, as well as on artistic, cultural, and social experience.
Upcoming Workshops
A Haven for Writers
“The best place to study creative writing in Portland.”
~ Willamette Week
Attic Studios
Focus on learning the foundations of craft, generate new work, and practice revision, and prepare to publish.
Fiction Studio
Led by Karen Karbo
With half the year to focus on your novel, each weekly session of Fiction Studio includes close-reading, discussion, and critique to create, revise, and prepare to publish your work-in-progress.
CNF Studio
Led by Brian Benson
The supportive, focused atmosphere of CNF Studio encourages you to hone your skills and embrace your voice to write what you know you want to know and bring it to the page.
Poets Studio
Led by David Biespiel
A highly focused and supportive atmosphere, Poets Studio spurs you to develop your poetic art, method, and practice— culminating in the creation, revision, and publication of new poetry.
Writing Lab
Led by David Biespiel
A highly focused and supportive atmosphere, Writing Lab spurs you to develop your craft, method, passion, and practice— culminating in the creation, revision, and publication of new writing. All genres welcome.
Celebrate the publication of founder David Biespiel’s sweeping retrospective
“David Biespiel is a major American poet. He’s rare among poets of his generation for his public reach and resonance.” ~ Peter Campion
In Beautiful Is the World, David Biespiel spans three decades of lyric intensity, tracing the intimate cartography of memory, place, and inheritance.
Next Event
Unbound Edition Press Authors Reading
Online | Thur Nov 12 5pm (Pacific)
Fri Feb 5 | Oregon State University
Reading and Q/A
6:30 pm | Corvallis
Tue Nov 17 | Everett Community College
David Biespiel and Rae Armantrout
5pm | ECC | 2000 Tower Street, Everett, WA
Wed Nov 18 | Milwaukie Poetry Series
6pm | Ledding Library | 10660 SE 21st Ave, Milwaukie
Wed Jan 13 | Literary Arts
Reading and conversation with Susan Moore
6:30pm | Literary Arts | 716 SE Grand
Community + Belonging
The Attic is a “thriving and important part of Portland’s literary landscape” ~ Literary Hub
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AM Fiction Workshop: Short Story Mornings w Miranda Schmidt | Sep 15 - Oct 20
Reviving Old Fiction: A Re-Visioning Workshop w Miranda Schmidt | Nov 3 - Dec 8
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AM Workshop: The Craft of the Personal Essay Workshop w Santi Elijah Holley | Sep 17 - Oct 22
A.M. Memoir Workshop w Laura Moulton | Sep 21 - Oct 26
Noontime Nonfiction Workshop w Laura Moulton | Sep 21 - Oct 26
P.M. Memoir Workshop w Laura Moulton | Sep 22 - Oct 27 | Online
Intro to Flash Nonfiction w Brian Benson | Oct 6 - Nov 3 | Online
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Poets Studio: Summer Session w David Biespiel | Aug 29 - 30
Image Driven: A Poetry Workshop w Michael Dickman | Oct 5 - Nov 9 | Online
Poetry of Place Workshop w Craig Brandis | Oct 8 - Nov 12 | Online
Poetry of Fatherhood Workshop w Bobby Elliott | Oct 15 - Nov 19
Lucky Language: A Poetry Workshop w Michael Dickman | Nov 16 - Dec 21 | Online
Poetry Manuscript Consultations | Jan - Feb
Why We Do What We Do
Established in 1999 by David Biespiel, the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters is many things to many people. It’s a literary studio, an atelier, a gathering place, community, and sojourn — and the birthplace of Portland’s literary renaissance.
The “Writing Meditation” mailed to your inbox
“Each month, I send you a brief letter to offer, I hope, motivation and inspiration for the writing ahead — to be courageous with your imaginative life.” ~ David Biespiel
Stay in the loop — connect with writers and workshops.
Be the first to get important updates, announcements, deadlines, and sneak peeks.
“This book has been in print forever because what it offers works for people.”
~ Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club
“Does for the creative process what Strunk and White did for our approach to grammar and style. Indispensable!
~Marjorie Sandor, former president of AWP
“Finally, an anti-bullshit book on creativity!”
~ James Marcus, former editor of Harper’s magazine
Let’s Write Together
Have a question, suggestion, or just want to say hi? Send us a note—we’re here to help.
Tuesdays, 10:30am - 12pm (Pacific Time), Nov 3 - Dec 8 | ZOOM
Have you set your novel aside for years but it keeps tugging you back to it? Keep thinking about a short story that’s been sitting in your drafts folder for a decade? This course is dedicated to reviving old works through deep re-visioning. We’ll strive to identify what it is about the work that keeps calling you back to it and thinking outside of the piece’s original shape to find the form that truly tells it. This may mean radically changing the story’s structure or even taking what resonates–the characters, a setting, an event–and placing it in an entirely different premise. This course isn’t for putting a bit of polish on the sentences before submitting the story. It’s for taking the work apart, rewriting it, and putting it all together in a different shape. This course will focus on participant’s projects through frequent discussion and workshopping up to 20 pages each.
Special Bonus: Revision Lover's Discount! Save 20% when at checkout when you register by Oct 25