The Attic Institute

Today begins the the The Attic Institute's 25th year as a welcoming, vibrant writing studio where writers from across Portland and from around the globe come to get inspired, build literary community, and find their voices.

As a haven for writers, the mission at the Attic has always been to help people turn that glimmer of an image or overheard bit of conversation or the difficult (or joyous) memory into new writing.

Our greatest resource is our students — some 15,000 writers have studied at the Attic since 1999.

And, so many great writers have taught at the Attic — Karen Karbo Whitney Otto Matthew Dickman Cheryl Strayed Merridawn Duckler Wendy Willis Brian Benson Ashley Toliver Joanna Rose Erica Berry Wayne Gregory Ruben Quesada Ariel Gore David Ciminello Zahir Janmohamed Paulann Petersen — too many to list.

Stay tuned for details for a special anniversary event next month at Mother Foucault's Bookshop.

cc: The Oregonian Wilamette Willamette Week Portland Mercury

Q: How has your editorial work informed your own writing practice?

A: My editorial practice…I love working as an editor and feel I have an intuitive knack in understanding story by authors other than myself. I have decades of experience as an editor and ghostwriter. So, the short answer is I guess I wish I was as smart as a writer as I am as an editor. It may be a case of the cobbler’s children having no shoes. All to say, I sometimes feel as though I have wood for brains when it comes to evaluating my own work.

I’m sure my editorial work has rubbed off on my writing though I don’t know that it has always been positive. I have many many many pieces stored away because I don’t feel they are quite finished or are not good enough, whatever that means...

Read Lee Montgomery's full interview: http://atticinstitute.com/node/2762

Q: How has living and writing in Oregon influenced your work? What has been your experience of the PNW writing community?

A: The literary scene in Oregon has always been strong and it’s a pleasure to be part of it. Portland Arts and Lectures and Powell’s were two reasons I wanted to come to Portland. The literary community has exploded since I arrived almost 25 years ago. Since then Tin House, Glimmer Train, a myriad of other publications, and a graduate program at PSU and OSU have created a city crawling with writers and why not. It rains all the time in the winter, so the cocoon of clouds creates a fertile atmosphere for reading and writing.

I don’t know that Oregon has influenced my writing. It sounds stupid, but I feel like I’m in exile from New England, a place I grew up and loved. I couldn’t stay for complicated reasons that are hard to articulate. But that’s my work, making sense of those people and that place.

Read Lee Montgomery's full interview: http://atticinstitute.com/node/2762

As a prolific writer, editor, ghost writer, manuscript consultant, teacher, and more, is one of the Attic Institute's beloved writing fellows.

In her interview with us, Montgomery talks bout her literary pursuits, her love for Melissa Febos, and her time in the Portland writing community.

Read the full interview at the link in bio

Mixtape Poems: Building a Sequence Workshop w/ Michael Dickman

"In this workshop we will read and explore sequential poems and where they might overlap with hybrid literary forms and even film. We will build our own sequential poems using some of the moves we've discovered together. You will leave with your own "mixtape poem", a poem as thrilling as the chaotic, elliptical and surprising worlds we all inhabit."

Learn more: http://atticinstitute.com/node/2759