Portland Book Festival – STARTING THE STORY Writing Class

Join me to kick off Portland Book Fest week by gathering with other writers to start several new short stories together.

Starting the Story Writing Class

November 3, 2025
Monday, 5:00-8:00 p.m. (one session)
at Literary Arts, 716 SE Grand Ave Portland, OR 97214

Instructor: Margaret Malone

At this three-hour class, we will read the beginnings of short stories, discuss their effectiveness, tone, and structure, and discuss whether they encourage us to keep reading and why. Then, using what we noticed, each participant will generate several story starts of their own. Plan on leaving this short class with story beginnings, ideas, tools, and encouragement we can use to nurture new work.

Cost: $75
Click here to register.

In Conversation with Mariah Rigg – EXTINCTION CAPITAL OF THE WORLD

Join me on Friday, August 22 at 6:30 pm to celebrate the debut story collection EXTINCTION CAPITAL OF THE WORLD.
Literary Arts
716 SE Grand Ave
Portland, Ore. 97214

I’ll be talking with Mariah about how the book came together, asking some craft questions, and listening along with the audience to hear Mariah read and share her thoughts with us.

Here’s more information from Literary Arts, who’s hosting the evening’s event.
* * *
Literary Arts welcomes Mariah Rigg to celebrate her debut collection of short stories, Extinction Capital of the World.

About the book
Magnetic, haunting, and tender, Extinction Capital of the World is a stunning portrait of Hawai’i—and a powerful meditation on family, queer love, and community amid imperialism and environmental collapse.

In ten vibrant, affecting stories, Mariah Rigg immerses readers in contemporary Hawai’i. By turns heartbreaking and hopeful, these stories of love, longing, and grief are fierce dispatches from a state haunted by the specter of colonization, a precious biome under constant threat.
An older man grapples with the American-weapons research conducted on a neighboring island that reverberates through his entire life. A pregnant woman seeks belonging while poaching flowers in the rainforest with her partner’s mother. Two teenage girls find love during a summer spent on Midway Atoll. A young woman returns home to O’ahu following a breakup and reconnects with her estranged father and the island itself.
Linked by both place and character, Rigg’s stories illuminate the exotification and commodification of Hawai’i in the American mythos. Extinction Capital of the World is an environmental love letter to the Hawaiian Islands and an indelible portrayal of the people who inhabit them—marking the arrival of an exciting new voice in contemporary fiction.

The Finish Line – Virtual Class at Literary Arts

The first class was such a good one, we’re going to do it again this fall.

Join us if you’re looking for weekly accountability for two months in order to push one specific project through the phase it’s been hovering in. For some folks, this might be a first draft of an essay they’ve wanted to write for a long time; for others, it’s the final draft of a story they just can’t seem to find an ending for and send off for submission; for some, it’s a longer project that needs a read-through and some tweaking with dedicated focus.

Whatever your goal is, this class might help provide some of the consistency and community that would help you move that piece along to where you want it to be.

Here’s the class listing from the Literary Arts website:

This eight-week class is focused on helping each writer push one story, essay, or poem through the drafting and revision stages and over the finish line. We’ll meet weekly to share accountability updates, read some work-in-progress with the group, set or revise goals for your weekly writing practice, and share successes and challenges with fellow writers. You’ll also learn strategies for keeping focused and staying on track. Occasional outside readings for discussion. This is not a workshop or feedback-based class. Worked shared with be about listening to each other’s voices and having a consistent deadline to meet on a weekly basis. All genres welcome.

NEW CLASS: The Finish Line @ Literary Arts

I’m teaching a new 8-week class called THE FINISH LINE at Literary Arts starting May 1st.

Over the past couple years, I’ve noticed that what motivates and excites a lot of writers I work with is to move a specific piece through clear, specified, doable goals all the way over the finish line. So i’m going to teach a class with the precise agenda in mind.

Each writer can work in whatever genre they want to; each writer can have the goal that is important and specific to them and their process and project. For some people that will be a final draft ready for submission, for others making it all the way through a first draft, for others it will be making it through the hardest draft of a piece that has been stagnating… you get to choose what would be most meaningful and helpful to you.

Best of all, you’ll be surrounded by a small group (no more than 10 total) other writers who are also pushing a piece along with you to their finish line. We’ll all be in it together.

Here is the listing with more information from the Literary Arts website:

This 8-week class is focused on helping each writer push one story, essay or poem through the drafting and revision stages on over the finish line. We’ll meet weekly to share accountability updates, read some work-in-progress with the group, set or revise goals for your weekly writing practice, and share successes and challenges with fellow writers. You’ll also learn strategies for keeping focused and staying on track. Occasional outside readings for discussion. This is not a workshop or feedback-based class. Worked shared with be about listening to each other’s voices and having a consistent deadline to meet on a weekly basis. All genres welcome.

In Conversation with Grace Olufunke Bankole Launch Event

TUESDAY, JAN 30 @ 7PM

From Literary Arts website:

Join us as we celebrate the debut novel from Portland author and Oregon Literary Fellowship recipient Olufunke Grace Bankole, published by our friends at Portland’s own Tin House.

Set between Nigeria and New Orleans, The Edge of Water tells the story of a young woman who dreams of life in America, as the collision of traditional prophecy and individual longing tests the bonds of a family during a devastating storm.

This event is free and open to the public at our new headquarters and bookstore at 716 SE Grand Avenue, Portland, OR.

Six Month Short Story Intensive: Starting the Collection 2024

Oregon Literary Fellowship Q & A

May 17, 2023 margaret

Literary Arts asked me some questions about the award, my writing process, my project, and what I’ve been reading and watching and listening to these days.

The full interview is linked here.

There’s also a short excerpt at the end of a page of the novel.

They’re posting these short interviews one by one with each writer and I encourage you to read them all. It’s fascinating to learn about every writer’s process and focus. Enjoy.

2023 Oregon Literary Fellowship in Fiction

February 12, 2023 margaret

Well, geez. In all honestly, I did not see this one coming.

When I got the news, my jaw, quite literally, dropped and my mouth fell open. I stared at the email for at least two minutes. Which is a really long time to digest information. That’s how long it took for me to understand and take in the good news.

This fellowship is the first substantial head nod from the universe for the novel I’ve spent the past three years at work on every single day. So, it has an extra special meaning for me.

All that said, having applied for the past 13 years for an OLF and not received one, I’m also viscerally aware of all the writers, also hard at work every day for the past three or more years, on their own projects, also in need of a head nod from the universe, and so I accept the good news as humbly as possibly. And say to all of you, keep applying. Keep applying. Keep applying.

Wishing each of you your own good news somewhere, somehow as soon as possible.

Keep going…

Six Month Short Story Intensive – Virtual

In January, I will teach the six month workshop focused on short fiction collections for the third year in a row.

This class is oriented to writers who are looking to get serious about their short fiction collection, and to move a larger-scale project out of their brain and into the world.

More detailed information about the six-month online intensive class at Literary Arts can be found here.

Wednesdays

12-2 pm Pacific

January 11, 2023 – June 7, 2023

Class limited to 10 students

From the Literary Arts site:

This class is for experienced writers who are dedicated to starting the first draft of a story collection over the course of 6 months. We will have 22 class meetings between October and April, with a four-week break in December to focus on generating and revising our work.

Participants should have experience writing stories and familiarity with the elements of literary short fiction including scene, character, conflict, place and revision. We will study individual stories by authors, read craft essays, and discuss several published collections and how the stories unite to form a book.

This class is specifically designed for writers who are comfortable in a workshop setting. We will be giving and receiving feedback on works in progress at each of our meetings. Students will be expected to workshop their stories four times throughout the intensive.

In addition to the specific goal of starting a collection, the intention of this class is to bring together a group of writers who are actively seeking accountability, community, and a deepening of dedication to their own work.

For more information, click below for the full listing and a sample syllabus.

Literary Arts Class: Starting the Story (4 weeks) VIRTUAL

This 4 -week virtual short fiction workshop will focus on generating new work and simply getting words down on a page. We will read excerpts, share just-written work aloud, and sometimes discuss assigned weekly readings together. We will investigate ways to unearth material together and share strategies for maintaining a regular writing practice. Participants will leave will many fragments and several starts for new work.

Literary Arts wants their classes to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. They understand that their tuition structure can present obstacles for some people. The Access Program offers class registrations at a reduced rate. The access program for writing classes covers 60% of the class tuition. Most writing classes have at least one access spot available.

Please apply here for access rate tuition. Contact Susan Moore at susan@literary-arts.org if you have questions.