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New!
Attic Academy (for Kids)
Attic at the Dojo

Plus, workshops in fiction, narrative, poetry, memoir, screenwriting, & creative non-fiction

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 Seven elders come up to write just one story as a legacy of life.

Seven elders come up to the Attic to tell us one story. With experiences that range from survivng the Blitz during World War II to growing up on the streets during the Depression, these writers begin proces of telling one essential story from their lives. Over the next six weeks they'll tell us a story that will leave an inheritance of experience and a legacy of understanding to future generations--with each story published in an individual book.

Check back soon to learn more about the Tell Us a Story project. For more information

Attic instructor Merridawn Duckler has a new essay in Site Dance: Choreographers and the Lure of Alternative Spaces

"Adventures in Dance" is Merridawn's contrbution to Site Dance, edited by Melanie Kloetzel & Carolyn Pavlik, published by the University Press of Florida. In February 2010, Merridawn, a former Oregonian dance critic, will speak about her essay at UCLA.

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Reserve a spot for your family's Shakespeare.

Spring Break Writing Camp for 6th-9th Graders
Sign up your middle-school writer for a week of writing & literary enrichment during Portland Public’s spring break.

At the Attic Academy...
Kids invent their adventures.

Attic director David Biespiel has been elected to join the board of the National Book Critics Circle.

The National Book Critics Circle is pleased to announce the outcome of membership voting to fill the eight board-member slots for three-year terms that begin in 2010. New members include: Mark Athitakis, Colette Bancroft, Gregg Barrios, Stephen Burt, David Haglund, Barbara Hoffert, & Carolyn Kellogg.

Listen to David interviewed on NPR's Voices & Viewpoints (WFDD-88.5, Winston-Salem, NC).

Students cheer for the Attic Writers' Workshop:

"After each class, I left feeling so stimulated that I could barely get to sleep. Lots of ideas jumping around in my brain, all I wanted to do was sit down at the computer and write. I'm glad I've found this intentional community of talented writers."  --  Rob Freedman

"I found the Attic workshop allowed me to see the value and potential in every piece of writing submitted to the group. The atmosphere of the workshop was warm and respectful, but that level of professional courtesy never interfered with honest, well-constructed feedback. After their first round of Attic scrutiny, one of my own stories, "Address Book," underwent drastic changes as a result of feedback from the group, and it was accepted for publication soon after. I couldn't ask for better results."  --  Deborah Cravey

If you've taken an Attic class & want to add your testimonial, do it now. We'd love to add your voice & story.

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Attic director David Biespiel and OBT principal dancer Gavin Larsen bring movement to poetry and voice to dance at the Fertile Ground Festival.

Tickets required.  Order now.

Oregon Ballet Theatre and the Attic Writers' Workshop present "Incorporamento" by David Biespiel & Gavin Larsen.

If language could move and the body could sing, the result would be "Incorporamento," the unique collaboration between a poet and a dancer. In 2008, award-winning poet David Biespiel began writing a series of epistles—poems in the form of letters—to fellow poets, friends, and spirits from the past and future. "Incorporamento" is OBT principal dancer Gavin Larsen's fabulously choreographed sequence of dances in response to some of those letters.

The performance answers a profound question: Can two arts, one spoken and one silent, marry? The answer is, yes! This one-of-a-kind collaboration—between poet and dancer—will also include a post-show Q&A with the audience, moderated by Portland writer Dave Jarecki about how Biespiel and Larsen created the performance and what the collaboration suggests about the relationship between the body of poetry and the poetry of the body. Improvisational music preformed by Joshua Pearl.

Fertile Ground Festival
"Incorporamento": Jan 24 and 31 at 10:15 pm
Venue: Hothouse on the Mezzanine, Gerding Theater at the Armory (128 NW 11th)
Single Tickets: Call 800-494-TIXS or online at www.fertilegroundpdx.org

Attic instructor Liz Rusch inks deal for three new books for children

For the Love of Music: The Untold Story of Maria Anna Mozart: Ages 4 to 8, Tricycle Press/Random House, April 2011

The Man Behind the Mars Rover: Ages 10 & up, Houghton Mifflin, Spring 2012

Volcano SWAT: How eight scientists prevent volcanic disasters: Houghton Mifflin, Ages 10 and up, 2013

Attic Director David Biespiel's latest book, The Book of Men and Women...

Chosen as the "Best Poetry of the Year" for 2009 by the Poetry Foundation.

Read this review from the January 2010 issue of Poetry Magazine.

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Attic instructor Ariel Gore is now blogging for Psychology Today. January 19th is publication day for Ariel's newest book, Bluebird: Women and the New Psychology of Happiness.

You can read the daily blogs on the subject of women & happiness from the award-winning journalist, founder of Hip Mama Magazine & the Attic's popular & much-beloved memoir teacher.

Praise for Bluebird: Women and the New Psychology of Happiness"

"Thoughtful, funny, and inspiring, Gore is a down-to-earth guide to the elusive human quest for happiness." -- Booklist

"Readers of positive psychology books will like this one, and the many fans of Noelle Oxenhandler's The Wishing Year and Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love will enjoy Gore's personal narrative." -- Library Journal

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