Join our mailing list

Get updates on writing, workshops, events, & other literary to-dos.

The Attic Experience

"Thanks to the Attic for a lively, useful and inspiring fiction class. I found the Attic when I was a newcomer to Portland and it was invaluable to me. I am still (eighteen months later as I write) in a critique group with three writers (and good friends) whom I met in classes there."

Rebecca Koffman

Order a signed copy

Based on methods developed exclusively at the Attic by founder and director David Biespiel, Every Writer Has a Thousand Faces cracks open the creative process and challenges traditional assumptions about writing that can stifle creativity. Both beginning and experienced writers—as well as artists, musicians, dancers, and anyone else on a creative path—will benefit from this elegant, surprising, and fresh perspective. An essential book for any writer's library.

Learn more / Read an excerpt / Order a signed copy

Judith Pulman

Judith Pulman, Life Sketches Associate

Judith Pulman has published two poetry chapbooks, written a bilingual play about Anton Chekhov’s romances, and studied acting intensively at the Moscow Art Theater in Russia. Her poems have appeared in small press magazines across Oregon. She has taught classes in English language and composition internationally as well as in Virginia. She is currently working towards her MFA in writing at Pacific Lutheran University.

Current Classes


FALL: Children's Book Writing Workshop: Write that Picturebook! (Wednesdays)
FALL: Creative Non-Fiction Workshop A: Writing the Classical Essay (Tuesdays)
FALL: Creative Non-Fiction Workshop B: Writing the Classical Essay (Mondays)
FALL: Creative Non-Fiction Workshop C: The Art of Telling Stories That Happen To Be True (Wednesdays)
FALL: Creative Non-Fiction Workshop D: The Art of Telling Stories That Happen To Be True (Wednesdays)
FALL: Erotica Workshop: Erotic, Realistic, or Sizzling (Mondays)
FALL: Fiction Workshop: Novel-in-Progress (Tuesdays)
FALL: Fiction Workshop: Short Stories (Tuesdays)
FALL: Fiction Workshop: The Long Story (Thursdays)
FALL: Life Sketches Workshop A: Write. Share. Preserve. For individuals 55-over only (Wednesdays)
FALL: Magazine Writing Workshop: Write Those Queries! (Wednesdays)
FALL: Memoir Master Class Weekend with Ariel Gore (Fri-Sun)
FALL: Memoir Workshop: The Language of Your Life A.M. (Thursdays)
FALL: Memoir Workshop: These Are the Good Old Days (Mondays)
FALL: Narrative Workshop: Writing the Lives of Girls and Women (Thursdays)
FALL: Online Workshop: Advanced Story Structure / 10-Week Class with Marc Acito
FALL: Online Workshop: Story Structure / 10-Week Class with Marc Acito
FALL: Poetry Workshop: Power & Play of Discovery (Thursdays)
FALL: Screenwriting Workshop: Writing for the Screen (Tuesdays)
FALL: Time to Write: Direction, Time & Inspiration (Saturdays)
FALL: Write Now! Creative Writing Renewal for Teachers (Thursdays)

"Life Sketches" Workshops

For individuals 55-over who want to write the essential stories of your life. Experience the pleasure of writing your personal stories, sharing them with peers, and preserving them in print. It's a life-changing experience brought to the page. Life Sketches is the story of your life -- one book at a time.

Learn more

The Attic Atheneum

A groundbreaking alternative to the traditional and low-residency MFA, the Attic Atheneum is an 11-month certificate program that melds independent study under close faculty supervision, student receptions, genre meetings, public readings, and other special events created around good food and dynamic conversation, dialogue, and literary community. Applications accepted between March 1 - April 30.

Primary links