Every Story Belongs
Write Around Portland uses creative writing to help people heal and transform.
We’re a nonprofit fostering respectful, shared creative writing experiences. Since 1999.
Write Around YOU
We partner with nonprofits to bring creative writing to underheard communities where people already live and receive services.
better Together
We write together over 6-10 sessions. With fun and thoughtful activities, we write freely without judging ourselves. No preparation or experience required!
Creative Community
We share our work aloud (if we want to!) and offer positive, specific feedback. Over time, we learn our strengths as writers and listeners, and build a creative community.
Get Involved!
Freewrite: Election Anxiety Edition
Anxious about the election?
Feeling anxious about the upcoming midterm elections? With so much at stake, plus regular news reports about active efforts to repress voting, it’s no wonder nerves are running high. Many of us could use a moment to work through our feelings of fear and frustration on paper. In these sessions, we’ll freewrite to dig into those feelings. What is driving our anxiety and what does it distract us from? How can we use our frustration in a more meaningful way? This event is non-partisan, FREE, and participants are free to share their point of view with the group.
More Ways To Get Involved
Join our Email List
Get a quick newsletter every other month with opportunities to get involved.
Volunteer
Become a facilitator or help us operate our creative programming.
Become an Inkwell Sustainer
Small gifts made monthly really add up! Plus, receive special updates and more.
For us, writing isn’t about the finished product.*
Through guided creative exploration and the sharing of stories, we help people listen across difference. We honor, uplift, and celebrate all voices, especially those that aren’t typically heard in our society. We cultivate empathy and compassion. And we publish new narratives that resist polarization and stereotyping.
*Although we do publish collections of our writers’ work!
Serving the nonprofit community since 1999.
Our twist on expressive writing has a profound impact on physical and mental health.
Through programs offered in-person at homeless shelters, prisons, hospitals, treatment centers, senior centers, schools, and other healthcare and social service settings, we reach hundreds of underheard people each year. What could creative writing do for your clients?
“Before this program, I believed that I had absolutely no creativity when it came to writing. After only the first night, I realized I had it in me all along.“
Write Around Portland Participant