Prompt at Powell's City of Books

Prompt is an eight-week writing group running at Powell's City of Books on Wednesday nights from April 8 through May 27, 2026, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. The whole thing is built around freewriting, deep listening, and strengths-based feedback, with built-in accountability to keep you showing up. You don't need any prior writing experience to join.

The setting is a big part of the draw: you'll be working behind the scenes at Powell's, tucked away from the main floors. It's a rare chance to spend a couple of hours a week inside one of the city's most famous landmarks, and the group meets right in the heart of the Pearl District. That neighborhood was once Portland's art mecca and still anchors some of the city's best galleries—First Thursday is when they open after hours and local artists take to the streets—and Powell's sits on the same stretch as Oblation Paper & Press.

The group is run by Write Around Portland, a nonprofit founded in 1999 that brings creative writing to people in hospitals, shelters, senior centers, prisons, schools, and treatment facilities. They also hold public readings and publish anthologies of participants' work, which are sold at local bookstores, alongside fee-based workshops and writing sessions for workplaces. Prompt is one of those fee-based sessions, and the cost is $295 for the full eight weeks. If you've been looking for a way to get a regular writing practice going, this puts you in a room with other people doing the same thing, in a place you usually only visit as a customer.