Oregon Poetry Association - OPA

Join us at the 2026 Oregon Poetry Association Celebration, in honor of our 70th Anniversary. Happening on August 28-29 at the Salem Convention Center! Register now at https://opa.submittable.com/submit

Denise Diamond will be leading the workshop "Poetry as Dialogue"

About the workshop:

Working with two voices, exploring a wide range of topics, using Spanish and English, invitation to use one’s own native language, example of 2 voices with Driftwood art as statement on Ecology (I’m a member of artist co-op working with small driftwood pieces and Written Word).

About the poet:

Denise is a retired, community college Emeritus Professor of English. Denise has a BS from Lewis and Clark as well as a Master of Education and a Master of Arts from other universities. Her background is multi-cultural, and her teaching experiences range from inner city schools to Colegio Lincoln in Costa Rica. She has shared her bi-lingual and English poetry at Fringe Festivals and various poetry readings. Most recently she facilitated a writing retreat where she performed her one woman show, Tiny Tears. Denise is a member of The Backstreet Gallery Artist Co-op in Florence. She is a former member of Lane Community College Board of Trustees. Denise loves to travel, write, attend and support the arts, remodel homes and learn new things.

Join us at the 2026 Oregon Poetry Association Celebration, in honor of our 70th Anniversary. Happening on August 28-29 at the Salem Convention Center! Register now at https://opa.submittable.com/submit

Concepción Sámano will be leading the workshop "Braided Voices: Writing a Bilingual Poem"

About the workshop:

This workshop invites participants to write poetry inspired by migration. After viewing two images (European and Latin American migration), each participant chooses one and writes verses based on it, drawing from themes such as resistance, resilience, strength, and rarity. Participants then select one line from their poem and collectively build a bilingual piece by alternating lines in English and Spanish. The session ends with a group reading. This activity fosters creative expression, cultural reflection, and dialogue across languages and experiences.

About the poet:

Concepción Sámano is a poet and cultural promoter. She studied Philosophy and trained in art history and theory. She has published four poetry collections, the compilation Desde el otro lado (texts by Oregonian women), and the anthology of Oregonian poetry A contracorriente, as well as poems in magazines and anthologies in Oregon and Mexico. A two-time recipient of the FOECA Guanajuato fellowship, she has been awarded in various literary competitions and won second place in the Literature for the Diaspora Contest, organized by the Institute of Mexicans Abroad and the Mexican Embassy in Berlin in 2023. She participates in poetry collectives and produces a program on the community radio station XEUP-Radio Poder. She was part of the founding committee of the Oregon Book Fair and was invited to the 5th Artists’ Gathering of the Institute of Mexicans Abroad. In 2025, she was a finalist for the Fields Artist Fellowship from the Oregon Community Foundation. She is the Literary Program Coordinator at the Oregonian Institute of Culture. She facilitates workshops in creative writing, healing, and emotional wellness. She is a Mentorship Coordinator and recovery counselor at Plaza de Nuestra Comunidad, and Founder-Director of the Migranta Cultural and Human Development Project.

Join us at the 2026 Oregon Poetry Association Celebration, in honor of our 70th Anniversary. Happening on August 28-29 at the Salem Convention Center! Register now at https://opa.submittable.com/submit

Colette Tennant will be leading the workshop "Making Peace (and Poetry) with your Obsessions & Fascinations"

About the workshop:

“Obsession is a wellspring of genius and madness,” claimed Michel de Montaigne. In this workshop, we’ll draw from obsession’s wellspring. We’ll give voice to our obsessions and fascinations, and we’ll study the ways successful poets have tapped into their preoccupations to produce amazing poems. Afterall, the best creativity can verge on danger. We’ll analyze and then imitate poetic approaches on how to transform what might be seen as a fixation into a fund of productivity. This will be a generative workshop, and participants will have the opportunity to write two poems.

About the poet:

Colette Tennant has three books of poetry: Commotion of Wings, Eden and After, and Sweet Gothic. Her book, Religion in The Handmaid’s Tale: a Brief Guide, was published in 2019 to coincide with Atwood’s publication of The Testaments. Her poems have won various awards and have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes along with being published in various journals, including Prairie Schooner, Rattle, Southern Poetry Review, and Poetry Ireland Review. Colette is an English and Humanities Professor who has also taught art in Great Britain, Germany, and Italy.

Join us at the 2026 Oregon Poetry Association Celebration, in honor of our 70th Anniversary. Happening on August 28-29 at the Salem Convention Center! Register now at https://opa.submittable.com/submit

Christine Delea will be leading the workshop "Celebrating 70 Years of OPA! Prompt Party & Playing with Forms"

About the workshop:

In this workshop, we will be inspired by three prompts (plus one to do at home) showcasing Oregon poets and poetry of endurance, of resilience, of strength, and of rarity. We will use words, lines, and entire poems by current and past poets with some connection to Oregon, including poets who have presented workshops at past OPA conferences. As we have only 75 minutes, these prompts are to get participants started on drafts; they may or may not write a full first draft.

About the poet:

Mary Christine Delea is the author of The Skeleton Holding Up the Sky, three chapbooks, and numerous journal publications. She is currently at work on a number of poetry manuscripts. Her website is mchristinedelea.com, and it includes a blog where she posts poems she loves with a short commentary twice a week. She also writes a Substack called Peeled Citrus Prompts. She is a former college professor, social worker, Poet-in-the-Schools, and retail manager. Delea now spends her time volunteering for various nonprofits and leading poetry workshops in-person and online. She also makes beaded jewelry, headdresses, and quilts.

Join us at the 2026 Oregon Poetry Association Celebration, in honor of our 70th Anniversary. Happening on August 28-29 at the Salem Convention Center! Register now at https://opa.submittable.com/submit

Carol Barrett will be leading the workshop "Making Art from Rare Experience: The Poem Defying Embarrassment or Shame"

About the workshop: This workshop will encourage all of us to use exceptional life experience as a springboard for poetry, without being deterred by internal doors which sometimes slam us in the face. The presenter, originally trained as a psychologist, will offer examples from her own poetry, as well as from former students. These include Heid E. Erdrich, Don Mee Choi and others, who have claimed unique life experiences to generate powerful poems. Participants will be encouraged to consider one exceptionally positive event in their lives, and one exceptionally negative. What happens when we give voice to the symbolic meaning of the experience, without giving way to pride, embarrassment, shame or guilt? There will be opportunity to reclaim such rare experiences as the center of a new poem. Given the brevity of the workshop, and the potential sensitivity of the emerging work, new poems will not be shared. Instead, we will reflect as a group on how the activity affects our freedom as writers, and as persons living in an often challenging world.

About the poet: Carol Barrett, Ph.D, holds doctorates in both clinical psychology and creative writing. She coordinated the Creative Writing Certificate Program at Union Institute & University, and also teaches in the Creativity Studies Program at Saybrook University. Her books include Calling in the Bones, which won the Snyder Prize from Ashland Poetry Press, Drawing Lessons from Finishing Line Press, and Pansies from Sonder Press, a finalist for the 2020 Oregon Book Award in General Nonfiction, and the first book in English about the Apostolic Lutheran community. Her creative work has appeared in JAMA, Poetry International, Poetry Northwest, The Women’s Review of Books, The Christian Century, Christianity and Literature, and elsewhere. A former NEA Fellow in Poetry, she lives in Bend, OR.

Join us at the 2026 Oregon Poetry Association Celebration, in honor of our 70th Anniversary. Happening on August 28-29 at the Salem Convention Center! Register now at https://opa.submittable.com/submit

Allie Marini will be leading the workshop "Tarot For Poets: Writing Down The Cards"

About the workshop: This generative poetry workshop takes a secular approach to using cards (tarot, oracle, playing, or any other type of deck) as a writing tool. Rather than using cards to divine the future, here they will be used to divine your poetry. Ekphrasis, timed writing sprints, esoteric symbolism, and keyword brainstorming will be utilized in this workshop with one group writing exercise. Workshop handout will include recommended reading and a generative writing exercise to take home. Attendees need not have any knowledge of cards/divination to participate in this workshop. Attendees are welcome to bring their own decks if they wish, but are not mandatory, as all workshop materials will be provided.

About the poet: Allie Marini is a Florida woman, cross-genre writer, visual artist, maker, and tarot reader. She runs Creepy Girl Trap PDX, where she slings cards & oddities. Find her online: .pdx, , and https://linktr.ee/creepygirltrap.pdx

Head for the Hills, Last Wednesday!

You are almost out of time to take advantage of the Early Bird Discount for this year's OPA Celebration! Early registration ends after July 16th.

To get your early register, go to: https://opa.submittable.com/submit

Join us at the 2026 Oregon Poetry Association Celebration, in honor of our 70th Anniversary. Happening on August 28-29 at the Salem Convention Center!

The Oregon Poetry Association is excited to announce that we are sending Xavier Rodriguez (who performs as Bboy Cabi) to represent us, the poetry series Slamlandia, and the state of Oregon at the 2026 BlackBerry Peach National Poetry Slam in Overland Park, KS on July 23 - 26.

Born and raised in Virginia Beach, Bboy Cabi has always chased creativity and connection through dance, theater, public speaking, spoken word, and slam poetry. A two time member of the Hampton Roads Slam Team representing his hometown in regional slams, he now calls Portland home. He is a member of the 2026 Slamlandia Team, where him and his fellow teammates took third place at this year's Bigfoot Poetry Festival.

The OPA 70th Anniversary Celebration, happening on August 28-29 at the Salem Convention Center, has a great set of workshops in store this year.

Early bird registration ends on July 16th, so don't wait much longer! Find out more here: https://oregonpoets.org/opa-annual-conference/

OPA's 2026 poetry workshop leader's include:

Allie Marini
Carol Barrett
Christine Delea
Colette Tennant
Concepción Sámano
Denise Diamond
Doug Cox
Efraín Díaz-Horna
Jamae Ann Sabangan
Sue Fagalde Lick
Ximena Keogh Serrano