By Ellen Spitaleri
Sometimes dreams do come true. Just ask Literary Arts staff and board members, who dreamed of having a larger space. Now, with the December 2024 move to the new headquarters building at 716 SE Grand Ave., they have staff offices, a bookstore and so much more.
Literary Arts is a nonprofit literary organization based in Portland; it began in 1984 as the Portland Arts and Lecture Series, bringing highly regarded authors to Portland. The organization’s mission has always been to engage readers, support writers and inspire the next generation with great literature. However, with the recent acquisition of other programs, like Oregon Book Awards, Writers in the Schools and the Wordstock Festival, the organization outgrew its small offices in downtown Portland. “The new space is open, light-filled, beautiful and unpretentiously approachable,” said Andrew Proctor, executive director.
“For the first time in our 40-year history, we own and operate an independent bookstore and have expanded space for additional classrooms, an event space for author and community events and a radio and podcast studio,” he added.
The move to the historic building has been “transformative,” said Jyoti Roy, director of marketing and communications. She added that the bookstore sells a wide range of new books which are stored on bookshelves on wheels, so they can be moved to create an event space seating 75 on the ground floor, with more standing room in the upstairs mezzanine. She noted that there is a special children’s corner in the bookstore where kids are invited to gather at 10:30 am every Saturday for Story Time. Also, later this spring, the Literary Arts Café will open, serving coffee drinks and pastries at first, and later expanding into breakfast, lunch and beer and wine service in the evening.
The organization was able to purchase the building on SE Grand Ave. mid-pandemic, Roy said, due to generous donations, including one for $3 million from the estate of Susan Hammer, a board member who passed away in 2020.
Eventually, the building that housed Strowbridge Hardware in the early 20th century and later Fuller Paints will be named the Susan Hammer Center, Roy noted. “Bora Architects and Interiors did a phenomenal job honoring the labor history of the building while also adapting it for our use,” Proctor said. He added that the Central Eastside is an ideal location for Literary Arts, as it is in the core of the city. At the new site, “public transportation and parking are abundant, there’s a vibrant and super creative business and cultural neighborhood, and we are close to the vibrant residential communities in SE Portland,” he noted.
The bookstore features a selection of 12,000 new books with specialty areas of design and architecture, poetry and the craft of writing, along with a wide range of fiction, non-fiction and children’s books, in “a space designed to be inviting and accommodating for our whole community,” Proctor said. “There are multiple seating areas where visitors can read, write, work and enjoy the beautiful historic building,” he added.
Comments from the public since the new space opened have included “sounds of connection and discovery and joy,” Proctor said, adding that visitors “have been excited to have a new cultural space where they can feel nourished and discover/strengthen their own voice and find and build community.”
Proctor noted that the current political climate is worrisome, but “it will not deter us from delivering on our mission for the whole community.” He added, “We fully intend to continue to support and empower people of all ages and from all walks of life to tell their stories, write their truths and to connect them with audiences who believe in the power of stories and literature to build a strong and vibrant community together.” He also noted that Literary Arts welcomes volunteers and advised interested parties to learn about opportunities on the website. The website also lists upcoming author talks, workshops and more.
Literary Arts Bookstore
716 SE Grand Ave.
bookstore.literary-arts.org
971.347.1770
Open daily 10 am-9 pm
Bookseller Pauline Hales-Brown greets customers as they enter the new Literary Arts Bookstore. The shop features 12,000 new books in many different genres. Photo by John Richard Trtek.
