Wordstock - Portland Book Festival 2013

Wordstock is a literary art and education non-profit that celebrates and supports writing in the classroom and in the community. Our mission is to use the power of writing to effect positive change in people's lives.

Wordstock was founded by Larry Colton as Community of Writers in 1997 on the belief that helping teachers improve writing instruction will help to make generations of our children into writers themselves, giving them the ability to articulate their ideas on business, politics, art, and community.

Wordstock's original program, Teacher as Writer, a professional development program for K-12 teachers that trains them to change the way they teach writing, has served more than 1,800 teachers and as a result, more than 40,000 students and their families with trainings in English and Spanish.

Our flagship program is our annual book and literary festival in Portland-Wordstock. Wordstock began in 2005 and is already the largest celebration of literature and literacy in the Pacific Northwest. Each year, during the festival, we bring together hundreds of small presses, independent publishers, non-profits, and independent booksellers along with 150+ authors. Because Wordstock is dedicated to connecting you to contemporary writers, the festival includes a series of knowledge and skill workshops for practicing writers called Wordstock for Writers

Above all, Wordstock is dedicated to providing the public with unprecedented access to artistic excellence and instilling a lifelong love of reading in our community. For this reason, kids 13 and under receive admission for free and entrance to the festival remains low. We believe showcasing the artistic accomplishment of contemporary writers at our festival is one of the most compelling examples of writing's power that we can provide.

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