Photo by Jennifer Stady
ALEX BEHR
is the author of the forthcoming story collection ANIMAL KINGDOM, the story collection PLANET GRIM, and the poetry chapbook GRIEF STICK.
Her writing has been published in Tin House, Utne Reader, Salon, Oregon Humanities, The Rumpus, Buckman Journal, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, in anthologies, and others.
Her multimedia website and film projects have been supported by grants from the Regional Arts and Culture Council.
She holds a BA in humanities from UC Berkeley and an MFA in creative writing from Portland State University.
She has participated in and/or organized numerous readings in Portland, San Francisco, and New York City, and has contributed her writing to a podcast, cable TV show, and other media projects.
Behr lives in Portland, Oregon, where she is a senior academic designer for a global education company, teaches creative writing workshops, and plays piano and bass guitar..
(Mostly) Complete list of published writing and readings
What she learned from her mom: always carry a pack of cards
What her cat taught her: not a damn thing.
Grief Stick
Alex Behr received an Arts3C grant from Regional Arts and Culture Council to produce a short documentary film with director/editor Brian Padian called GRIEF STICK. Nominated for Best Documentary in the 2025 Oregon Documentary Film Festival.
Altar/Altered
Sacred Objects and Adoption Stories
In 2022 Alex Behr received a generous RACC grant to support Altar/Altered — sacred objects + adoption stories. Adoption weaves through lives, fundamentally altering them. Spanning generations and cultures, six people share their adoption stories through the lens of personally sacred objects. Interviews by Alex Behr. Portraits ©Christine Shields.
Hot Pockets
Alex Behr is the co-founder with Liz Costello of HOT POCKETS, a reading series of excerpts from debauched rock bios.
Music
Alex Behr is the bassist in Gresham. She toured and recorded in indie bands in the mid-1990s to the early 2000s in the Bay Area, including the Double U, Job’s Daughters, and Dumbhead, and wrote for underground fanzines, including Bananafish.
Awards and Nominations
Winner, The Tom Doulis Graduate Fiction Writing Award
Finalist, The Tom and Phyllis Burnam Award in Graduate Fiction
Winner, Tom Bates Essay Award
Finalist, Tom Bates Award for Reporting
Finalist, Tom Doulis Graduate Fiction Award
Winner, Tom Bates Award for Reporting
Grants
Make-Build-Learn grant, Regional Arts and Culture Council, to support Altar/Altered: Sacred Objects and Adoption Stories website.
Arts3C grant, Regional Arts and Culture Council, to support the film GRIEF STICK, directed and edited by Brian Padian and produced by Alex Behr.