LitPDX seeks to amplify marginalized voices, and welcomes all, their ideas, their events, and their words.

For details regarding specific events please contact the organizers or venues. If you are an organizer or venue and would like to reach out to us please feel free to contact us or submit an event using our submission form. We’d love to hear from you!

Slamlandia May Guilder Slam

Guilder Cafe 2393 NE Fremont St., Portland

Join us for our MAY Poetry Open Mic and Slam at Guilder on May 2nd! Doors and sign-ups are at 6:00 PM Get there on time to get a spot in the open mic or slam! Show begins at 6:30 PM. Guilder 2393 NE Fremont St Portland, OR 97213 This show is all ages. Please see our Accessibility and Safer Space info below. There is a $1-5 suggested donation. We will not be having a featured poet at this time. ★ •*´¨`*• O P E N • M I C •*´¨`*• ★ The open mic will start the show out. The open mic is a great way to share your wonderful poetry! You can share 1-2 poems lasting a maximum of 3 minutes. ★ •*´¨`*•…

Free – $5

Deep Happening

NMB Foundation Facility 2360 NW Quimby St, Portland

NMB Foundation presents an evening of art, words, songs, and dance thoughtfully curated by José Medeles (revival Drum shop/1939 Ensemble). In collaboration with Chris Funk (Decemberists), Medeles offers a pallet of sights and sounds to celebrate the inclusive spirit of our art community and the memory of Nike SB architect and Rose City artistic heavyweight Sandy Bodecker. Featured artists this month are Jonathan Sielaff, Ryan Miller, Joana Wang, Tai Woodville (featuring Mountain on the Moon) & Charlie Salas Humara. Performances begin at 6PM within NMB's architecturally inspiriting facility at 2360 NW Quimby. This event is FREE and all ages are welcome. Please RSVP at hello@bodeckerfoundation.org

Free

All Time Comics release party and art exhibit with Josh Simmons

Floating World Comics 1223 Lloyd Center, Portland

Floating World Comics is proud to usher All Time Comics to the next level of comics greatness with the release of new issues and a collection of the fan-favorite first season. On May 2 join new series co-writer Josh Simmons to celebrate the release of All Time Comics Zerosis Deathscape #0, which Josh also illustrated! Original art from issue #0 will be on exhibit all month. We will also have advance copies of All Time Comics Season One TP available before its official June release. All Time Comics delivers the most epic event of the year – ZEROSIS DEATHSCAPE! Written and illustrated by Josh Bayer and Josh Simmons, with inks by Ken Landgraf, this zero issue is the perfect intro to the new wave of ATC. Features the first appearance of The Red Maniac, and we meet…

Free

First Thursday: Book Art by Melody

Powell's City of Books 1005 W Burnside Street, Portland

Melody Bush, a librarian assistant and book lover from childhood, was dismayed to see old books discarded for lack of a good home. She discovered the art of book excavation and knew she had found her calling. Book excavation involves cutting into the book’s cover and carving away parts of pages, exposing the images and words within. Bush digs through pages, unearthing the underlying theme of the book and using her artistic sense to bring the book back to life as a visual delight.

Free

Chelsea Biondolillo in conversation with Justin Hocking

Broadway Books 1714 NE Broadway, Portland

Chelsea Biondolillo joins us to read from her new collection of essays, The Skinned Bird, published by Kernpunkt Press. Chelsea will be joined in conversation this evening by Justin Hocking, author of (most recently) The Great Floodgates of the Wonderworld. The Skinned Bird is about all the ways we break our own hearts. In lyric, fragmented essays -- full of geological, ornithological and photographic interventions, with landscapes, loss, and longing -- Biondolillo travels the terrain of leaving and finding home while keeping her sights fixed firm on the natural world around her. The collection includes "How to Skin a Bird," winner of the Carter Prize for the Essay, and the Best American Essays 2014 notable essay, "Phrenology." Lidia Yuknavitch describes the collection as "nothing short…

Free

Westside Writing Group

Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton

A group for anyone writing nonfiction or memoir who would like company, support, and, most of all, accountability. Whether you’ve never written a word or you’re a published author, join us!

Free

Tehlor Kay Mejia in Conversation With Michelle Ruiz Keil

Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton

In Tehlor Kay Mejia’s daring and romantic fantasy debut novel for teens, society-wife-in-training Dani has a great awakening after being recruited by rebel spies and falling for her biggest rival. The first in a sizzling fantasy duology, Mejia’s We Set the Dark on Fire (Katherine Tegen Books) is a boldly feminist look at freedom, family, and fighting the power. Mejia will be joined in conversation by Michelle Ruiz Keil, author of the forthcoming YA fantasy novel, All of Us With Wings. This event is being held in conjunction with Children’s Book Week.

Free

The Widmer Way – Jeff Alworth

Another Read Through 3932 N Mississippi Ave, Portland

Portland, Oregon, didn’t always have a wildly successful craft brew scene. Someone had to be daring enough to innovate, and the Widmer brothers were just the men for the job. Written by Portland beer guru Jeff Alworth (The Beer Bible, Beer Tasting Tool Kit), The Widmer Way: How Two Brothers Led Portland’s Craft Beer Revolution chronicles Kurt and Rob Widmer’s journey from humble homebrewers to craft beer pioneers and purveyors of the iconic Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen. Alworth also dives deep into Portland’s history, setting the scene for Widmer’s rise in the city now known for its exquisite beer. Drawing from hours of interviews with Kurt and Rob, close family and friends, and big names in the beer industry, The Widmer Way offers an exclusive look…

Free

Chapbook launch: obsequies by manuel arturo abreu

Mother Foucault's Bookshop 523 SE Morrison St, Portland

Join us on May 2 at 7 pm to celebrate the launch of manuel arturo abreu’s new chapbook, obsequies. Reading alongside abreu are Laura Camila Medina and Bogosi Sekhukhuni. abreu will also play some piano.  Laura Camila Medina is an interdisciplinary artist born in Bogota, Colombia and raised in Orlando, FL. She bases her practice around uprooting and migration as a response to personal, cultural, and historical research. Medina is constantly inspired by her memories of home, her mother’s arepas, and her father’s soundtracks. She earned a BFA from the Pacific Northwest College of Art and is currently based in Portland, OR. Bogosi Sekhukhuni (b. 1991, Johannesburg) describes himself as a ‘lightworker’. He studied at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He has exhibited at…

Free

Foucault in California

Powell's Books on Hawthorne 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland

In 1975, iconic French philosopher Michel Foucault spent a weekend in Southern California at the invitation of Simeon Wade. Led by Wade and his partner, Michael Stoneman, Foucault experimented with psychotropic drugs for the first time; by morning he was crying and proclaiming that he knew Truth. Foucault in California (Heyday) is Wade's firsthand account of that long weekend. Presenting his late brother’s book is David Wade, as well as Heather Dundas, author of the book’s foreword.

Free

Turn It Up!

Chapel Theatre 4107 SE Harrison St, Milwaukie

Hey, champ! Thanks for checking out Telltale. This is a monthly curated storytelling event for people that like to get vulnerable and take no shit. We are into genuine connection, laughter, heartbreak, poignant moments, and community building. The shows this year so far are already ridiculously good. Come see what’s next! At Telltale, you can expect 8-10 performers sharing something with you, in the way that feels right to them--so there will be a mix of comedy, stories, music, essays, and more. Your evening will likely include honesty, swear words, enthusiasm, resistance, alcohol if that floats your boat, excellent pizza, dark humor, and often a few raffle prizes. You might make a new friend. You know how hard it is to make new friends as…

$5