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!

Author Mat Johnson on His Novel, Loving Day

PSU - Smith Memorial Student Union 1825 SW Broadway, Portland, OR, United States

Black Studies presents this talk by Mat Johnson, author of Loving Day, Pym, Drop, and other books, as part of its Black Bag Speakers Series.  Co-sponsored by the English Department. LOCATION:  SMSU 328/9 In an effort to develop a forum for people and organizations doing work that addresses issues related to the community of Black people in Portland, the Black Bag Speaker Series began in October of 2006. We have featured many key people and organizations speaking on important issues in Portland, including but not limited to former Oregon Senator Avel Gordly, Joann Hardesty from Oregon Action, and Dr. Joy Leary from PSU. Our series has focused on the following issues: race and sustainability, slavery, police violence, segregation and gentrification, education, the Black Panthers, & AIDS and health in Portland -…

Free

Susan DeFreitas – Alt. Architecture: Nov. 7, 14, 21

The Corporeal Writing Center 510 SW 3rd Ave #101, Portland, OR, United States

ALT. ARCHITECTURE w/ Susan DeFreitas When: November 7, 14, and 21 6pm-9pm Where: The Corporeal Center “Underground literary goddess” Ariel Gore has called out traditional story structure for basically taking the shape of a penis. Let’s take that metaphor further: Yes, you must bring your reader to orgasm, but pretending there’s only one way to do that is dumb. (Not to mention boring.) In this three-week class, we’ll examine alternative structures for the novel that allow for more creativity, more play, and yes, more pleasure. This class is appropriate for writers with a novel manuscript (or novel concept) in development; at the end, all participants will receive a 45-minute tutorial designed to help them develop or refine the structure of their novel-in-progress. Scroll down for…

$325

Reading: A. B. Paulson: BigFoot Moon: formerly The American Quarterly Review: a Portland Novel

Annie Bloom's Books 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes Portland author A. B. Paulson to read from his novel, BigFoot Moon: formerly The American Quarterly Review: a Portland Novel. When beatnik sailor Bill Caxton waded ashore near Manzanita in 1958, he encountered an extraordinary local woman. 40 years later, he's searching for the son they conceived. But the eccentric detective he's hired must also solve a murder. Given these distractions, Caxton hands over the operation of his literary magazine--The American Quarterly Review--to two newcomers, and they argue about how to revamp the magazine. Their next issue becomes this novel. Readers fond of puzzles will find that piecing together the plot--veiled in a web of short stories, articles, and serial fiction--presents an intriguing challenge. Look for treatments of Sylvia Plath's mother, William…

Free

P. C. Cast & Kristin Cast

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

The Nerd Herd returns in Forgotten (Blackstone), the next thrilling adventure in the House of Night Other World series by authors P. C. and Kristin Cast. What happens when worlds clash and powers that should be left alone are awakened? Can Other Kevin and his world heal from the wounds Neferet continues to inflict? Can Old Magick ever truly be harnessed and used for good? Or will Darkness extinguish Light and leave our heroes broken, hopeless, and as forgotten as Kalona of the Silver Wings? Don't miss this second to last volume in the House of Night Other World saga!

Free

Johanna Stoberock & Elizabeth Earley in Conversation With Monica Drake

Powell's Books on Hawthorne 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, OR, United States

In the tradition of Lord of the Flies, Johanna Stoberock’s Pigs (Red Hen) is an exquisitely wrought fable about the excesses of the contemporary world – asking questions about community, environmental responsibility, and the possibility of innocence. Both a philosophical novel and a coming-of-age story, Elizabeth Earley’s Like Wings, Your Hands (Red Hen) explores a mother-son relationship in the context of disability and interdependence, while also raising questions about the nature of time and space and the limitless capacities of the human mind. Stoberock and Earley will be joined in conversation by Monica Drake, author of The Folly of Loving Life.

Free

Distressing Deaths in the Land of Literature

Ace Hotel 1022 SW Stark St, Portland, OR, United States

Ah, death. It can be both beautiful and terrible, and death certainly makes us keep turning the page. Join author (and mortician!) Elizabeth Fournier and the many departed characters of fiction as we test our bookish cred in a game of Literary Demise for deathy prizes to (not) die for. Death, be not proud, but always be fictitiously entertaining.

Free

Choose Your Own Adventure BINGO

CENTRL Office Downtown 1155 SW Morrison St, Portland, OR, United States

Join local Choose Your Own Adventure(R) authors Katherine Factor and Rana Tahir for a thrilling game of CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE BINGO. Katherine and Rana will be pulling from their magical tote of gamebooks to determine where YOU land. Chooseco, publisher of the Choose Your Own Adventure(R) gamebook series, will be giving away books as prizes throughout the event, as well as one grand finale prize of The Whole Enchilada. Never heard of CYOA? Stop by to learn more about Choose Your Own Adventure SPIES: Harry Houdini and Choose Your Own Adventure SPIES: Noor Inayat Khan (available 5/1/20). Remember the books from your childhood? Then you know the drill…BEWARE & WARNING, this event will be different from other events. Enter at your own risk.

Free

Kids’ Storytime

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

Join us for kids’ storytime. Today we’re reading Just in Case You Want to Fly by Julie Fogliano.

Free

The League of Exceptional Writers

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

In “From Idea to Story,” Mark Fearing, author of Earthling!, uses the power of improv and doodling to take you from brilliant idea to fully formed story. Hosted by Rosanne Parry, the League of Exceptional Writers is a monthly workshop where authors and illustrators share their knowledge with kids, ages 8 to 18 years old, who are interested in creating books. Join us!

Free

Dani Burlison reading

Mother Foucault's Bookshop 523 SE Morrison St, Portland, OR, United States

Dani Burlison is the creator/editor/author of All of Me: Stories of Love, Anger and the Female Body (PM Press, 2019), Dendrophilia and Other Social Taboos: True Stories, a collection of essays which first appeared in her McSweeney’s Internet Tendency column of the same name, and the Lady Parts zine series (available at Pioneers Press). Her short story collection Some Places Worth Leaving will be published by Tolsun Books in February 2020. Dani has been a staff writer at a Bay Area alt-weekly, a book reviewer for Los Angeles Review and a regular contributor at Yes! Magazine, Chicago Tribune, KQED, The Rumpus, Made Local Magazine and Emerald Report. Her journalism, fiction and personal essays can also be found at Ms. Magazine,WIRED, Vice, Utne, Earth Island Journal, Ploughshares, Portland Review,…

Free