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!

Romance Book Club (Remote)

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Our book discussions aim to bring people together to talk about books in a safe and inviting atmosphere. Our meetings are lovely and inclusive; we invite you to attend. Come and enjoy a lively discussion about the chosen book with other readers. Join us on October 1st at 5pm for our Romance Book Club. We will discuss You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley. About the book: Acclaimed author Colleen Oakley delivers a heart-wrenching and unforgettable love story about a woman who must choose between the man she loves and the man fate has chosen for her, in a novel that reminds us that the best life is one led by the heart. Mia Graydon's life looks picket-fence perfect; she has the house, her loving…

Free

Livestream Reading: Jessica O’Dwyer with Katey Schultz

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes California author Jessica O'Dwyer for a livestream reading from her novel Mother Mother. She'll be in conversation with Katey Schultz, author of Still Come Home. They will discuss the experience of working with a student-run, learning press—Loyola University Maryland’s Apprentice House Press—and they will also explore their approaches to authentically and respectfully "writing the other." Signed copies of both authors' new books are available! Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwud-Cqqj8tGN0jk2wm3r552FeJtLDQ1MIP About Jessica O'Dwyer's Mother Mother: A married couple in California grapples with race, betrayal, love, and loss when their son comes home from a Guatemalan orphanage. Contemporary art museum curator Julie Cowan achieves her dream of motherhood through adoption, but her life is far from perfect. Her pathologist husband, Mark, is distracted by his gorgeous,…

Free

Historical Fiction Book Club (Remote)

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join us on October 2nd at 4pm for our Historical Fiction Book Club. We will discuss The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See. About the book: Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village's all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook's mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility--but also danger. Despite their love for each other, Mi-ja and Young-sook find it impossible to ignore their differences. The Island of Sea Women takes place over many decades, beginning during a period of Japanese colonialism…

Free

Marilynne Robinson: Jack

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Presented in partnership with the Black Mountain Institute, Literary Arts, and The Loft’s Wordplay, and Wisconsin Book Festival. Marilynne Robinson will appear live on Crowdcast, in conversation with novelist C Pam Zhang. Join us at: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/jack Marilynne Robinson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Humanities Medal, returns to the world of Gilead with Jack, the latest novel in one of the great works of contemporary American fiction. Presented in partnership with the Black Mountain Institute, Literary Arts, and The Loft’s Wordplay, and Wisconsin Book Festival. Marilynne Robinson’s mythical world of Gilead, Iowa—the setting of her novels Gilead, Home, and Lila, and now Jack—and its beloved characters have illuminated and interrogated the complexities of American history, the power of our emotions, and the wonders of a sacred world. Jack is Robinson’s fourth novel in…

Free

Kids’ Storytime With Ben Hatke

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Author and illustrator Ben Hatke joins us for kids’ storytime to share his new picture book, Julia’s House Moves On (First Second). Julia and her house full of fantastic friends are back for another sweet adventure! Julia's house is restless. Julia and her family of lost creatures are ready to move on. But where will they go? And how will they get there? Don’t worry — Julia has a plan for that! Julia always has a plan. But when Julia's plans all fail… What's left for her? Register for the Zoom event  /  Buy the Book

Free

Delve Readers Seminars Online Fall 2020: Far From the Madding Crowd

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

The older well-to-do gentleman farmer, the dashing cavalry officer, or the steadfast shepherd—whom will accidental tenant farmer Bathsheba Everdene choose? Far From the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy’s 1874 novel that first established his international reputation, asks and answers that question. But, because this is Thomas Hardy, the course of true love is fraught with perils, tragic accidents of fate, well-meaning rustics, and—sheep. This is one of the great 19th century love stories, written by a master novelist/poet whose lifelong literary celebration of his beloved Dorset countryside is nowhere better displayed than here. This four-week Delve will explore Hardy’s mastery of place, country customs, and a now-departed way of life that can only be found…Far From the Madding Crowd. For this Delve, the guide strongly recommends…

$150

Maaza Mengiste in Conversation With Hannah Giorgis

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Set during Mussolini’s 1935 invasion of Ethiopia, Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King (W. W. Norton), shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize, takes us back to the first real conflict of World War II, casting light on the women soldiers who were left out of the historical record. At its heart is orphaned maid Hirut, who finds herself tumbling into a new world of thefts and violations, of betrayals and overwhelming rage. In incandescent, lyrical prose, Mengiste breathes life into complicated characters on both sides of the battle line, shaping a heartrending, indelible exploration of what it means to be a woman at war. Mengiste will be joined in conversation by Hannah Giorgis, culture writer at The Atlantic. Register for the Zoom event  /  Buy the Book

Free

Write A Book: Fiction & Creative Nonfiction Workshop

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Write A Book: Fiction & Creative Nonfiction IPRC Creative Workshops for Fall 2020 will be held online via zoom, PST. Instructor: Michael Heald Wednesdays, 6:30 – 8:30 Nine students maximum (ages 18+) Class meetings: 24 (8 per term) Cost: $825 *2 spots available at sliding scale, BIPOC prioritized; email hquinn@iprc.org *2 spots available at no cost, BIPOC prioritized; email hquinn@iprc.org October 7, 2020 – June 9, 2021 This workshop will consist of three eight-week terms. Writers currently working on memoirs, essay collections, novellas, novels, short story llections, oral histories, and long-form journalism are all strongly encouraged to apply. Hybrid forms welcome. Over the course of 24 sessions, writers will work towards a draft of a manuscript in a supportive workshop environment. We’ll explore non-linear solutions…

$825

Livestream Reading: Joanna Rose with Stevan Allred

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes Portland author Joanna Rose for a livestream reading from her new novel, A Small Crowd of Strangers, from Southwest Portland publisher Forest Avenue Press. She will be joined in conversation by fellow local author Stevan Allred. Thursday, October 8, 7pm Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqf-Csrz0sGd2GhOiYz3EhHzd_eLcF47wM Signed copies available soon! About the book: How does a librarian from New Jersey end up in a convenience store on Vancouver Island in the middle of the night, playing Bible Scrabble with a Korean physicist and a drunk priest? She gets married to the wrong man for starters--she didn't know he was 'that kind of Catholic'--and ends up in St. Cloud, Minnesota. She gets a job in a New Age bookstore, wanders toward Buddhism without realizing it, and…

Free

Kids’ Storytime With Jory John & Liz Climo

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Author Jory John and illustrator Liz Climo join us for kids’ storytime to read from their new picture book, First Day Critter Jitters (Dial Books). It’s almost the first day of school, and the animals are nervous. Sloth worries about getting there on time, snake can’t seem to get his backpack fastened onto his body, and bunny is afraid she’ll want to hop around instead of sitting still. When they all arrive at their classroom, though, they’re in for a surprise: Somebody else is nervous too. It’s their teacher, the armadillo! He has rolled in as a ball, and it takes him a while to relax and unfurl. But by the next day, the animals have all figured out how to help one another through…

Free