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2020/21 Portland Arts & Lectures: Yaa Gyasi (RESCHEDULED)

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall 1037 SW Broadway, Portland, OR, United States

Yaa Gyasi is the author of the forthcoming novel, Transcendent Kingdom (Knopf, August 2020). Her best-selling debut novel, Homegoing (2016), is an intergenerational saga following two split branches of a Ghanaian family through three hundred years of history. Homegoing won the PEN/Hemingway Award and the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Award for best first book, was shortlisted for the British Book Award – Debut of the Year, was named a New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book, and was included on numerous Best Books of the Year lists. National Book Award winner Ta-Nehisi Coates praised Homegoing as “an inspiration” and “what happens when you pair a gifted literary mind to an epic task.” Gyasi was born in Ghana and raised in Huntsville, Alabama.…

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$90 – $355

“From South Street to Not Doctor Street: Historicism and the African American Novel” with Kenneth Warren

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join us for "From South Street to Not Doctor Street: Historicism and the African American Novel," a lecture with Kenneth Warren. Prof. Warren's lecture will be followed by a question and answer session. Kenneth Warren is Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of English at The University of Chicago. His work focuses on American and African American literature from the late nineteenth through the middle of the twentieth century, in particular the way debates about literary form and genre articulate with discussions of political and social change. He is the author of three books: What Was African American Literature? (2010), So Black and Blue: Ralph Ellison and the Occasion of Criticism (2003), and Black and White Strangers: Race and American Literary Realism (1993).

Free

Oregon Historical Society: Rethinking American Grand Strategy

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Rethinking American Grand Strategy recasts both historical and modern dimensions of U.S. grand strategy by broadening the factors, events, and figures that could be considered political, and therefore strategic. Join us for a 30-minute lecture with one of the volume’s co-editors and co-authors, Christopher McKnight Nichols, laying out some of the broad themes, major events, and transformations in U.S. grand strategy, including an explanation of how an ensemble of leading scholars approached the history of the United States’ place in the world from the framework of rethinking. Following the book talk, Derrick Olsen will facilitate a discussion between Nichols and Ambassador Mary Carlin Yates on how the historical insights provided in Rethinking American Grand Strategy could aid in reconceptualizing domestic needs and foreign policy in a post-COVID-19 world. Copies…

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Free

Cirro-numinous Presents: CIRRO-NUMINOUS SALON: THE MASK

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

THE MASK is the first in an ongoing series of lectures/salons investigating the components of craft, embodiment, and perception. During each event, we’ll take a different lens to the question “how do these interrelated undertakings interact with a holistic creative practice?” Masks aren’t just tools of performance—they can also be an important ritual artifact. When we introduce an obstructing layer between ourselves and the world, we further our own power to move beyond a limiting view of the self. We’ll explore the topic deeply over the course of an hour and a half through a combination of lecture, discussion, and generative writing.

Free

HOOD FEMINISM with Mikki Kendall

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Literary Arts, Meyer Memorial Trust, and The Women’s Foundation of Oregon present Mikki Kendall, author of Hood Feminism. Join us for a special event with best-selling author Mikki Kendall. Kendall will discuss her book Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot. After her talk, Kendall will be in conversation with Shadiin Garcia, board chair of the Women’s Foundation of Oregon. Featuring introduction by Michelle DePass of Meyer Memorial Trust. GET THE BOOK! You can find Hood Feminism in hardcover and paperback at Third Eye Books. About Hood Feminism “One of the most important books of the current moment.”—Time“A rousing call to action… It should be required reading for everyone.”—Gabrielle Union, author of We’re Going to Need More Wine   “A brutally candid and unobstructed portrait of…

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Free – $100

On The Metaphysics of Deep Gossip: Bagley Wright Lecture Series

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

In this memoir and craft talk, Lisa Jarnot reflects on her entanglement in the New York poetry scene over twenty-five years. Beginning with the proposition that deep gossip and urban mindfulness are sacred practices, she explores the places where the New York School’s feminine, marvelous, and tough irreverence opens into a deeper mystery that is passed down as a liturgy of ecstatic connectedness. The Bagley Wright Lecture Series on Poetry supports contemporary poets as they explore in-depth their own thinking on poetry and poetics, and give a series of lectures resulting from these investigations. Lectures are delivered publicly in partnership with institutions and organizations nationwide. Find out more about past, present, and future lecturers, and explore the archive at www.bagleywrightlectures.org. Charlie Wright, Publisher of Wave…

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Free

PROFILES – The Banning of George Orwell

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

A virtual program series with Dr. Bill Thierfelder This ongoing series of 60-minute presentations explores the people, places, and events that shape our lives, our world, our universe. Presented by Dr. Bill Thierfelder, professor emeritus and docent at the American Museum of Natural History. This program explores Orwell’s writing, with an emphasis on Animal Farm and 1984, both of which have been banned over the years. Participants should be ages 18 and older. Sign up to receive the Zoom access code and password for the meeting. Where: Zoom (Not sure what that is? Call us and we'll help you! 503-682-2744) When : Wednesday, September 1, 2021, 11:00 am-12:30 pm Hosts: Dr. Bill Thierfelder & Andrea Erickson Topic: The Banning of George Orwell To sign up,…

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Free

How to Create the Perfect Crime for Young Readers

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

PB? MG? YA? Early readers? Are you speaking a different language? Yes, in a way, this is its own language. Because writing for children and teens has its own unique guidelines, challenges, and rewards. Dori Hillestad Butler and Kelly Garrett will break down the different categories of mysteries written for young (and young at heart) readers. They’ll discuss strategies for crafting mysteries for all different age groups, and you’ll walk away with useful tips and an appreciation for how writing something that feels so simple is surprisingly complex. Dori Hillestad Butler is the author of more than 55 books for young readers including the Edgar award winning Buddy Files series, the two-time Geisel Honor award winning King & Kayla series, the Haunted Library series, the…

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Free – $15

Black Abolitionists and Mercantile Frontiers: A. H. Francis and His Circle, 1835–1864

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join us for a presentation with Dr. Kenneth Hawkins on the life and achievements of Black abolitionist and merchant Abner Hunt Francis, with remarks from Kimberly Stowers Moreland on the significance of Francis's accomplishments today. Francis operated a prosperous mercantile store on Front Street in Portland until 1861. Throughout the mid-1800s, Francis used his position to fight for Black people on the frontiers from western New York to the Pacific Coast. He wrote letters to his friend Frederick Douglass about the conditions for Black people in Oregon and his successful resistance to the state’s Black exclusion laws, which Douglass published in his abolitionist newspaper. Even with these written accounts, histories of the Oregon Territory and its commercial port often ignored, ridiculed, or misrepresented Francis and…

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Free

An Evening with David Sedaris

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall 1037 SW Broadway, Portland, OR, United States

UPDATED COVID-19 ATTENDANCE POLICY All ticket holders, regardless of age, are required to show proof of full COVID vaccination or a negative test result (within 48 hours) from a healthcare provider for entry into the theatre. “Fully vaccinated” means that ticket holders have received their final vaccination dose of either the two-dose regimen of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or one dose of Johnson & Johnson at least 14 days before your performance date. Also, in accordance with state and local guidelines, face masks are required for entry. Masks must completely cover nose and mouth. Gaiters and bandanas are not acceptable. If wearing a face mask that does not comply with Metro policy, Portland’5 will provide a face mask for patrons. Masks must be worn at all times except…

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$32.50 – $57.50
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