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!

Grief Rites Readers Series ~ June 3

American Legion Post 134 2104 NE Alberta St, Portland, OR, United States

A monthly storytelling showcase about grief, loss and love. Gather in community with others who share grief in all forms and manifestations. Come ready to cry, laugh, listen and hold space for yourself and others. *Trigger warning, because Grief. Content not edited for language or topic. Mature audience. *Venue is accessible; gender-neutral restrooms on premises Readings begin promptly at 7pm. Come early, grab a drink (full bar) and find your seat. Please consider bringing canned goods or cold weather clothing/blankets to donate to the Post 134 food & clothing pantry, which serves local veterans, houseless and anyone in need. ***This month's event will include an open mic, in addition to our curated readers. If you have words to share about your grief, we welcome you.***…

Free

Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves

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

Remember that moment when you first encountered a character who seemed to be written just for you? That feeling of belonging remains with readers for the rest of their lives – but it doesn’t happen as frequently for all of us. In her timely anthology, Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves (Ballantine), “well-read black girl” Glory Edim brings together original essays by some of our best black female writers and creative voices to shine a light on how important it is that everyone – regardless of gender, race, religion, or abilities – can find themselves in literature. Whether it’s learning about the complexities of femalehood from Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison, finding a new type of love in The Color Purple, or…

Free

A Girl’s Guide to the Wild: Be an Adventure-Seeking Outdoor Explorer!

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

Ruby McConnell’s A Girl's Guide to the Wild: Be an Adventure-Seeking Outdoor Explorer! (Little Bigfoot) is the definitive guide to getting outside – for girls ages 9-12! In addition to basic outdoor skills, McConnell’s entertaining guidebook includes easy camping recipes, outdoor projects including science experiments and crafts, fun activity suggestions, and inspiring stories of diverse historical and contemporary outdoorswomen. The goal is to improve the quality of girls’ outdoor time by increasing participation and independence, making them feel comfortable and safe, and giving them essential skills and knowledge. Charming and approachable, A Girl’s Guide to the Wild will encourage both reluctant campers and budding naturalists to go wild and embrace the outdoors.

Free

The Scientific Attitude

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

Attacks on science have become commonplace. Claims that climate change isn't settled science, that evolution is “only a theory,” and that scientists are conspiring to keep the truth about vaccines from the public are staples of some politicians' rhetorical repertoire. Defenders of science often point to its discoveries (penicillin! relativity!) without explaining exactly why scientific claims are superior. In The Scientific Attitude: Defending Science From Denial, Fraud, and Pseudoscience (MIT), Lee McIntyre argues that what distinguishes science from its rivals is what he calls “the scientific attitude” – caring about evidence and being willing to change theories on the basis of new evidence. The history of science is littered with theories that were scientific but turned out to be wrong; the scientific attitude reveals why…

Free

Birds of the West: An Artist’s Guide

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

Birds accompany us in our daily lives with their songs, flashes of bright color, and energetic activity. Even people who don’t consider themselves birders notice them; from urban wetlands to wilderness trails, we follow the sound of a distant twitter or song. Award-winning artist Molly Hashimoto captures birds through different media, from quick sketches with pen and wash to more carefully planned block prints. In Birds of the West (Skipstone), Hashimoto shares her range of artwork as a way to encourage readers, whether artists or not, to observe more closely the feathered friends around us. Through art and words, she explores specific Western habitats, providing the natural histories of birds typically found in each, as well as intimate personal encounters and inspiring passages from others.

Free

First Thursday: Art Opening and Book Talk!

Elisabeth Jones Art Center 516 NW 14th Ave, Portland, OR, United States

Join us for First Thursday on June 6th from 5pm to 8pm! Opening this First Thursday is an exhibit of woodblock prints by NW Artist and Author Molly Hashimoto. From 7pm to 8pm, Molly will give a talk on her recently published book Birds of the West: An Artist's Guide. Also exhibiting at the Elisabeth Jones Art Center: - For the Seventh Generation: A Community of Coastal Watchers - featuring new panels in the two-foot by one-mile panomural of the western coastline. - Earth, Water, Air, Fire - large scale acrylic paintings created collaboratively at EJArt Center honor the Earth and all living things. - Ghost Net - An installation by Emily Miller. A mountain of discarded ghost nets slowly repurposed into utilitarian objects. -…

Free

Westside Writing Group

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

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

This Never Happened – Liz Scott

Another Read Through 3932 N Mississippi Ave, Portland, OR, United States

Join us for a reading from Liz Scott’s new memoir, This Never Happened. This Never Happened is a genre-bending memoir, told in a non-linear way using photographs, letters, and lists. This is a spare work…alternatively heartbreaking and darkly comic. Like an archeological dig, Scott’s memoir goes in search of the answers to the mysteries of her family. In her relentless quest to uncover the truth, she leaves no one, including herself, unexamined. In the end, it is about the challenge of making peace with questions that will never be answered and the struggle to forgive. Liz Scott has been a practicing psychologist for 40 years, helping clients to identify life themes and make sense of the puzzle of their lives. She has brought this focus to her…

Free

Day Trips From Portland, Oregon: Getaway Ideas for the Local Traveler

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

Rediscover the simple pleasures of a day trip with Kim Cooper Findling’s Day Trips From Portland, Oregon (Globe Pequot). Findling’s guide is packed with hundreds of exciting things for locals and vacationers to do, see, and discover within a two-hour drive of the Portland metro area. Go biking, hiking, kayaking – or swimming! – on Sauvie Island, or visit the recreational wonderland around the town of Silver Lake, where you can get a glimpse of Mount St. Helens. Do something (mildly) intoxicating: Go on a tasting tour at one (or more) of the 200 wineries in the Willamette Valley. Do something historical: See people in period clothing reenact mid-19th-century daily life at Fort Vancouver, or 1920s farm life at Pomeroy Living History Farm in Yacolt.

Free

Portland Story Theater: Urban Tellers

The Old Church Concert Hall 1422 SW 11th Ave, Portland, OR, United States

Connect to the heart and soul of Portland! This SEASON FINALE and final show at TOC features Urban Tellers® some of your favorite Urban Tellers: Warren McPherson, Lynn Fitch, Frank Engel, Penny Walter and PDX Story Theater founders Lynne Duddy and Lawrence Howard. The stories that people tell at Urban Tellers® shows are making a positive impact on our community by giving everyone the fundamental human right To Be Heard. Be a part of this revolution of listening. Come and listen someone into being. Jazz at 7pm. Stories at 8pm. This 2018-19 Season Finale and final show at TOC features some of your favorite Urban Tellers: Warren McPherson, Lynn Fitch, Frank Engel, Penny Walter and PDX Story Theater founders Lynne Duddy and Lawrence Howard. Rogéri Jazz Duo when…

$15 – $20