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!

Cultural Connections: Celebrating Immigrant & Refugee Stories

New Expressive Works 810 SE Belmont St, Portland, OR, United States

Cultural Connections: Celebrating Immigrant & Refugee Stories. (A program of New Expressive Works' "Our Cultural Voices" Series) NOTE: This event is organized by multi-cultural youth and aimed for youth but all are welcome to join and participate. WHAT: Cross-Cultural Youth-Driven Conversations ~ Community Art Making ~ Food ~ Performances Come join Youth Advocates for Immigrants and Refugees (YAIR) in a cultural celebration of immigrant and refugee art and stories. Be prepared for an empathetic story exchange, amazing art, and delicious food! PROGRAM: 2pm - DOORS OPEN, Community Mural Making 2:20pm - Intro and presentation by Belize Nishimwe (Champion 2019 Oregon Poetry Out Loud Contest) 2:30 - 3:45pm - Story Exchange Community Conversation 3:45 - 4:00pm - Food, Community Mural Making 4:00pm - 5:00pm - Cultural…

Free

The Mystery Box Show: EXXXOTICA Expo Performance and Seminar

Portland Expo Center 2060 N. Marine Dr, Portland, OR, United States

The Mystery Box Show: True Stories All About Sex Presented By The Mystery Box Show What do you have in common with a porn star? With a stripper? With the person sitting next to you in traffic, the person who bags your groceries? It’s sex, plain and simple. Get a peek into the sex lives of others, as The Mystery Box Show features people telling true stories of their sexual adventures. Attending audience members will also have an opportunity to confess their wild experiences as well (anonymously, of course!) Nothing at The Mystery Box Show is too raw, too sweet, too strange, or too deep; it’s all about the sex, and all about the story. ABOUT THE MYSTERY BOX SHOW What do you have in…

Free – $229.99

Book Talk with Stephanie Kaza

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

Who: Stephanie Kaza What: Author of the book, Conversations with Trees- An Intimate Ecology, former professor, environmentalist, and Buddhist, Stephanie Kaza will share her thoughts on ecology, spirituality, climate change, and having conversations with trees. Lithographs by David Te Selle, Stephanie's husband, are currently exhibiting at the Elisabeth Jones Art Center.  When: Sunday, June 9th from 6pm to 7pm Where: The Elisabeth Jones Art Center 516 NW 14th Ave, Portland, OR 97209 Cost: Free! Contact: Shae Uisna shae@elisabethjones.art 503.286.4959. More information about Stephanie Kaza: Kaza is a long-time lover of trees, a practicing Zen Buddhist, and an environmentalist. A native of Oregon, Kaza spent many years in Burlington, Vermont, as professor and program director of the Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont. Her books explore timely questions of the challenging issues in climate, sustainability, and humanity facing…

Free

Story Party Portland | True Dating Stories

Curious Comedy Theater 5225 NE MLK Blvd, Portland, OR, United States

At Story Party you will hear true dating stories that will make you feel better because, let’s be honest, it could be worse. Story Party has played to sold out audiences in over 65 countries because the dating struggle is real worldwide! You'll hear stories from our professional storytellers and some brave audience members. We are in town for a short time only so grab your tickets. You’ve had enough coffee dates to master the art of fake laughing now come to our show and laugh for real! — — — Wanna share your story? — — — If you're dying to share your story write it down anonymously on our confession slips on the night and we will read them out loud so you…

$25

Reading: Michael Benanav: Himalaya Bound

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

Annie Bloom's welcomes Michael Benanav to read from his travel memoir, Himalaya Bound. Following his vivid account of traveling with one of the last camel caravans on earth in Men of Salt, Michael Benanav now brings us along on a journey with a tribe of forest-dwelling nomads in India. Welcomed into a family of nomadic water buffalo herders, he joins them on their annual spring migration into the Himalayas. More than a glimpse into an endangered culture, this superb adventure explores the relationship between humankind and wild lands, and the dubious effect of environmental conservation on peoples whose lives are inseparably intertwined with the natural world. The migration Benanav embarked upon was plagued with problems, as government officials threatened to ban this nomadic family--and others…

Free

Phil Buchanan in Conversation With Max Williams & Kimberly Cooper

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

A majority of American households give to charity in some form or another – from local donations to food banks, religious organizations, or schools, to contributions to prevent disease or protect basic freedoms. Whether you're in a position to give $1 or $1 million, every giver needs to answer the same question: How do I channel my giving effectively to make the greatest difference? In Giving Done Right (PublicAffairs), Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, arms donors with what it takes to do more good more quickly and to avoid predictable errors that lead too many astray. Giving Done Right is a practical guide to philanthropy at all levels of giving that seeks to educate and inspire. Buchanan will be joined in…

Free

Reading: Liz Prato: Volcanoes, Palm Trees, & Privilege

Gastro Mania - Multnomah Village 7850 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes back Portland author Liz Prato to read from her new book, Volcanoes, Palm Trees & Privilege: Essays on Hawai'i. Prato will be joined in-conversation with musician Jim Jones, who was raised on Oahu. The event will take place next door to Annie Bloom's at Gastromania, with food and drink available. Liz Prato combines lyricism, research and humor to explore her role as a white tourist in a seemingly paradisiacal land that has been largely formed and destroyed by white outsiders. Hawaiian history, pop culture, and contemporary affairs are masterfully woven with her personal narrative of loss and survival in linked essays, offering unique insight into how the touristic ideal of Hawai'i came to be, and what Hawai'i is at its core. “Liz…

Free

Thom Hartmann

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

Taking his typically in-depth, historically informed view, popular progressive radio host Thom Hartmann examines the brutal role guns have played in American history – from the genocide of the Native Americans to the enforcement of slavery (slave patrols are in fact the Second Amendment’s “well-regulated militias”) and the racist post-Civil War social order. He shows how the NRA and conservative Supreme Court justices used specious logic to invent a virtually unlimited individual right to own guns, which has enabled the ever-growing number of mass shootings in the United States. Hartmann also identifies a handful of powerful, commonsense solutions that would break the power of the gun lobby and restore the understanding of the Second Amendment that the Framers of the Constitution intended. Hartmann’s The Hidden…

Free

Chris Guillebeau

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

In 100 Side Hustles (Ten Speed), Chris Guillebeau, author of The $100 Startup, presents a colorful “idea book” filled with inspiration for your next big idea. Distilled from his popular Side Hustle School podcast, these case studies feature teachers, artists, coders, and even entire families who’ve found ways to create new sources of income. With insights and takeaways that reveal the human element behind the hustles, this playbook covers every step of launching a side hustle, from identifying underserved markets to crafting unique products and services that spring from your passions.

Free

Robert Macfarlane in Conversation With Barry Lopez

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

Hailed as "the great nature writer of this generation" (Wall Street Journal), Robert Macfarlane is the celebrated author of books about the intersections of the human and the natural realms. In his new work, Underland: A Deep Time Journey (W. W. Norton), Macfarlane delivers his masterpiece: an epic exploration of the Earth’s underworlds as they exist in myth, literature, memory, and the land itself. Macfarlane takes us on an extraordinary journey into our relationship with darkness, burial, and what lies beneath the surface of both place and mind. Global in its geography and written with great lyricism and power, Underland speaks powerfully to our present moment. Taking a deep time view of our planet, Macfarlane here asks a vital and unsettling question: “Are we being…

Free