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!

Ezra Klein in Conversation With Omar El Akkad

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

America’s political system isn’t broken. The truth is scarier: it’s working exactly as designed. In Why We’re Polarized (Avid Reader/Simon & Schuster), journalist Ezra Klein reveals how that system is polarizing us – and how we are polarizing it – with disastrous results. Neither a polemic nor a lament, Why We’re Polarized offers a clear framework for understanding everything from Trump’s rise to the Democratic Party’s leftward shift to the politicization of everyday culture. Klein will be joined in conversation by Omar El Akkad, author of American War.

Free

Marcy Cottrell Houle: A Generous Nature

Broadway Books 1714 NE Broadway, Portland, OR, United States

We are delighted to host Marcy Cottrell Houle reading from her book A Generous Nature: Lives Transformed by Oregon, published by Oregon State University Press. She will be joined in conversation by one of the heroes featured in the book: Michael McCloskey, an Oregonian who was the director of the national Sierra Club for thirty-five years and whose work helped to pass the Wilderness Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. The book offers profiles of twenty-one conservationists and activists who have made enduring contributions to the preservation of Oregon's wild and natural places and its high quality of life. These stories speak to their courage, foresight, and actions--at times against great odds--to save places, enact legislation, and motivate others to cherish and protect the…

Free

Mother Winter’s Paperback Launch Party

The Stacks Coffeehouse 1831 N. Killingsworth St, Portland, OR, United States

Join us for MOTHER WINTER’s Paperback Launch Party 2/12! A boatload of PNW authors— Kimberly King-Parsons Chelsea Bieker Genevieve Hudson Leni Zumas John Beer Matthew Dickman Robert Lashley Cari Luna Rene Denfeld Mary Szybist —will each read a chapter of MOTHER WINTER. Shalmiyev will be reading a page of their work as a way of introduction and reciprocity. Signing to follow! Books will be available for sale by Another Read Through, who will have a table set up at The Stacks for this special event. (Also check out their online store at https://www.anotherreadthrough.com/)

Free

Book Launch at Base Camp Brewing

Base Camp Brewing Company 930 SE Oak Street, Portland, OR, United States

If you can't make it to Saturday's book launch event at Rose City Book Pub, then meet me at Base Camp for a beer and a paperback! If you want to pick up a paperback from me at this event, COMMENT BELOW and Venmo me $14.99. I'll sign copies if you buy ahead of time 😁 Otherwise the book is available on Amazon (ebook and print) Valentine's Day or at Rose City Book Pub on 2/15. Hope to see you there! ♡♡♡ "This is not a tale about the breaking, but of the putting back together." THE REBOOT: 50 DATES WITH MYSELF won 2nd Place in the Memoir Category at the PNWA 2017 Literary Contest. Read the Prologue at mariemacmillan.com and follow @macmillanpages on Instagram…

Free

Nonfiction Book Club

Books Around the Corner 40 NW 2nd Street, Gresham, OR, United States

The Books Around the Corner Nonfiction Book Club will be led by a community member and meets monthly on the second Friday of every month at 6PM. We would like to extend an invitation to all of our nonfiction loving customers (RSVP is not required). 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. We will discuss Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. About the book: Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor,…

Free

The Mystery Box Show – Special Valentines Day Show

Alberta Rose Theatre 3000 NE Alberta St, Portland, OR, United States

Doors open at 6:00 $22 Advance $27 Day of Show $45 General Admission + After-Party Access Bracelet From vanilla to kinky, queer to straight, and everything in between, a night at The Mystery Box Show brings you tales of one-night stands, explorations into fetish, awkward first times, dark fantasies come true, and much much more. Storytellers have included bestselling authors, nationally touring comedians, adult film industry veterans, theatre professionals, sex toy experts, members from the kink community, students and people from all walks of life. Nothing here is too raw, too sweet, too strange, or too deep; it’s all about the sex, and all about the story.

$22 – $45

Heaux Stories: Part Deux at Polaris Hall

Polaris Hall 635 N Killingsworth Court, Portland, OR, United States

We invite you to attend what some people anticipate to be the “steamiest night of the year”- Heaux Stories:Part Deux. This show is the sequel to sold-out storytelling showcase Heaux Stories. Heaux Stories is a production that was created as a space for women of color and femmes to gather and share their most intimate sexual truths through the art of storytelling. This event was born with the intention of being as a sex-positive safe space that will foster intimacy within community by centering femmes of color through the empowering act of authentic vulnerability. Due to the overwhelming lack of diverse perspectives in Portland’s local storytelling art scene, this show is a production created out of necessity by renowned storyteller and The Moth Storyhour producer…

$28 – $30

Black History Month Film Fest: Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise

Multnomah County Library - St. Johns Library 7510 N Charleston Avenue Portland, OR 97203, Portland, OR, United States

During the month of February, St. Johns Library will screen four movies that highlight and uplift the Black experience in America. Watch Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise (not rated).

Free

Book Launch: The Reboot: 50 Dates with Myself by Marie MacMillan

Rose City Book Pub 1329 NE Fremont, Portland, OR, United States

Come get your paperback copy of THE REBOOT: 50 DATES WITH MYSELF !!! It's finally here! My funny/self-care/dating/life-in-my-twenties memoir is out VALENTINE'S DAY from Dancing Moon Press. COMMENT BELOW if you plan to purchase a copy at this event from Rose City Book Pub! It'll be an informal shindig - with maybe a little reading and Q&A - and beer! they have beer and snacks for purchase also. Hop you can make it! If not, I'll be at Base Camp Brewing at noon on Friday 2/14 - see other event page. ♡♡♡ "This is not a tale about the breaking, but of the putting back together." ♡♡♡ Check out little previews on Instagram before the release @macmillanpages Read the whole Prologue and more at mariemacmillan.com…

Free