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!

Eva Holland in Conversation With Ferris Jabr

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Award-winning long-form journalist Eva Holland had always understood that her deepest fears were the death of her mother and falling from heights. She spends the majority of her life avoiding heights when possible, and managing exposure when necessary; but when her mother suddenly passes away, Holland is sent spiraling into a period of deep grief. When, months later, she begins to resurface, the realization that she has survived her worst fear emboldens her to begin an odyssey of confronting fear itself. Nerve: Adventures in the Science of Fear (The Experiment) chronicles Holland’s investigation of the science of fear, trauma, and anxiety. Using herself as a test subject, she jumps out of airplanes, ice climbs to nerve wreaking heights, and delves into her fears of loss…

Free

Mario Livio in Conversation With Adam Frank

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Mario Livio's Galileo: And the Science Deniers (Simon & Schuster) is a fresh interpretation of the life of Galileo Galilei, one of history's greatest and most fascinating scientists, that sheds new light on his discoveries and how he was challenged by science deniers. "We really need this story now, because we're living through the next chapter of science denial" (Bill McKibben). Galileo's story may be more relevant today than ever before. At present, we face enormous crises — such as the minimization of the dangers of climate change — because the science behind these threats is erroneously questioned or ignored. Galileo encountered this problem 400 years ago. His discoveries, based on careful observations and ingenious experiments, contradicted conventional wisdom and the teachings of the church…

Free

Nonfiction Book Club (Remote)

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join us on Friday July 10th at 6pm for our Remote Nonfiction Book Club. We will discuss Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb. About the book: From a New York Times best-selling author, psychotherapist, and national advice columnist, a hilarious, thought-provoking, and surprising new book that takes us behind the scenes of a therapist's world--where her patients are looking for answers (and so is she). One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose of­fice she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet…

Free

Portland Art Museum: Journal On!

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

How we journey through this moment, one page at a time. What’s it like being you right now? How has your life been changed? How will you look back on this moment? We want to hear from you! The Portland Art Museum, Portland Public Schools, and Create More, Fear Less are assembling one enduring art journal, made up of many, to capture our shared story of this unique moment in history. How to participate Respond to our prompts below or follow along on Instagram @journal_on_everyone. Then, upload an image of your work to the gallery. Share your drawings, words, or photos. Use any creative expression you want. If you’re a musician, dancer, or other kind of artist that doesn’t fit on a page, we’d love…

Free

Writing for Survival Webinar with Terese Marie Mailhot

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

WHAT: A two-hour online webinar AND a 4-week online workshop WITH: Terese Marie Mailhot WHEN: WEBINAR: Saturday, July 11th 1PM-3PM PST WHERE: ZOOM! (But of course.) Meeting registration and access details will be provided in advance. HOW MUCH: WEBINAR—$100. One hundred total capacity. Payment plans are available, contact Daniel Elder at registration@corporealwriting.com SCHOLARSHIPS: Fifteen full scholarships are available for BIPOC writers. Click here to apply. WEBINAR—July 11th—SEATS AVAILABLE! Our stories can be medicine for ourselves and others. When we retrieve stories people wish we would forget, we can re-shape the narratives of our lives and make art of it, too. Terese will be discussing ways you can piece together a fragmented life, and ways you can utilize metaphor and draw out ideas to connect points…

$100

SUMMER Online: Micro Memoir Workshop II w Matthew Dickman | July 12 – Aug 9 FULL — WAIT LIST ONLY

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

The smallest moment can profoundly change your life, a smell briefly caught on a walk can send you back in time, objects hold whole multi-histories and as the writer Jay Ponteri says "memories nest inside other memories". In this 5 week class we will be exploring memory and the tools of the memoir genre to write our own "Micro-Memoirs". These will be 1-5 page prose pieces. We will also be reading a lot of outside examples of this and writing together in class. This class is open to all writers, whether you identify as a poet, fiction, or creative non-fiction writer. Whoever you are let's all explore together! | Maximum: 12 writers NOTE: Writers may take this class without having previously taken Micro Memoir I. Register for this…

$215 – $242

Jenara Nerenberg in Conversation With Maya Dusenbery

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Jenara Nerenberg’s Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn’t Designed for You (HarperOne) is a paradigm-shifting exploration of neurodivergent women — those with autism, ADHD, synesthesia, and other sensory processing differences — offering a timely, provocative examination of why these traits are overlooked in women and how our society can benefit from allowing their unique strengths to flourish. As a smart, successful, Harvard- and Berkeley-educated writer and devoted mother, Nerenberg didn’t discover her autism and ADHD until well into her adulthood, after it had already taken a huge toll on her personal and professional life. Being a journalist, she dove into the research and discovered neurodiversity — a movement which seeks to stop pathologizing "normal" and "abnormal" brains and start embracing the variety of…

Free

Craig Hill & Matt Wastradowski

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Towering peaks, sparkling coastline, and vast old-growth forests: wherever you turn in the Pacific Northwest, adventure awaits. Pack a lunch, lace up your boots, and hit the trails with Craig Hill and Matt Wastradowski’s Moon Pacific Northwest Hiking (Moon Travel). Inside you'll find: Diverse Hiking Options: Whether you plan to take breathtaking coastal walks in Oregon or challenging treks around Mount Rainier, enjoy outdoor getaways ranging from easy day hikes to multi-day backpacking trips. Find Your Hike: Looking for something specific? Choose from strategic lists of the best hikes for waterfalls, wildflowers, bringing your dog, and more, plus a breakdown of the best hikes by season. The Top Outdoor Experiences: Wander through the damp, dense greens of a rainforest in Olympic National Park or revel…

Free

Zach St. George in Conversation With Robert Moor

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Zach St. George’s The Journeys of Trees: A Story About Forests, People, and the Future (W. W. Norton) is an urgent and illuminating portrait of forest migration, and of the people studying the forests of the past, protecting the forests of the present, and planting the forests of the future. Forests are restless. Any time a tree dies or a new one sprouts, the forest that includes it has shifted. When new trees sprout in the same direction, the whole forest begins to migrate, sometimes at astonishing rates. Today, however, an array of obstacles – humans felling trees by the billions, invasive pests transported through global trade – threaten to overwhelm these vital movements. Worst of all, the climate is changing faster than ever before,…

Free