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Write Around Portland: Bi-Weekly Online Writing Workshop

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Writing is often thought of as something done in isolation; we know there is immense power when writing is done in community. Join us for 90 minutes of creativity and community-building, with generative writing exercises, sharing and strengths-based feedback. Our workshop model, refined over 22 years, is proven for people of all writing levels: from the budding writer to the published author. Workshops are held via Zoom. Weekly registration opens 5 days before each session and closes one hour before the workshop. Click here for more info. Mondays from 3 to 4:30 pm (Pacific Time) Sliding Scale Registration $5-$30. Register here. $0 registration available for past Write Around Portland participants at a social service agency and people experiencing financial hardship. Register here. Thursdays from 11 am to…

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$5 – $30

Whitney Otto in Conversation With Lidia Yuknavitch

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

In Art for the Ladylike (Mad Creek Books), Whitney Otto, author How to Make an American Quilt, limns the lives of eight pioneering women photographers — Sally Mann, Imogen Cunningham, Judy Dater, Ruth Orkin, Tina Modotti, Lee Miller, Madame Yvonne, and Grete Stern — to in turn excavate her own writer’s life. The result is an affecting exploration of what it means to be a woman, what it means to be an artist, and the perils and rewards of being both at once. In considering how feminism, career, and motherhood were entangled throughout her subjects’ lives as they tirelessly sought to render their visions and paved the way for others creating within the bounds of domesticity, Otto assesses her own struggles with balancing writing and…

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Free

Panel Discussion: CLASSIX talks Alice Childress and Wine in the Wilderness

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Dive into the work of playwright Alice Childress and her play Wine in the Wilderness in this livestream discussion with members of CLASSIX, an artist group that explores the classical canon of dramatic works by Black writers. CLASSIX members Arminda Thomas, Awoye Timpo, Dominique Rider, A.J. Muhammad, and Brittany Bradford will be featured guests for this conversation moderated by PCS Literary Manager Kamilah Bush. Streamed live at YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch. CLASSIX was created by theater director Awoye Timpo to expand the classical canon through an exploration of dramatic works by Black writers. CLASSIX define these classic works as plays by authors of African descent from around the world that speak profoundly to the times in which they were written and resonate deeply with our own. CLASSIX engages artists, historians, students, professors, producers, and audiences to launch these plays into…

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Free

Telltale Presents: What Are You Hungry For?

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Hey, champ! Thanks for checking out Telltale. We are a monthly curated storytelling event for people that like to get vulnerable and take no shit. We are into genuine connection, laughter, heartbreak, poignant moments, and community building. We are in our 4th season. Yeah, it’s going to be on zoom and not in person. Yeah, it’s not the same. But it’s better than nothing. And I said I’d do the show until the government stopped making me angry all the time....and....you see my point. At Telltale, you can expect about 6-8 performers sharing something with you, in the way that feels right to them--so there will be a mix of comedy, stories, music, essays, and more. Your evening will likely include honesty, swear words, enthusiasm,…

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Free

Passages Bookshop: Ephemera 40: Virtual Book Fair

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Our next virtual fair will be the country’s premiere ephemera fair, sponsored by the Ephemera Society of America. We expect to offer original artwork, letterpress broadsides, photographs, pamphlets, artists’ publications, — and even some books! You will be able to peruse (and purchase) our offerings on the Virtual Book Fairs page on this site, or at our fair booth.

Free

Revision: Taking a Second Look

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Most authors know that real writing begins with rewriting. Yet, revision is one of the most challenging parts of the writing process. How do we dig deeper and color in the edges to make our writing more evocative? How do we use the senses to make it come to life? What would happen if we approached the same material from the perspective of a different character? Or from an entirely different point of view (third person as opposed to first-person say)? In this six-week class, we will take an editor’s perspective on polishing our work and that of others. The class will be structured as a mini-workshop and we will devote most of our time to peer reading and critique with an emphasis on elements…

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$285

Social Justice Book Club (Remote)

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join us Saturday March 20th at 6:30pm for Social Justice Book Club. Since March is Women's History Month we will discuss Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall. PAPERBACK RELEASE: 2/23/21 Preorder on our website. (If you do not want to wait until then please email us and we'll order you the hardcover). Join us Saturday March 20th at 6:30pm for Social Justice Book Club to discuss Hood Feminism. Book club picks may not be currently in stock but will show that way so we can have an idea on how many to order. You will be contacted when your book is ready for pickup and provided the password to the book club as well. About the book: A potent and electrifying critique of today's feminist movement…

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$15 – $25

Mannie Murphy + Stephen R. Bissette: I Never Promised You A Rose Garden Virtual Book Launch

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Portland artist Mannie Murphy celebrates the release of their new graphic memoir/history, I Never Promised You A Rose Garden. Mannie is joined in conversation by special guest Steve Bissette (Swamp Thing) to discuss the new book. Told in the style of an illustrated diary, I Never Promised You A Rose Garden begins as an affectionate reminiscence of the author’s 1990s teenage infatuation with the late actor River Phoenix but morphs into a remarkable, sprawling account of the city of Portland and state of Oregon’s dark history of white nationalism. Murphy details the relationship between white supremacist Tom Metzger (former KKK Grand Wizard and founder of the White Aryan Resistance) and the “Rose City” street kids like Ken Death that infiltrated Van Sant’s films — a…

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Free

Kale Williams in Conversation With Jon Mooallem

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Six days after giving birth, a polar bear named Aurora got up and left her den at the Columbus Zoo, leaving her tiny, squealing cub to fend for herself. Hours later, Aurora still hadn’t returned. The cub was furless and blind, and with her temperature dropping dangerously, the zookeepers entrusted with her care felt they had no choice: They would have to raise one of the most dangerous predators in the world themselves, by hand. Over the next few weeks, a group of veterinarians and zookeepers would work around the clock to save the cub, whom they called Nora. Humans rarely get as close to a polar bear as Nora’s keepers got with their fuzzy charge. But the two species have long been intertwined. Three…

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Free

The Role of the Artist in Revolution: Panel discussion with CLASSIX featuring Intisar Abioto and James R. Dixon

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Explore the role of the artist in times of revolution in this panel discussion featuring CLASSIX members Arminda Thomas and Dominique Rider, joined by Portland-based artists Intisar Abioto and James R. Dixon, and moderated by Kamilah Bush, PCS Literary Manager. This panel was inspired by the themes of Alice Childress' play Wine in the Wilderness, written in 1969 and still current today, about an artist working amidst race riots in Harlem. Streamed live at YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch. Meet Intisar Abioto (she/her/hers) Intisar (b. Memphis, TN. 1986) is an artist working across photography, dance, and writing. Moving from the visionary and embodied root of Blackgirl Southern cross-temporal, cross-modal storytelling ways, her works refer to the living breath/breadth of people of African descent against the expanse of their storied, geographic, and imaginative landscapes. Working in long-form projects that encompass the visual, folkloric, documentary, and…

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Free
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