A resource for the PDX literary community. Produced by Old Pal.
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!
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.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
For people who identify as Black, Indigenous or People of Color (BIPOC). 2nd & 4th Friday of every month from 4 to 5:30 pm (Pacific Time), Free. (No workshop 12/25.) Workshops are held via Zoom. Pre-registration is required. Registration opens the 1st of the month every month. Pre-register for our 2nd Friday workshop here. Pre-register for our 4th Friday workshop here. Click here for more workshop details.
WHEN: Saturday, March 27th, 2021 :: 1PM—3PM Pacific WHERE: ZOOM! (But of course.) Meeting ID will be provided ahead of time. HOW MUCH: $100. Payment plans are available, please contact Daniel Elder at registration@corporealwriting.com SCHOLARSHIPS: Scholarships are always available. Click here to apply. Mind Fuck: A Seminar on Writing Better Sex Desire drives any story worth telling. One of the most notoriously difficult forms of desire to write is the sexual. As Audre Lorde wrote, “The erotic has often been misnamed by men and used against women. It has been made into the confused, the trivial, the psychotic, the plasticized sensation.” To write scenes that remove sex from patriarchal structures means to (re)place them in the context of their inhabiting corporeal bodies and realities, to engage topics…
WHEN: Saturday, March 27th, 2021 :: 1PM—3PM Pacific WHERE: ZOOM! (But of course.) Meeting ID will be provided ahead of time. HOW MUCH: $100. Payment plans are available, please contact Daniel Elder at registration@corporealwriting.com SCHOLARSHIPS: Scholarships are always available. Click here to apply. Mind Fuck: A Seminar on Writing Better Sex Desire drives any story worth telling. One of the most notoriously difficult forms of desire to write is the sexual. As Audre Lorde wrote, “The erotic has often been misnamed by men and used against women. It has been made into the confused, the trivial, the psychotic, the plasticized sensation.” To write scenes that remove sex from patriarchal structures means to (re)place them in the context of their inhabiting corporeal bodies and realities, to engage topics…
Write what you know you want to know The Creative Nonfiction (CNF) Studio is based on the idea that inspiration, accountability, and community are essential to every writer’s growth. The CNF Studio meets weekly for multi-month sessions, and its curriculum is designed to help you deepen your writing through a keener understanding of both literary craft and your own voice. The CNF Studio is open to applications from all writers, and members often return for multiple sessions. This creates the Studio’s special experience: a consistent, deep, and supportive study of your writing in the company of other writers. Each weekly session includes a close-reading and discussion of a selected work of creative nonfiction, a roundtable reading of take-home prompts, and in-depth critique of several works-in-progress. Over…