LitPDX seeks to amplify marginalized voices, and welcomes all, their ideas, their events, and their words.

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HOCUS: Submissions Open!

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

HOCUS is now accepting submissions of prose and poetry of up to 2000 words for our next (hopefully) live event at the Rose City Book Pub in NE Portland. This event will take place on Tuesday, August 3rd from approximately 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. The theme is Talismans. Send us your poems, fiction, and creative nonfiction which deals either directly or obliquely with this theme. HOCUS is looking for work in the literary genre. If your work flirts with other genres like sci-fi or fantasy, it may be in our wheelhouse, but the term "literary" should come first. No hard sci-fi or sword-and-sandals gladiators or the like, please. To submit, go to our website and click on the Submit tab. Submissions close July 11th.

Free

Craft Conversations: Character

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

If you are interested in taking a dive into how to make full, complicated, compelling characters in your work, if you want your reader to be thinking about your people (even if that character is you) long after they finish your novel, story, or memoir, if you want to deeply engage your reader, you must develop characters that drive the story, that matter to the reader, that we can root for, that rise up off the page. For this conversation I’ll bring, readings, handouts, exercises and practical ideas. We will look at protagonists, as well as at secondary characters and the important jobs they have in making a story come to life. Access Program We want our writing classes to be accessible to everyone, regardless…

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$75

PSG Addition: YES, IT REALLY HAPPENED!

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Perhaps Hard To Believe, Yet True Join the Guild for a quick tour of historical oddities:  A Book and A Ship.  A Man With a Penchant For Selling.  A Set of Keys.  And More.  Each tale different.  Each Account Amazing.  Every Story Memorable.  All true stories – Yes, They Really Happened! -- that are on the edge of disbelief. Eric Foxman brings stories of people and astonishing events from many lands.  An hour of Goosebumps, Smiles and possibly Warm-Fuzzy Feelings (though not necessarily all at the same time). This unusual addition to the Guild’ season is a special Thank You and Fund Raiser program for five professional Guild members whose performance incomes have been adversely impacted by the pandemic.  There is no registration fee to…

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Free

Persistence: What It Takes to Publish a Book, featuring Ellen Michaelson, Joanna Rose, and Suzy Vitello

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

We are thrilled to present (virtually) on Monday, June 7th, at 5 PM PST a multi-author reading and in-conversation with local Portland authors Ellen Michaelson, Joanna Rose, and Suzy Vitello discussing the topic “Persistence: What it Takes to Publish a Book.” Each of these authors had rather long and winding paths toward the publication of their novels. They also were all students of Tom Spanbauer in his original Dangerous Writing group. This event is free but does require preregistration at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_K44ozcbDS1ysmlmXQ1KJhA Ellen Michaelson is a physician in Portland and an MFA graduate from Pacific University. Currently an assistant professor of Medicine at OHSU and vice president of the board of the NW Narrative Medicine Collaborative, she was an NEH Fellow in Medical Humanities…

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Free

Livestream Reading: Donna Ward & Jackie Shannon Hollis

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes Australian author Donna Ward for the US livestream launch of her memoir, She I Dare Not Name: A Spinster's Meditations on Life. She will be joined by Portland author Jackie Shannon Hollis, whose memoir is This Particular Happiness: A Childless Love Story. They will discuss childlessness, writing, and "spinsterhood." Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIlce-oqTsoEtGoLdIc0iRs3pEUF-LjxyU3 About She I Dare Not Name: Astonishing. Luminous. A book about being human. She I Dare Not Name is a compelling collection of fiercely intelligent, deeply intimate, lyrical reflections on the life of a woman who stands on the threshold between two millennia. Both manifesto and confession, this moving memoir explores the meaning and purpose Donna Ward discovered in a life lived entirely without a partner and children. The book…

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Free

Trystan Reese in Conversation With Andrew Solomon

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

When Trystan Reese was just a year into his relationship with Biff (now his husband), the couple learned that Biff’s niece and nephew were about to be removed from their home by Child Protective Services. Immediately, Trystan and Biff took in one-year-old Hailey and three-year-old Lucas, becoming caregivers overnight to two tiny survivors of abuse and neglect. From this surprising start, Trystan and Biff built a loving marriage and happy home — learning to parent on the job. They adopted Hailey and Lucas, and soon decided to grow their family biologically with a child that Trystan, who is transgender, would carry. Trystan’s groundbreaking pregnancy attracted media fanfare, and the family welcomed baby Leo in 2017. In How We Do Family: From Adoption to Trans Pregnancy,…

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Free

HOOD FEMINISM with Mikki Kendall

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Literary Arts, Meyer Memorial Trust, and The Women’s Foundation of Oregon present Mikki Kendall, author of Hood Feminism. Join us for a special event with best-selling author Mikki Kendall. Kendall will discuss her book Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot. After her talk, Kendall will be in conversation with Shadiin Garcia, board chair of the Women’s Foundation of Oregon. Featuring introduction by Michelle DePass of Meyer Memorial Trust. GET THE BOOK! You can find Hood Feminism in hardcover and paperback at Third Eye Books. About Hood Feminism “One of the most important books of the current moment.”—Time“A rousing call to action… It should be required reading for everyone.”—Gabrielle Union, author of We’re Going to Need More Wine   “A brutally candid and unobstructed portrait of…

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Free – $100

Write Around Portland: Bi-Monthly BIPOC Online Writing Workshop

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

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.

Free

Show:Tell High School Creative Writing & Print Camp

Alder Commons 4212 NE Prescott St., Portland, OR, United States

This summer we’re partnering with Alder Commons on after school camps that will take place rain or shine in their ample and dynamic outside spaces! Check out the offerings and dates for camp below. Sliding scale and no-cost spots available. Reach out to showtell@iprc.org to inquire. Safety Considerations: We’ll be limiting enrollment to 10 campers per session, and doing all of our learning and making in outside spaces, and we will be practicing social distancing. We ask that campers bring masks. For more information about IPRC Youth Summer Camps, please email Alley Pezanoski-Browne at showtell@iprc.org.   High School Creative Writing & Print Monday, June 14th – Thursday, June 17th 3 – 5:30pm Registration form here Explore your individual voice & express yourself, with this camp that pairs creative writing, printmaking and…

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$200 – $250

Daisy Hernández in Conversation With Amy Stewart

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Growing up in a New Jersey factory town in the 1980s, Daisy Hernández believed that her aunt had become deathly ill from eating an apple. No one in her family, in either the United States or Colombia, spoke of infectious diseases, and even into her thirties, she only knew that her aunt had died of a rare illness called Chagas. But as Hernández dug deeper, she discovered that Chagas — or the kissing bug disease — is more prevalent in the United States than the Zika virus. Today, more than 300,000 Americans have Chagas. Why do some infectious diseases make headlines and others fall by the wayside? After her aunt’s death, Hernández begins searching for answers about who our nation chooses to take care of…

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Free
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