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!

Nonfiction Book Club (Remote)

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join us on June 12th at 6pm for our Remote Nonfiction Book Club. We will discuss Tightroope by Nicholas Kristof. About the book: The Pulitzer Prize-winning authors of the acclaimed, best-selling Half the Sky now issue a plea–deeply personal and told through the lives of real Americans–to address the crisis in working-class America, while focusing on solutions to mend a half century of governmental failure. We offer 15% discount off our book club books. Due to the time and effort we put into organizing our book clubs if you choose to purchase the book elsewhere, already own it, or check it out from the library we will now be asking members who do not purchase their books at our shop to pay a $5 fee.…

Free

The Mystery Box Show: FREE Livestream on YouTube

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

With Kevin Allison, Claire Rudy Foster, and more to be announced soon! 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.

Free

Portland Storytellers’ Guild: Pearl’s Pearls

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Tales for and by Pearl Steinberg On Zoom Friday, June 12 at 7:00 pm The Portland Storytellers Guild presents an online evening of stories celebrating Pearl Steinberg, beloved Guild member who passed away in May weeks at 97. Tellers who knew her well come together to share stories that reflect the style and substance of the tales Pearl loved to tell. This free performance will be the Guild’s first live offering since the closure of public events. Zoom in to see and hear Norm Brecke, Maura Doherty, Barbara Fankhauser, Edward Hershey, Will Hornyak, Ken Iverson, Anne Penfound and Anne Rutherford in a performance hosted by Eric Foxman — and including a video of Pearl telling a favorite story. There is no cost to attend, but…

Free

Summer 2020 Online: Collage in Creative Nonfiction

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Do you have a nonfiction story or essay that struggles to mold to a traditional structure? Sometimes the most personal stories or essays do not want to follow a linear trajectory. Collage and braided forms of creative non-fiction rely instead on fragmentation, silence and resonance to build suspense and/or complex thinking. In defense of disruption and silence, Louise Gluck reflects that “in the broken thing, human agency is oddly implied: breakage, whatever its cause, is the dark complement to the act of making; the one implies the other.” In this class, we will consider how writers use these strategies of breakage and disruption to their benefit, using historical, literary or biographical “braids” that weave in and out of their narratives. Class time will be spent…

$210

June PRIDE MONTH Grief Rites Virtual Reading

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join us Sunday, June 14, 4pm PST via ZOOM Virtual Reading. In honor of PRIDE month you'll hear stories of love and loss from Queer writers. Grief Rites is a monthly storytelling showcase about grief, loss and love. Gather in community with others who share grief in all forms and manifestations. Come ready to cry, laugh, listen and hold space for yourself and others. *Storytellers: Domi Shoemaker Jeanette LeBlanc Shelby Forsythia Cheryl Bridges Skyler Reed Pema Rocker .................. coffee and grief is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: My Meeting Time: Jun 14, 2020 04:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84824357394?pwd=WElraEN0cGMzNXlKTDVQR2U4OGZsZz09 Meeting ID: 848 2435 7394 Password: 449593 One tap mobile +12532158782,,84824357394#,,1#,449593# US (Tacoma) +13462487799,,84824357394#,,1#,449593# US (Houston) Dial by…

Free

The Moth: Virtual StorySLAM: Co-Habitation

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

CO-HABITATION: Prepare a five-minute story about living with someone, or something. Your crazy college roommate or the raccoons in your backyard. A very particular neighbor or your unique family. Tell us about how you can’t live with them, but you can’t live without them! Additional Information About the Venue: A link to the official Zoom room will be sent on the day of the event to anyone who purchases a ticket. Make sure you check your spam folder. If you have any issues accessing the event please contact info@themoth.org

Free

Virtual Book Launch – Walking the High Desert: Reading and Q&A with author Ellen Waterston

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join us to hear author Ellen Waterston read from her new title, Walking the High Desert: Encounters with Rural America along the Oregon Desert Trail. Uniting stories from across this diverse landscape—the humans and non-human voices—Waterston weaves an incomparable narrative of wonder, science, history and prose. Walking the High Desert is at once travelogue, meditation, memoir, history, philosophy, social commentary,  and commonplace book. It deeply explores the desert and the complex interplay of humans with this piece of the Intermountain West, calling out regional challenges that, more often than not, turn out to be issues the nation, and in some cases, the world, are grappling with. A selection of stunning images will accompany the reading. A live audience question and answer session will follow. In addition to Walking the High…

Free

Longreads Club: What Black America Means to Europe

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Many have attempted to claim that ‘things are better here’ for black people in Europe than in the US. This ignores both Europe’s colonial past and its own racist present. By George Younge. Photo by Mohammed Badra. 3500 words, about 20 minutes ARTICLE: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/11/what-black-america-means-to-europe-protests-racism-george-floyd AUDIO VERSION: For those where reading the article is a barrier, we've created an audio version using a text-to-speech program. You can download it here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/141GBPyd9vceT7-tDRz6mfz6lx3uiN2zj/view?usp=sharing EXTRA CREDIT: Nikole Hannah-Jones' Pulitzer Prize-winning essay in the 1619 project: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/black-history-american-democracy.html (Note: this event was first posted with this article, but was replaced by one with more of a global focus) ABOUT: The Longreads Club is a twice-monthly program hosted by WorldOregon's Young Professionals group. Join us for Longreads Club where we discuss a…

Free

Coffee Break with Reading is Resistance

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

A recurring conversation on building awareness through the books we read. For a selection of books recommended in June, visit: https://www.tworiversbooks.com/june-reading-resistance For the full Book Club, and all related information, check out their website: https://www.readingisresistance.com/book-club Topics by date: June 4: Jazz Baby (ft. live music with Farnell Newton) (farnellnewton.com) June 11: Activism/Community Engagement June 18: Collage and Craft in Social Justice Books for Kids June 25: Outdoor/Adventure Books July 2: Book Bundle Highlight July 9: Social Justice Teaching (ft. special guest) July 16: Poetry July 23: Book Bundle Highlight (ft. special guest Vera Newton, from Vera's Reviews) July 30: Interview (ft. Little Black Book Nook) August 6: How to Get Involved in Social Justice Movements (Watch Us Rise) August 13: Interview (TBD) August 20: New…

Free

True Crime Book Club (Remote)

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

The True Crime Book Club is led by the true crime aficionado Rachel Newton Cumley. We would like to extend an invitation to all of our true crime enthusiasts. 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. Join us on Sunday June 28th at 3pm for True Crime Book Club. This month's pick is Devil's Knot by Mara Leveritt. The West Memphis Three. Accused, convicted…and set free. Do you know their story? In 2011, one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in American legal history was set right when Damien Echols,…

Free