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

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Mikel Jollett

Powell's City of Books 1005 W Burnside Street, Portland, OR, United States

Hollywood Park (Celadon) is a remarkable memoir of a tumultuous life. Mikel Jollett, frontman for The Airborne Toxic Event, was born into one of the country’s most infamous cults, and subjected to a childhood filled with poverty, addiction, and emotional abuse. Yet, ultimately, his is a story of fierce love and family loyalty told in a raw, poetic voice that signals the emergence of a uniquely gifted writer. His story opens in an experimental commune in California, which later morphed into the Church of Synanon, one of the country’s most infamous and dangerous cults. Per the leader’s mandate, all children, including Jollett and his older brother, were separated from their parents when they were six months old, and handed over to the cult’s “School.” When…

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Free

Marilyn Milne & Linda Kirk

Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton, OR, United States

In the 1960s, Tillamook County, Oregon was at war with itself. As the regional dairy industry shifted from small local factories to larger consolidated factories, and as profit margins for milk and cheese collapsed, Tillamook farmers found themselves in a financial crisis that fueled multiple disputes. The ensuing Cheese War included lies and secrets, as well as spies, high emotion, a shoving match, and even a death threat. Sisters Marilyn Milne and Linda Kirk, children of the Cheese War, conducted years of research and have integrated it with tales of their experiences as farm kids living through the all-consuming fight. As Americans become ever more interested in food supply chains and ethical consumption, Cheese War (Oregon State) is the story of the very human factors…

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Free

Write Around Portland: Bi-Monthly BIPOC Online Writing Workshop

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

"I love being witnessed, and I absolutely love witnessing the words of everyone else in the group. It’s our own kind of magic." —BIPOC Online Workshop Participant 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. Workshops are held via Zoom. Pre-registration is required. Registration opens the 1st of the month every month and closes when filled or at 12noon the day before the workshop. Pre-register for our 2nd Friday workshop here. Pre-register for our 4th Friday workshop here.  Click here for more workshop details. 

Free

Summer Generative w/ Lidia Yuknavitch and the Corporeal Squad: July 22nd-24th

The Corporeal Writing Center 510 SW 3rd Ave #101, Portland, OR, United States

Sex. Heat. Abundance. Excess. Juice. Long hot nights, cool rivers, the moon the only witness. In this face2face generative workshop with Lidia Yuknavitch and the Corporeal Writing squad we will take “excursions” into the belly of summer to generate writing and art. For the adventurous and sly. Experimental, mixed genre, utterly liberating. Check out all the details, and please read the COVID note carefully. Summer: A Seasonal Generative Writing Lab with Lidia Yuknavitch and the Corporeal Writing Squad: Domi Shoemaker, Anya Pearson, Katie Guinn, and Daniel Isaiah Elder WHEN: July 22nd to 24th Friday 7/22: 7pm-9pm meet-and-greet over ZOOM Saturday 7/23 11am-4pm in-person with a 45minute break for lunch Sunday 7/24: 11am-4pm in-person with a 45minute break for lunch WHERE: The Corporeal Writing Center in…

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$450

SUMMER: A (Virtual) Generative Creative Lab Through a Sensual/Sensory Lens — begins July 24th

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

SUMMER: A Generative Collaboration Through a Sensual/Sensory Lens Collaboration Leader: Domi Shoemaker, alongside weekly videos featuring Domi and Lidia Yuknavitch in conversation When: Begins July 24th, 2022, and will run for five weeks. Where: Videos are hosted on our site—you’ll receive a link to one each week, and then have access to them always. Domi will host a Zoom meeting every Monday from 5:30-7:30PM PST. (Meeting dates: July 25th, August 1st, August 8th, August 15th.) Cost: $250—payment plans are available. Please contact Daniel at registration@corporealwriting.com. Scholarships are also available—Apply Here. Sex. Heat. Abundance. Excess. Juice. Long hot nights, cool rivers, the moon the only witness. In this generative workshop we will take “excursions” into the belly of summer to generate writing and art. For the adventurous…

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$250

FREE: Consult about Your Writing

N/A

Call us. Let us help you with your writing. You're invited to schedule a free 15-minute conference call consult to describe your writing situation and focus. During the call, we listen to your writing situation and help you out -- sometimes writers will register for an upcoming workshop. Other times, after a consult, writers will initiate a formal Introductory Consult through our Individual Consult Group to find a writing coach selected specifically for your project. To initiate a Free Consult, e-mail us -- and when you do, please let us know specifically what you're working on and want to discuss. Then we'll get back in touch and begin to talk together about your writing. Register for a free consult Teacher: Carol Hendrickson Time: By appointment only. Location: Telephone Conference…

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Free

The Break with Kaveh Akbar

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

In partnership with Alano Club of Portland, “The Break is a monthly virtual gathering of writers and artists lead by Kaveh Akbar, celebrating amongness, collaboration, and interdisciplinary creative experimentation. Though many of the activities and discussions orbit or are inflected by recovery themes (Akbar has been in active recovery for eight years), participants are not required to self-identify as being in recovery to participate.” Register at: https://www.portlandalano.org/the-break Kaveh Akbar Kaveh Akbar is a poet, teacher and the poetry editor for The Nation. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times, Paris Review, Poetry, Best American Poetry, and elsewhere. His newest book, Pilgrim Bell, was published by Graywolf in 2021; he is also the author of Calling a Wolf a Wolf (Alice James,…

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Free

Drink and Write Tuesdays

Rose City Book Pub 1329 NE Fremont, Portland, OR, United States

Jeanne Faulkner hosts this drop-in writing workshop on the last Tuesday of every month. Jeanne provides the prompts, tips, and coaching. You bring your computer and notebook.

Free

A Conversation & Reading with Jackson Bliss and Frances Badalamenti

Rose City Book Pub 1329 NE Fremont, Portland, OR, United States

Come celebrate two great authors (and the launch of a brand new book!) this summer at the illustrious Rose City Book Pub. Jackson Bliss and Frances Badalamenti will be sitting down with each to talk writing as well as the release of DREAM POP ORIGAMI. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Frances Badalamenti was raised in Queens, New York and Suburban New Jersey, but she now lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and son. Her essays, stories and interviews appear in The Believer Magazine, Longreads, Vol.1 Brooklyn, Entropy and elsewhere. Salad Days is her second novel; her debut novel I Don't Blame You​ released in 2019. Jackson Bliss is the winner of the 2020 Noemi Press Award in Prose and the mixed-race/hapa author of Counterfactual Love Stories…

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Free

W. Kamau Bell & Kate Schatz in Conversation With Megan Rapinoe

Powell's City of Books 1005 W Burnside Street, Portland, OR, United States

W. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz’s Do the Work! (Workman) is a hands-on workbook for anyone overwhelmed by racial injustice, who feels shocked by all the American histories they never learned, and who keeps asking the question “what can I DOOOOOO?!” Packed with humorous, thought-provoking activities — all are rooted in history and contemporary social justice concepts — Bell and Schatz’s new book helps readers move from "What can I do?" to... you know... actually doing the work. Revelatory and thought-provoking, their highly illustrated, highly informative interactive workbook gives readers a unique, hands-on understanding of systemic racism — and how we can dismantle it. Packed with activities, games, illustrations, comics, and eye-opening conversation, Do the Work! challenges readers to think critically and act effectively. Try…

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Free
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