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The Moth: StorySLAM: Love Hurts

The Old Church Concert Hall 1422 SW 11th Ave, Portland, OR, United States

LOVE HURTS: Prepare a five-minute tale about a love that made you go OUCH. The agony of deferred love! The misery of good love, gone bad! The anguish of one-way love! Bring stories of your heart, kicked to the curb by the people or places or things you love...or used to love. Love that "Hurts So Good" also welcome. This venue is 17+ *Tickets for this event are available one week before the show, at 12pm PT / 3pm ET. *Seating is not guaranteed and is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please be sure to arrive at least 10 minutes before the show. Admission is not guaranteed for late arrivals. All sales final. Media Sponsors: OPB and Literary Arts

$15

Clyde W. Ford

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

In his thought-provoking and heartbreaking memoir, Think Black (Amistad), Hurston/Wright Legacy Award-winning writer Clyde W. Ford tells the story of his father, the first black software engineer at IBM, revealing how racism insidiously affected his father’s view of himself and their relationship. While Ford remained at IBM, it came at great emotional cost to himself and his family, especially his son Clyde. Overlooked for promotions he deserved, the embittered Ford began blaming his fate on his skin color and the notion that darker-skinned people like him were less intelligent and less capable – beliefs that painfully divided him and Clyde, who followed him to IBM two decades later.

Free

Celilo Collaborations: Sharing the Stories of a Place and Its People

Oregon Historical Society 1200 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR, United States

The Native fishing community of Celilo Village was in crisis following World War II. Large dams, highway widening, and federal policies of termination and relocation conspired to remove Indian people from a place their families had occupied for more than 12,000 years. Stepping into this maelstrom were two women from very different backgrounds. Together, they forged an alliance that made a difference. Flora Thompson and her husband, Chief Tommy Thompson, fought to protect fish drying sheds, fishing stations, and Celilo Village homes for decades. Joining her was Martha Ferguson McKeown, a high school English teacher, community activist, and author of several local histories, including two children's stories about the Thompsons. Their intertwined stories, as told by historian Dr. Katrine Barber, illustrate the importance of cross-cultural…

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Free

Let’s Be Weird Together: A Book About Love

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

Being in love makes people happy… and weird (in a good way!). Brooke Barker and Boaz Frankel’s Let's Be Weird Together: A Book About Love (Workman) celebrates both love and the delightfully bizarre quirks, habits, and traditions that make each couple unique and crazy about each other. Let’s Be Weird Together is a book about weird couples and the tiny two-person universes they create.

Free

Rick Wilson

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

In his full-throttle playbook for 2020, Running Against the Devil (Crown Forum), Rick Wilson – longtime Republican strategist and author of Everything Trump Touches Dies – warns Democrats not to make the mistakes that could reelect the worst president in history. A 30-year veteran of national political campaigns and one of the most famous ad makers in politics, Wilson brings his experience, insight, knowledge, and signature humor to the 2020 race, just in time to save the Democrats from their worst instincts.

Free

Westside Writing Group

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

A group for anyone writing nonfiction or memoir who would like company, support, and, most of all, accountability. Whether you’ve never written a word or you’re a published author, join us!

Free

Anna Wiener in Conversation With Meaghan O’Connell

Powell's Books on Hawthorne 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, OR, United States

In her mid-twenties, at the height of tech industry idealism, Anna Wiener – stuck, broke, and looking for meaning in her work, like any good millennial – left a job in book publishing for the promise of the new digital economy. She moved from New York to San Francisco, where she landed at a big-data startup in the heart of the Silicon Valley bubble: a world of surreal extravagance, dubious success, and fresh-faced entrepreneurs hell-bent on domination, glory, and, of course, progress. Part coming-of-age-story, part portrait of an already bygone era, Anna Wiener’s memoir, Uncanny Valley (MCD), is a rare first-person glimpse into high-flying, reckless startup culture at a time of unchecked ambition, unregulated surveillance, wild fortune, and accelerating political power. Wiener will be joined…

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Free

Powell’s First Word Reading Series – featuring Grief Rites

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

As of January, Powells has launched a new initiative called the FIrst Word Reading Series. The purpose is to "highlight emerging voices from every corner of the Portland literary community. Each month, a different writer, publisher, or literary organization will curate a one-of-a-kind night of readings and performances." We'll follow our typical format. Each reader will have time at the mic to share their grief inspired story. We're so excited for you to experience the dynamic of this group....everything from personal essay to poetry to slam to music. As always, Trigger Warning, because GRIEF. Please remember that Grief Rites does not vett our readers, so the first time you hear their particular piece of work will be our first time, as well. Trigger warnings and…

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Free

Powell’s Books Presents NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF & SHERYL WUDUNN

Newmark Theatre 1111 SW Broadway Ave., Portland, OR, United States

Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, bestselling authors of Half the Sky, return with a deeply personal new book, Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope. Looking with clear eyes at our nation’s governmental failures over the past half-century, Kristof and WuDunn examine the contemporary crisis in working-class America through the lens of the families Kristof grew up with in the rural, working-class town of Yamhill, Oregon. Yamhill prospered for much of the 20th century, but, like many working class towns, has been devastated as blue-collar jobs disappeared. About one-quarter of the kids Kristof grew up with have died in adulthood from drugs, alcohol, suicide, or reckless accidents. “We wanted to understand more deeply what had happened to Nick’s friends on the school bus,” they write, and “how our…

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$37.95

The Impossible First: From Fire to Ice — Crossing Antarctica Alone

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

Prior to December 2018, no individual had ever crossed the landmass of Antarctica alone, without support and completely human-powered. Yet, Colin O’Brady was determined to do just that, even if, 10 years earlier, there was doubt that he’d ever walk again normally. From the depths of a tragic accident, he fought his way back. In a quest to unlock his potential and discover what was possible, he went on to set three mountaineering world records before turning to this historic Antarctic challenge. Honest, deeply moving, and filled with moments of vulnerability, O’Brady’s memoir, The Impossible First (Scribner), reveals how anyone can reject limits, overcome immense obstacles, and discover what matters most.

Free
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