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Reading: Jackie Shannon Hollis: This Particular Happiness

Annie Bloom's Books 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes local author Jackie Shannon Hollis to read from her memoir, This Particular Happiness: A Childless Love Story. She'll be joined in conversation with her husband, Bill Hollis. Knowing where your scars come from doesn't make them go away. When Jackie Shannon Hollis marries Bill, a man who does not want children, she joyfully commits to a childless life. But soon after the wedding, she returns to the family ranch in rural Oregon and holds her newborn niece. Jackie falls deep into baby love and longing and begins to question her decision. As she navigates the overlapping roles of wife, daughter, aunt, sister, survivor, counselor, and friend, she explores what it really means to choose a different path. This Particular Happiness delves into…

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Free

Nathan Langston: I Need You to Tell Me Everything

Mother Foucault's Bookshop 523 SE Morrison St, Portland, OR, United States

What Even is This? It’s a book. Or similar to a book. Johannes Gutenberg would have tripped out that this is what counts for a book now. A synopsis: This is a pseudo-surrealistic autobiography about childhood sexual abuse in a spiritual setting and a new therapeutic approach that puts the broken pieces back in place. Neuroscience, religion, philosophy, time distortion, shape-shifting, rock & roll, legal proceedings, the hope of achieving transcendence. About the Author Nathan Langston is a software designer living in Seattle. Once, he dressed up as a bar of soap to pass out coupons in Union Square, Manhattan. Once, he composed scores for an indie ballet company. Once, he wandered the passageways of the Alhambra in Spain and the Ellora Caves in India.…

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Free

Heather Christle in Conversation With Zachary Schomburg

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

Heather Christle has just lost a dear friend to suicide and now must reckon with her own depression and the birth of her first child. As she faces her grief and impending parenthood, she decides to research the act of crying: what it is and why people do it, even if they rarely talk about it. Honest, intelligent, rapturous, and surprising, Christle’s investigations look through a mosaic of science, history, and her own lived experience to find new ways of understanding life, loss, and mental illness. The Crying Book (Catapult) is a deeply personal tribute to the fascinating strangeness of tears and the unexpected resilience of joy. Christle will be joined in conversation by Zachary Schomburg, Octopus Books publisher and author of Pulver Maar.

Free

Liz Prato

Mt. Hood Community College Theatre 26000 SE Stark Street, Gresham, OR, United States

The Mouths of Others presents author Liz Prato. Prato is the author of Volcanoes, Palm Trees & Privilege: Essays on Hawaii. Her essays combine lyricism, research and humor to explore the colonization of Hawaii and her role as a white tourist in a land that has been formed and destroyed by white outsiders. She discusses Hawaiian history, pop culture and contemporary affairs. Her work has been listed as a Notable selection in Best American Essays and Best American Sports Writing, and has been widely published in dozens of literary journals and magazines. WHEN: Thursday, Nov. 7 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. WHERE: Visual Arts Theatre, MHCC Gresham campus For more information, please email: Michele.Hampton@mhcc.edu or Andy.Gurevich@mhcc.edu

Free

The Selah Series

Taborspace 5441 SE Belmont St, Portland, OR, United States

This storytelling series is a space to call forward our ancestors who have histories of creation, healing, and resistance and to remember their stories and the hope that is inherent in our communal continued existence. Stories of Creation November 7 Storytellers will share stories of the creation of the Earth and the universe that come from indigenous cultural histories. This event is about reclaiming how the world was made. Stories of Resistance November 14 Storytellers will share stories of protest, organizing, collective bargaining, and community care. What can we learn from those that came before us? The road map to social uplift has been written, and written well. Stories of Healing November 21 Storytellers will share stories that focus on the holistic, indigenous, decolonized wellness…

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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

LitCrawl 2019: Build Your Own Industrial-Strength Crap Detector

Literary Arts 925 SW Washington Street, Portland, OR, United States

HEY PORTLAND! Come out for my hilarious factchecking lecture during #LitCrawl2019! Are you ready for the 2020 Presidential campaign season? Do you know fact from fiction, fake news from real information? In this fun slideshow adapted from my new book, Street Journalist: Understand and Report the News in Your Community, I'm offering easy tools of critical analysis to help you navigate whatever the hell's gonna happen next.

Free

Anthologies of Women’s Rage / Burn It Down x All of Me x LitCrawl

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

Editors and contributors from two new anthologies about women’s anger—Burn It Down and All of Me—present short readings and an opportunity for audience participation to unleash our collective rage. With Lilly Dancyger, Dani Burlison, Ariel Gore, Marissa Korbel, G. Ravyn Stanfield, and Marisa Siegel. About the editors: Lilly Dancyger is a contributing editor and columnist at Catapult, and assistant editor at Barrelhouse Books. She's the editor of Burn It Down, an anthology of essays on women's anger from Seal Press, and the author of Negative Space, a reported and illustrated memoir forthcoming from Santa Fe Writers Project in 2021. Her writing has been published by Longreads, The Washington Post, Glamour, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and more. Lilly lives in New York City, and she spends way…

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Free

Transcending: Trans Buddhist Voices

Two Rivers Bookstore 8836 N Lombard Street, Portland, OR, United States

Join Michaela McCormick (she/her) and Sasha Strong (they/them) as they read from their chapters in the new anthology, Transcending.

Free

She Can Really Lay It Down: A Celebration of Women Rockers and Rebels

Kickstand Comedy 16 NW Broadway, Portland, OR, United States

In She Can Really Lay It Down: 50 Rebels, Rockers, and Musical Revolutionaries (Who Happen to be Women), author and illustrator Rachel Frankel tells the fascinating stories of fifty female musicians who left their indelible mark on music and culture. Each incredible musician in this book defied genre and social conventions to shape the music industry as we know it, but have been overlooked simply because they are women. From under-celebrated industry greats like Carol Kaye – the kickass bass player who we’ve all listened to but never heard of – to legends like Nina Simone – the American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist – She Can Really Lay It Down showcases outstanding female-identified musicians from the 20th and 21st centuries. Tonight, Rachel speaks about the process,…

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Free
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