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!

First Word: Antiquated Future

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

First Word is our new monthly reading series to be held the first Thursday of each month. Join us for a night of readings, talks, and tunes from the Portland zine distro and cassette tape label, Antiquated Future. Words from Joshua James Amberson, Karleigh Frisbie, Christopher Sutton, Danny Noonan, Candi Floss, and Bryce Canyon. Music from Olympia indie-pop supergroup Guidon Bear.

Free

Michael Namkung – Seeing the Invisible INTERACTIVE

Alberta Rose Theatre 3000 NE Alberta St, Portland, OR, United States

Part spoken-word poetry, part storytelling, part extreme athletic art performance. Michael Namkung’s one-man show Seeing The Invisible is a no-holds-barred love story that journeys through the emotional life of men with a rawness and vulnerability that will break your heart wide open and reveal the creative power that lives within us all. Join Michael as he invites the audience directly into the work in his debut presentation of Seeing The Invisible INTERACTIVE. …….. Michael Namkung is Bob Ross diguised as an Olympic athlete. Michael is a father, poet, artist and multiple world champion. He is best known for Drawing Gym, an art form that inspires audiences to transcend their personal limitations by drawing while performing rigorous physical exercise. He has spoken and performed in museums,…

$25 – $40

Bike Chain Rain: A Birthday Tribute to David Cloud Berman

Bunk Bar - Water 1028 SE Water Ave, Portland, OR, United States

Musicians, writers, poets, fans and friends will play music, read work/tributes and tell stories about the great American poet and songwriter David Berman (Purple Mountains, Silver Jews) on what should have been his 53rd birthday. A benefit for Moms Demand Action and Write Around PDX With… Stephen Malkmus Bob Nastanovich Rebecca Gates William Tyler Clay Cole Franklin Bruno Oed Ronne A Certain Smile and writers: Kevin Sampsell Chelsey Johnson Jon Raymond Mo Daviau Kjerstin Johnson Daniel Elder Sophia Shalmiyev Douglas Wolk (MC) & Special Guests presented by chickfactor

$18 – $21

I’m Not Surprised.

Chapel Theatre 4107 SE Harrison St, Milwaukie, OR, United States

Hey, champ! Thanks for checking out Telltale. This is a monthly curated storytelling event for people that like to get vulnerable and take no shit. We are into genuine connection, laughter, heartbreak, poignant moments, and community building. We are now in our third season, and we are very excited for all the shows coming up this year. At Telltale, you can expect 8-10 performers sharing something with you, in the way that feels right to them--so there will be a mix of comedy, stories, music, essays, and more. Your evening will likely include honesty, swear words, enthusiasm, resistance, alcohol if that floats your boat, excellent pizza, dark humor, and some rad raffle prizes. You might make a new friend. You know how hard it is…

$8

Winter Poetry Festival

Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) 511 Northwest Broadway St, Portland, OR, United States

Portland’s second Winter Poetry Festival is a joyful gathering of poets and poetry lovers. Winter is a magical time where the beauty of language burns brightly in the darkness. The festival will feature a marketplace where you can support poets by buying from them directly, inspiring workshops for poets of all levels of experience, innovative performances and craft-talks from top-notch poets, a guest-screening from Seattle’s Cadence: Video Poetry Festival, and the “Poet’s Playground” an ephemeral pop-up of poetic challenges and collaborations. The Festival will be housed in the beautiful PNCA. ADA accessible. Centrally-located, near many major transit lines.

Free

Seeing It Through: A Visual Manifestation of the Black Panther Party’s Legacy in Portland

Collins Gallery 801 SW 10th Avenue, Portland, OR, United States

This exhibition is open during Central Library's hours of operation. Black history is far more than the Civil Rights era. In response to the racism that marginalized and harmed Black Portlanders, the Portland Black Panther Party formed its Portland Chapter in 1969. Their goal was to build equity for the oppressed in our city. This exhibition features artwork by Elijah Hasan and the HeArt Gallery that responds to the legacy of the Black Panthers' Ten-Point Program. Opening reception on Saturday, January 11, 3-5 pm. Explore the legacy of the Portland Black Panther Party through art, music and storytelling featuring Kent Ford. Light refreshments will be served.

Free

MC Hyland & Chloë Bass

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

This Saturday, January 11, poet and book artist MC Hyland will be in Portland and reading from her latest collection, THE END (Sidebrow 2019). She’ll be joined by New York artist and public practitioner Chloë Bass. MC Hyland is a poet, publisher, scholar, teacher, and public artist. Her poems have been published in journals in the US, UK, and Australia, and she is the author of two full-length books of poetry—THE END (Sidebrow, 2019) and NEVERAGAINLAND (Lowbrow/ H_NGM_N)—and a dozen poetry chapbooks and artist books. From 2009-2012, she ran the Pocket Lab Reading Series in Minneapolis with Jeff Peterson, and she now occasionally curates poetry readings in New York City with various friends. The founding editor of DoubleCross Press, she has worked at Minnesota Center…

Free

Spec Script: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Kelly's Olympian 426 Southwest Washington St, Portland, OR, United States

Spec Script is ringing in the New Year in Portland on Sunday January 12th for another episode of tv written by someone who has never watched the show! This episode is going to be massive because we are doing Buffy the Vampire Slayer! Our writer for the bloodsucking 90s hit is PDX theatre superstar and Spec Script fave Heidi Hunter! Reading Heidi's script is another cast of excellent bbs! We have: Caitlin Nolan Jeremiah Coughlan Jamie Carbone Kara Morehart and more! The main part of Spec Script will be a table read of the script, but if you’ve been to a Spec Script before you know there’s more! That’s right, we got the best damn preshow in all of comedy! For the Spec Script Primo…

Free – $5

The Poe Show 2020

Clinton Street Theater 2522 SE Clinton St, Portland, OR, United States

Every year we celebrate Edgar Allan Poe with a birthday party/roast that includes a variety of performances. This year is no exception. We're looking at bringing six new acts to you along with some surprises. Join us for a taste of the macabre like only Portland can provide! Sally K. Lehman Melissa Lynne Katie Doyle Tim Stapleton Beats by Taber Arias Nastashia Minto performing The Raven and more TBA! Celebrate the master of the macabre with spoken word, music, improv, and skits that are inspired by Poe, are interpretations of his work, or roasts of Poe. DOORS AT 7:30pm. From the Poe Museum website: The name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His…

$5