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!

Book Talk Book Club

Books Around the Corner 40 NW 2nd Street, Gresham, OR, United States

The Books Around the Corner Book Talk Book Club is led by the owner/librarian, Stephanie Rose, and meets monthly on Wednesday every month. We would like to extend an invitation to all of our customers (RSVP is not required). Bring whatever book your are reading or have recently finished and book talk it to the group. This is a great way to find books outside of your genre that you may not have otherwise been introduced to! 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 with other readers.

Free

Reading: Shawn Aveningo Sanders: What She Was Wearing

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

Annie Bloom's welcomes Portland poet Shawn Aveningo Sanders to read from What She Was Wearing. How long can you keep a dark secret before you become completely unraveled? In What She Was Wearing, Sanders uses poetry, prose, and letters to tell her #MeToo story—one that has taken over 30 years to reveal. In this collection, Shawn shares her nightmare of being raped at a fraternity toga party, and examines the event from a variety of perspectives, including poems written from the viewpoint of her attackers; the toga she was wearing; homecoming years later; and even the moment she told her college-aged children. As Shawn’s story unfolds, the reader will come to understand how significant the aftermath of rape can be. For decades, she was "triggered"…

Free

Incite: Queer Writers Read

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

Welcome the New Year with a reading vaguely connected to the theme: The 20s. Our powerhouse lineup includes: Joni Renee Whitworth, Leah Baer, Jessica Mehta, and Dustin Hendrick. This year heralds great change, and it's a great time to join in this community and this discussion. Please join us.

Free

Creation Island

IPRC (Independent Publishing Resource Center) 318 SE Main Street #175, Portland, OR, United States

Creation Island is a generative writing salon hosted in Portland, Oregon. Why island? Do you know how islands are formed?? They bubble up from the magma or snap off from other land masses, and they have their own ecosystems and their own rules. We’ve been forming islands for years. We’re all about eruptions and watching the lava flow. We make space for you to write HELP and other messages on the shore, then kick down sandcastles and build new ones. Also, we believe deeply in not being an asshole, to yourself or others. Creation Island is taught by Nathan Wade Carter and Zulema Renee Summerfield. Click here for more information, or to sign up.

Free

VoiceCatcher reads at Plonk

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

Readers include these authors: Stephanie Striffler, Delia Garigan, Linda Apell, Susan Moshofsky, and Ulrikka Haveron. Let's get 2020 started right and appreciate VoiceCatcher in the process.

Free

PNCA Presents: Renee Gladman and Lisa Radon

IPRC (Independent Publishing Resource Center) 318 SE Main Street #175, Portland, OR, United States

PNCA presents Renee Gladman and Lisa Radon at the Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC) on January 10th at 6:30 pm as part of the Low-Residency MFA Creative Writing Winter Residency. Gladman and Radon will read from their most recent works. This event is made possible by a generous grant from the Collins Foundation. It’s free and open to the public. Renee Gladman is a writer and artist preoccupied with crossings, thresholds, and geographies as they play out at the intersections of poetry, prose, drawing and architecture. She is the author of twelve published works, including a cycle of novels about the city-state Ravicka and its inhabitants, the Ravickians—Event Factory (2010), The Ravickians (2011), Ana Patova Crosses a Bridge (2013), and Houses of Ravicka (2017)—as well…

Free

The League of Exceptional Writers

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

In “From ‘Ahoy, Matey’ to ‘Howdy, Pardner,’” author Dawn Babb Prochovnic teaches how to create vivid characters by giving each one a unique voice. Hosted by Rosanne Parry, the League of Exceptional Writers is a monthly workshop where authors and illustrators share their knowledge with kids, ages 8 to 18 years old, who are interested in creating books. Join us!

Free

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

Submission Deadline: Portland Review: Borders

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Portland Review welcomes submissions of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translation, and mixed-genre works for online publication. We are specifically looking for works that creatively interrogate the theme of borders. We’d hope to find work that explores borders, not as structures that operate as visible barriers, but those less seen: the lines between parent, child, and self; appetites and offerings; gender, bodies, and expectation; the subconscious, reality and its digitally augmented proxies. We’re particularly excited to read works that engage with the theme in ways beyond the topical. The unexpected is encouraged and appreciated. Submission Window: January 1st-15th Work must be original, unpublished, and follow our submission guidelines. For over sixty years, Portland Review has published the works of emerging writers and artists alongside the works of…

Free

Write Around Portland 10-Week Workshop

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

Based on their acclaimed community writing model, "Prompt" is a generative workshop that offers exercises to inspire the writing life. Workshop fee ($300) includes snacks, access to the “bowels of Powell’s,” and helps to fund workshops for low-income youth and adults. This workshop takes place on Wednesdays, January 15-March 18. To register or for more information, visit writearound.org.

$300