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!

Ariana Reines

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

Ariana Reines’s A Sand Book (Tin House) is a poetry collection in nine parts, a travel guide that migrates from wildfires to hurricanes, Tweety Bird to the president, lust to aridity, desertification to prophecy, and mother to daughter. It explores the negative space of what is happening to language and to consciousness in our strange and desperate times. From Hurricane Sandy to the murder of Sandra Bland to the massacre at Sandy Hook, from the sand in the gizzards of birds to the desertified mountains of Haiti, from Attar's Conference of the Birds to Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls to Twitter, A Sand Book is about change and quantification, the relationship between catastrophe and cultural transmission. In her long-awaited follow-up to Mercury, Reines has written her…

Free

The Turnout presents Girls With Heads at The Secret Society

The Secret Society 116 NE Russell St, Portland, OR, United States

The Turnout presents Girls With Heads at The Secret Society Girls With Heads is a theater showcase made up of female-identified performers. At Girls With Heads, the stage holds space for a rotating cast of women/ladies/femmes to present live music, performance art, poetry and storytelling — all interspersed with a fresh palate cleanser of improvisational comedy. Girls With Heads is about being empowered and unapologetic and welcome on stage. It’s about finding strength and confidence — not only within us, but also within our community. It’s about shining the bright beam of comedy straight at the darkest of our hours. And the result? Well, it’s nothing short of magic. This months theme is SWEET HEAT

$10

Judith Montgomery and E. Ivy Ross Ricci

Broadway Books 1714 NE Broadway, Portland, OR, United States

We are thrilled to welcome two poets to the store, one debuting her first collection and one returning with her fourth: E. Ivy Ross Ricci and Judith H. Montgomery. Ivy Ross Ricci is a musician, writer, educator, and activist based in Port Angeles, Washington, who lived for many years in Portland. Her debut collection of poetry, The Force of Gravity, is playful and profound, an honest portrait of a growing writer surrounded by the intoxicating buzz of 24-hour poetry. Since 1996, Ricci has been recognized for her contributions and leadership in the fields of girls’ empowerment, literacy, public art, women’s health, juvenile justice & youth advocacy, music education, teen peer leadership training, implementation of anti-bias curricula, and creative after-school programming. Her original songs exude gumption,…

Free

Slamlandia June Literary Arts Show ft. Nastashia Minto

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

Join us on JUNE 13TH for our second Thursday Poetry Open Mic and Slam! Doors and sign-ups are at 6:30 PM Get there on time to get a spot in the open mic or slam! Show begins at 7:00 PM Literary Arts 925 SW Washington Street Portland, OR 97205 This show is all ages. Please see our Accessibility and Safer Space info below. No door admission. We will have a spotlight performance from the one and only Nastashia Minto! Nastashia Minto is a Black woman who has an associate’s degree in occupational therapy and a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She has been writing since she was nine years old and has found that her writing offers her another way to help people. Currently residing in…

Free

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Emmett Wheatfall

Angst Gallery 1015 Main St, Vancouver, WA, United States

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna of Printed Matter Vancouver Featuring Emmett Wheatfall 7 pm Thursday, June 13 Open mic sign up begins at 6:30 and closes at 7 FREE Angst Gallery 1015 Main Street Vancouver, WA 98660 angstgallery.com Food and libation provided by Niche Wine Bar, 1013 Main Street Sound provided by Briz Loan & Guitar: http://briz.us/ LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004 Emmett Wheatfall is a published poet, playwright and recording artist. Emmett is the author of six books of poetry and a play titled Under the Red Robin, and has released five poetry CDs. In May 2018 Fernwood Press (an imprint of Barclay Press) published Emmett's sixth poetry collection entitled As Clean as…

Free

Best of PDX Summer Kick Off!

Cider Riot 807 NE Couch St, Portland, OR, United States

Hello Portland! It's warming up! Which means summer is coming! And we are going to celebrate with a selection of some of Portland’s finest local musicians and poets. There will be baked goods, a raffle, and a feature by the illimitable Igor Brezhnev. Come through Cider Riot and kick off the season with us!

Free

Wordlights: Saturday Poetry Evenings

Rocking Frog Cafe 2511 SE Belmont St, Portland, OR, United States

Wordlights Saturday poetry evenings presented by Nova PDX, Rocking Frog Cafe and hosted by Igor Brezhnev. On Saturday June 15th, we'll have a feature from Bri G and a long set poetry open mic! OUR FEATURE: Bri G Bri G is a Portland poet who is living the damn dream! Bri has been in competitions and read on stages across Portland and beyond. She believes deeply in accessible art, and loves to watch all her artsy friends flourish wildly. She recently released her first chap book 'There's Room for You Here' which touches on self love, relationships, and god stuff. Bri is currently studying creative writing and publishing at PSU, until formal education breaks her spirit. Most importantly she believes in you. *** Sign-ups start…

Free

Bigfoot Regional Benefit Show

Cider Riot 807 NE Couch St, Portland, OR, United States

Join us in celebrating what our region has to offer in Poetry! We are having a show to get folks excited about the Bigfoot Regional Poetry Slam coming to Portland in July! Cider Riot! 807 NE Couch St, Portland, OR 97232 There will be a featured performance from Clementine von Radics! There will be group and individual performances by Bella Brianna Grisby Avery Gadling Skyler Reed Robert Lashley Nani Jane Belinda Julia Gaskill and Sage Lilac There will be exciting raffle prizes! 5-15 dollars (sliding scale) get you into to this amazing event! If you pay 10 or more you some raffle tickets with your entry! Accessibility info: Cider Riot is a 21+ venue so unfortunately no minors are allowed. There is delicious cider and…

$5 – $10

Spare Room reading: Will Alexander and John Beer

Passages Bookshop 1801 NW Upshur, Suite 660, Portland, OR, United States

Will Alexander--Poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, philosopher, aphorist, visual artist, and pianist, who has authored over 30 books and chapbooks. He is a Writing Fellow, a California Arts Council Fellow, and a PEN Oakland recipient. In addition to the above he is also an American Book Award winner for his book of essays Singing in Magnetic Hoofbeat in 2013. In 2016 he was awarded the Jackson Prize for his body of poetry, and in 2018 he was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center. Currently he lives in Los Angeles and is on the Cal State L.A. Advisory Writing Board and is poet-in-residence at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center. John Beer is the author of Lucinda and The Waste Land and…

Free – $5

Slamlandia June Picnic PDX Poetry Open Mic

Picnic PDX 1305 NW 23rd Ave, Portland, OR, United States

Join us on JUNE 20TH for our third Thursday Poetry Open Mic! Doors and sign-ups are at 6:30 PM Get there on time to get a spot in the open mic! Show begins at 7:00 PM Picnic PDX 1305 NW 23rd Avenue Portland, OR 97210 This show is all ages. Please see our Accessibility and Safer Space info below. $5 suggested donation at door. This show will not have a poetry slam or a featured poet. We ask for just poetry on this mic, no music or stand up comedy. ★ •*´¨`*• O P E N • M I C •*´¨`*• ★ The open mic will start the show out. The open mic is a great way to share your wonderful poetry! You can share…

Free – $5