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*POSTPONED* Esmé Weijun Wang reads at PSU

Portland State University, Smith Memorial Student Union, Room 338 1825 SW Broadway, Portland

Esmé Weijun Wang is a novelist and essayist. She is the author of the New York Times–bestselling essay collection The Collected Schizophrenias (2019), for which she won the Graywolf Nonfiction Prize. Her debut novel, The Border of Paradise, was called a Best Book of 2016 by NPR. She was named by Granta as one of the “Best Young American Novelists” in 2017 and won the Whiting Award in 2018. Born in the Midwest to Taiwanese parents, she lives in San Francisco. Esme Weijun Wang

Free

Westside Writing Group

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

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

Nicholas Buccola in Conversation with Tony Wolk, James Baldwin Celebration

Broadway Books 1714 NE Broadway, Portland

Nicholas Buccola in Conversation with Tony Wolk, Discussing the Baldwin/Buckley Debate of 1965 Please join us at 7 pm on Thursday, January 16th, as we cap off our year-long celebration of James Baldwin with a conversation between Nicholas Buccola, author of the recently published book The Fire is Upon Us, and Tony Wolk, professor of literature at Portland State University. Buccola’s book focuses on the historic televised debate in 1965 between James Baldwin, civil rights firebrand, and William F. Buckley Jr., the father of modern conservatism. The topic was "the American dream is at the expense of the American Negro." The Fire is Upon Us tells the full story of the event, the radically different paths that led Baldwin and Buckley to it, the controversies…

Continue readingNicholas Buccola in Conversation with Tony Wolk, James Baldwin Celebration
Free

Book Reading with Sossity Chiricuzio

Two Rivers Bookstore 8836 N Lombard Street, Portland

From her website (http://www.sossitywrites.com): "Sossity Chiricuzio is a queer femme outlaw poet, a working class crip storyteller. What her friends parents often referred to as a bad influence, and possibly still do." Join us, and her, as she reads from her memoir, Honey & Vinegar: Recipe for an Outlaw. Order your copy of her book in advance, here: https://www.tworiversbooks.com/book/9781786453716

Free

Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief

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

In his groundbreaking new work, Finding Meaning (Scribner), David Kessler – an expert on grief and coauthor with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross of the iconic On Grief and Grieving – journeys beyond the classic five stages to discover a sixth stage: meaning. Kessler argues that it’s finding meaning beyond the stages of grief most of us are familiar with – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance – that can transform grief into a more peaceful and hopeful experience. Finding Meaning is a necessary addition to grief literature and a vital guide to healing from tremendous loss.

Free

Reading: The Hidden Story of the Black Dahlia Murder by Mary Pacios

Rose City Book Pub 1329 NE Fremont, Portland

Elizabeth Short, known to many as the mysterious Black Dahlia—Hollywood’s most notorious victim. Crime anthologists have cited her as the classic example of a woman who enticed her assailant, a woman “who wanted to be killed,” one whose lifestyle “made her ideal victim material.” But I knew her differently, simply as Bette, my next door neighbor and friend, a stunning young woman with a flawless complexion, the blackest of hair, and translucent blue eyes. I was only twelve-years old when she was sadistically murdered January of 1947—an infamous “unsolved” crime. The pain that I felt became a long, dark shadow over my life. A few months after her death, I started drawing pictures of Bette—first as Snow White, smiling, with two birds perched on her…

Continue readingReading: The Hidden Story of the Black Dahlia Murder by Mary Pacios
Free
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