A resource for the PDX literary community. Produced by Old Pal.
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!
Come enjoy readings from our esteemed faculty, Alison C. Rollins and Asiya Wadud, this evening at 6 p.m. PST. We’re hosting the event on Zoom (link in bio) and streaming live on PNCA’s Youtube Channel — all are welcome! See you soon!
Share or listen to one page of work in progress from talented writers from everywhere. Come with a single page of work and sign up to read – or come to listen and prepare to be inspired! Hosted by Natalie Serber. Featured reading by Rebecca Clarren. Register in advance for One Page Natalie Serber is the author of a memoir, Community Chest, and a story collection, Shout Her Lovely Name, a New York Times Notable Book of 2012, a summer reading selection from O, the Oprah Magazine, and an Oregonian Top 10 Book of the Pacific Northwest. Her fiction has appeared in The Greensboro Review, The Bellingham Review, Gulf Coast, Inkwell, and elsewhere. Essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine, The Huffington Post and others. Natalie has been short listed in Best American…
Annie Bloom's welcomes Portland author Jason Tanamor for a livestream reading from his latest novel, Vampires of Portlandia. He will be in conversation with Grace Talusan, author of The Body Papers. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIucOCvrDgvGta4PQlWSHUxRitfiVA4ioi3 About Vampires of Portlandia: When Marcella Leones relocates her family of aswang vampires from the Philippines to Portland, Oregon, she raises her grandchildren under strict rules so humans will not expose them. Her only wish is to give them a peaceful life, far away from the hunters and the Filipino government that attempted to exterminate them. Before she dies, she passes on the power to her eldest grandchild, Percival. He vows to uphold the rules set forth by Leones, allowing his family to roam freely without notice. After all, they are…
Come hear 5 wonderful writers read their hearts into the new year. Join us in the zoom room at 7 PM Pacific on Thursday Jan. 7th, 2021. Featuring: Alayna Erhart, Deb Hieronymus, Leah Baer, Maren Bradley Anderson, Mary Wysong-Haeri. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83285412115?pwd=aVNyMno1YUR0Z1dSbzRLdDJHUld6Zz09 Meeting ID: 832 8541 2115 Passcode: 001567 Dial by your location +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) Meeting ID: 832 8541 2115 Passcode: 001567 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdDS1iLFlr
The Poetry Box LIVE - January Edition Time: Jan 9, 2021 at 4pm (Pacific) / 7pm (Eastern) The Poetry Box LIVE is a monthly Zoom poetry reading series on the 2nd Saturday of each month hosted by Shawn Aveningo Sanders January Featured Poets: • Cathy Cain (Oregon), author of A SHAPE OF SKY and BEE DANCE • Marcia B. Loughran (New York), author of MY MOTHER NEVER DIED BEFORE—2nd Place Winner of The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize, 2020 • Pasquale Trozzolo (Kansas) author of BEFORE THE DISTANCE ------- ABOUT THE FEATURED POETS ---------- Poet and visual artist Cathy Cain is the author of Bee Dance (The Poetry Box, 2019) and Empty Space Places You (Finishing Line Press, 2018). Her honors include the Kay Snow Paulann…
Join us for the first Incite of 2021! This time around, we'll be exploring the topic of relief with four fantastic queer authors: Clair Rudy Foster, Samson Syharath, Sarah A. Chavez, and Wayne Gregory. This is an online event. To register, use the link below: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIqc-ihpzooHtf-CI63Kbe7CghMaYWHaY72
Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Hosted by Christopher Luna, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, & Morgan Paige Featuring Chris Gonzalez 7 pm Thursday, January 14 On Zoom $5 Suggested donation LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004 Please support Niche Wine Bar, whose owner, Leah Jackson, has provided a home for the reading series since 2015: https://nichewinebar.com Chris Gonzalez is an educator, journalist, playwright, poet, musician, and creative-collaborator based in Portland, Oregon. Chris has been a featured poet for the past six years, performing alongside International Slam Champions Saul Williams and Shane Koyczan. His first book, water or bread, was published by Human Error Press in 2017. NOTE: Due to circumstances beyond everyone's control, this month's reading will take place over Zoom. Email christopherjluna@gmail.com…
Annie Bloom's welcomes Oregon author Lori Tobias for a livestream reading from her new book, Storm Beat: A Journalist Reports from the Oregon Coast. She will be in conversation with Portland writer and publisher Laura Stanfill, author of Sad House: Parenting, Grief, and Creativity in the Coronavirus Crisis. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUsc-qhqT8pHNcWQ7O_ymBuNU0Fsu_x73yy About Storm Beat: Journalist Lori Tobias arrived on the Oregon coast in 2000. After freelancing from Newport for several years, she signed on with the Oregonian as a stringer covering the coast from Florence to Astoria; later she would be hired as a staff writer responsible for the entire coast—one person for more than three hundred miles. The job meant long hours, being called out for storms in the middle of the night in…
C. R. Grimmer, who also goes by Chelsea Grimmer, is a poet, scholar, and lecturer at The University of Washington Seattle and Bothell campuses. Their latest collection is The Lyme Letters, which was completed with support from a Harlan Hahn Disability Studies Fellowship and won the Walt McDonald First Book Award from Texas Tech University Press. They are also the author of O–(ezekiel's wife), a chapbook and audiobook collaboration from GASHER Journal and Press that features visual art by PSU alum Colleen Burner and sound art by Judy Twedt. C. R. received their MFA from Portland State University and Ph.D. in Literature and Cultural Studies from The University of Washington, Seattle. They are the creator and host of The Poetry Vlog (TPV), a YouTube and Podcast teaching…
Writers in the Schools (WITS) has served public high school students with creative writing residencies in Portland, and more recently Gresham, since 1996. Published local writers collaborate with classroom teachers to lead an immersive semester-long workshop series designed to further class themes, curricula, and student interests. Each residency culminates with a public reading, ordinarily held in a local café or bookstore. With distance learning, we look forward to hosting our reading on Zoom and invite you to join us in celebrating these students and their work. This end-of-residency reading will feature students who worked with WITS writers Brian Benson, Valarie Pearce, Bruce Poinsette, and Dey Rivers. Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUkceqtrj0jEtFY8_hup8LY5RdjSWL-6eKq After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining…
André Aciman, the New York Times-bestselling author of Find Me and Call Me by Your Name, returns to the essay form with a collection of thoughts on time, the creative mind, and great lives and works. In Homo Irrealis (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Aciman explores what the present tense means to artists who cannot grasp the here and now. Irrealis is not about the present, or the past, or the future, but about what might have been but never was — but could in theory still happen. From meditations on subway poetry and the temporal resonances of an empty Italian street, to considerations of the lives and work of Sigmund Freud, Constantine Cavafy, W. G. Sebald, John Sloan, Éric Rohmer, Marcel Proust, and Fernando Pessoa,…
Annie Bloom's welcomes back Portland author Jack Estes for a livestream readings from his latest novel, Searching for Gurney. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwtfu-gpjMpGNMTQTTvICrt-2_SfXSyYru3 About the book: Searching for Gurney explores the damaged lives of three U.S. Marines and one North Vietnamese soldier in the late 1960s and '70s. Each character's story begins at a different place-JT, home and struggling with flashbacks; Coop, on leave and getting drunk at his grandfather's funeral; Hawkeye, at the moment a judge gives him the choice of jail or boot camp; and Vuong, leaving his small village to join the NVA with patriotic fervor. Sent home after a horrific ambush, the Marines face new battles with PTSD and a hostile American public that treats them as criminals. Nightmares, anger, and substance…
The Hellenic-American Cultural Center & Museum (HACCM) is pleased to welcome award-winning writer, filmmaker and Olympic athlete Alexi Pappas to a virtual interview about her new book, Bravey: Chasing Dreams, Befriending Pain, and Other Big Ideas. Annie Bloom's is proud to be the official bookseller for this event. Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/7416075434367/WN_OTf9EsrHTreMXYGIZQDF_w ALEXI PAPPAS is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, and Olympic athlete. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Runner’s World, Women’s Running, Sports Illustrated, The Atlantic, and Outside, among other publications, and she has been profiled in The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, New York, and Rolling Stone. Pappas co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in the feature film Tracktown with Rachel Dratch and Andy Buckley. Most recently, she co-wrote and starred alongside Nick Kroll…
Slamlandia is a poetry open mic and slam that meets every month. This mic provides a creative, fun, and welcoming space for all literary communities in Portland. We encourage poets new and old to come share their work. We strive towards a safer space for poets to read their own poetry, witness others, and participate in community. Hosted by Julia Gaskill. January’s featured poet is Sheila J. Sadr. Click here to register for this event. If you have any questions, please contact slamlandia@gmail.com or jessica@literary-arts.org. Slamlandia is hosting another digital poetry open mic. This open mic - only poetry, no music please - will take place on January 21st. We'll be hosting this event with the help of Literary Arts. You can access our Zoom…
Join us in January 2021 to hear about what 2020 has left behind.
Annie Bloom's welcomes Portland author Waka T. Brown for a livestream reading from her debut book, Middle Grade memoir While I Was Away. Waka will be joined in conversation by Rebecca Petruck, author of Boy Bites Bug. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEudOCtpjMtGNegY2Ij-Y2w5BqXMPfMQDir About While I Was Away: When twelve-year-old Waka's parents suspect she can’t understand the basic Japanese they speak to her, they make a drastic decision to send her to Tokyo to live for several months with her strict grandmother. Forced to say goodbye to her friends and what would have been her summer vacation, Waka is plucked from her straight-A-student life in rural Kansas and flown across the globe, where she faces the culture shock of a lifetime. In Japan, Waka struggles with reading and writing…
Writers in the Schools (WITS) has served public high school students with creative writing residencies in Portland, and more recently Gresham, since 1996. Published local writers collaborate with classroom teachers to lead an immersive semester-long workshop series designed to further class themes, curricula, and student interests. Each residency culminates with a public reading, ordinarily held in a local café or bookstore. With distance learning, we look forward to hosting our reading on Zoom and invite you to join us in celebrating these students and their work. This end-of-residency reading will feature students who worked with WITS writers Jessica Mehta and Laura Moulton. Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUscO6gpzkiGdXFU6TzwJaP6-DlLalsllHb After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Jessica (Tyner)…
Writers in the Schools (WITS) has served public high school students with creative writing residencies in Portland, and more recently Gresham, since 1996. Published local writers collaborate with classroom teachers to lead an immersive semester-long workshop series designed to further class themes, curricula, and student interests. Each residency culminates with a public reading, ordinarily held in a local café or bookstore. With distance learning, we look forward to hosting our reading on Zoom and invite you to join us in celebrating these students and their work. This end-of-residency reading will feature students who worked with WITS writers Alex Behr, Damien Miles-Paulson, and Bruce Poinsette. Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAudeuvqzwsHdU8y9B-SsKNHvBb2PamM132 After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.…
During the Baby Boom in 1960s America, women were encouraged to stay home and raise large families, but sex and childbirth were taboo subjects. Premarital sex was common, but birth control was hard to get and abortion was illegal. In 1961, 16-year-old Margaret Erle fell in love and became pregnant. Her enraged family sent her to a maternity home, and after she gave birth, she wasn’t even allowed her to hold her own son. Social workers threatened her with jail until she signed away her parental rights. Her son vanished, his whereabouts and new identity known only to an adoption agency that would never share the slightest detail about his fate. Claiming to be acting in the best interests of all, the adoption business was…
Annie Bloom's welcomes back Portland author Dana Haynes for a livestream reading from his new thriller, Sirocco, the follow-up to St. Nicholas Salvage & Wrecking. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0kd-mpqTIiH9R4GMM8StOiJAhRmWykKj14 About Sirocco: A serial bomber is wreaking havoc throughout Europe. Former New York City cop Michael Finnigan and former Spanish assassin Katalin Fiero––the brains behind St. Nicholas Salvage & Wrecking, a covert bounty-hunting operation based in Cyprus––may be the only ones who can stop the carnage. The partners have a reputation for tracking down the worst of the worst in international crime, all while staying firmly under the radar. But as they draw ever closer to the bombers, and as the terrorism sweeps up Katalin's own family, Finnigan and Fiero have to decide if they can continue…
Spare Room and Passages Bookshop present a virtual reading & performance to benefit Performance Works Northwest Celebrating 20 years of Portland's most inspiring independent movement and performance venue, Performance Works NW (and 19 years of Spare Room), past and present members of the Spare Room reading series collective will come together from diverse locations to read and perform poems and things. Mark Owens, Maryrose Larkin, Laura Feldman, Chris Piuma, David Abel, Joseph Bradshaw, Sam Lohmann, Endi Hartigan, James Yeary, Jen Coleman, Chris Ashby Organized by David Abel of Passages Bookshop Pay what you will. Suggested $8-$25 If you need a free ticket email us at info@pwnw-pdx.org. ZOOM LINK TO THE EVENT WILL BE EMAILED TO YOU