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Celebration of Mothers! With Leanne Grabel and more

Broadway Books 1714 NE Broadway, Portland

Here's to Moms!! Please join us as we celebrate mothers with seven fabulous local poets! Reading tonight will be Kevin Sampsell, Tim Barnes, Suzanne Sigafoos, Penelope Schott, Donna Prinzmetal, Nikki Shulak, and Leanne Grabel. Kevin Sampsell is a Portland author, publisher, bookseller, collage artist, and father. He was born in Kennewick, Washington, and is the youngest of six children. While growing up, his mother worked at a fabric store and made most of his wardrobe. Penelope Scambly Schott is a past recipient of the Oregon Book Award for Poetry. Recent books include Serpent Love: A Mother-Daughter Epic about a struggle with her adult daughter, House of the Cardamom Seed, and November Quilt. Penelope lives a double life -- in Portland where she and her husband host…

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Free

Heather B. Armstrong

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

From blogger Heather B. Armstrong (dooce), author of It Sucked and Then I Cried, comes The Valedictorian of Being Dead (Gallery), an irreverent new memoir – reminiscent of Brain on Fire – about her experience as one of only a few people to participate in an experimental treatment for depression involving 10 rounds of a chemically-induced coma approximating brain death. Disarmingly honest, self-deprecating, and scientifically fascinating, The Valedictorian of Being Dead brings to light a groundbreaking new treatment for depression.

Free

Ari Rosenschein presents Coasting

Annie Bloom's Books 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland

Annie Bloom's welcomes Seattle author Ari Rosenschein to read from his debut short fiction collection, Coasting. Coasting follows music industry aspirants, a brooding record store clerk, goth teens, and others into rehearsal rooms, 12-step meetings, a cult indoctrination, even a Russian heavy metal bunker. Along the way, they pursue success, connection, and a sense of purpose. Perched between Middle Men and A Visit From the Goon Squad, Coasting is Ari Rosenschein's debut collection. "His characters inhabit a backstage space, a few steps from glory, looking for the next gig, hoping for a big break, reveling in every note along the way. Their sweet gritty persistence is irresistible." -Ana Maria Spagna, author of Uplake: Restless Essays of Coming and Going "Ari Rosenschein's Coasting does for Gen…

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Free

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring John Burgess

Angst Gallery 1015 Main St, Vancouver

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna of Printed Matter Vancouver Featuring John Burgess 7 pm Thursday, May 9, 2019 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 John Burgess grew up in upstate New York, worked on a survey crew in Montana, taught English in Japan, and since 1985 has lived in Seattle, where he works for an insurance company. Past glories include: 2006 Jack Straw writer; co-founder of the original Burning Word Festival; 2008 Words' Worth curator…

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Free

Ted Chiang in Conversation With Daniel H. Wilson

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

From Ted Chiang, acclaimed author of Stories of Your Life and Others – the basis for the Academy Award-nominated film Arrival – comes a groundbreaking new collection of short fiction: nine stunningly original, provocative, and poignant stories. These are tales that tackle some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only Chiang could imagine. Exhalation (Knopf) is Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic, and revelatory. Chiang will be joined in conversation by Daniel H. Wilson, author of The Clockwork Dynasty and Robopocalypse.

Free

Landfill: Notes on Gull Watching and Trash Picking in the Anthropocene

Powell's Books on Hawthorne 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland

Over the past 100 years, gulls have been brought ashore by modernity. They now live not only on the coasts but in our slipstream following trawlers, barges, and garbage trucks. In many ways they live as we do, walking the built-up world and grabbing a bite where they can. Tim Dee’s Landfill (Chelsea Green) is the compelling story of how in the Anthropocene we have learned about the natural world, named and catalogued it, and then colonized it, planted it, or filled it with our junk.

Free
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