LitPDX seeks to amplify marginalized voices, and welcomes all, their ideas, their events, and their words.

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Birth Without Fear

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

In Birth Without Fear (Hachette), January Harshe – founder of the global online community of the same name – delivers a positive, passionate message of empowerment surrounding everything that involves having a baby. It's a guide that fills in the considerable cracks in the information available to women and families when they're preparing to welcome a child – covering care provider choices, medical freedom, birth options, breastfeeding, intimacy, postpartum depression, and much more.

Free

Our Weather Our Sea: Samuel Ace and Marcus Lund

Mother Foucault's Bookshop 523 SE Morrison St, Portland, OR, United States

Join Samuel Ace and Marcus Lund on May 17 at 7 pm to celebrate two new books from Samuel: Meet Me There, a reissue of two early works from Belladonna, and Our Weather Our Sea, a new collection from Black Radish. Samuel Ace is a trans and genderqueer poet and sound artist. He is the author of several books, including Our Weather O­ur Sea (Black Radish Books, 2019) and Meet Me There: Normal Sex & Home in three days. Don’t wash. (Belladonna* Germinal Texts, 2019). He is the recipient of the Astraea Lesbian Writers Fund Award in Poetry and the Firecracker Alternative Book Award, as well as a two-time finalist for both the Lambda Literary Award and the National Poetry Series. His work has been widely anthologized and has appeared…

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Free

Space Cocaine Reading

Belmont Books 3415 SE Belmont St, Portland, OR, United States

Four authors. One anthology. One space. Join Jessie Kwak, Grá Linnaea, Andrew McCollough, and Mark Teppo as they read from SPACE COCAINE, a new anthology of totally unrelated stories that are wrapped in a cover that has a wizard and a dragon on it. It'll be an evening of interstitial slipstreaming across the liminal fringes. You won't want to miss it because we're producing an edition of SPACE COCAINE that will only be available this evening.

Free

All Kinds of Fur

Indivisible 2544 SE 26th Ave, Portland, OR, United States

Come, my pretties! Join us for this year's first FUR with an amazing array of talented writers. I promise they won't bite! Join us after for extra sweet treats in honor of this month's tale, Hansel & Gretel. Featuring the talents of sweet talkers Dian Greenwood Kimberly King Parsons Bobby Bermea And a special performance by Sherry Okamura Leonard and Charles Sheffer

Free

Ibtihaj Muhammad

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

Growing up in New Jersey as the only African American Muslim at school, Ibtihaj Muhammad always had to find her own way. When she discovered fencing, a sport traditionally reserved for the wealthy, she had to defy expectations and make a place for herself in a sport she grew to love. As the only woman of color and the only religious minority on Team USA's saber fencing squad, Muhammad had to chart her own path to success and Olympic glory. Proud (Hachette) is a moving coming-of-age story from one of the nation's most influential athletes, illustrating how she rose above it all.

Free

Choose Your Own Adventure Spies: Mata Hari

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

YOU are young Margaretha Zelle, a world-famous dancer from the Netherlands. You have just arrived in Bali with your dance troupe when your best friend Althea goes missing. As a master of tongues and disguises, who better to save her? But if you leave now, you will miss your chance to audition for the performance of a lifetime. Katherine Factor’s Choose Your Own Adventure Spies: Mata Hari (Chooseco) stars you as a real-life historical spy in an interactive, multiple-ending book.

Free

STRAY Record Release Party

Nationale 3360 SE Division, Portland, OR, United States

Saturday, May 18, 3pm at NATIONALE, Fonograf Editions presents a record release celebration for Shannon Ebner’s STRAY: A Graphic Tone. Ebner’s project collates poems by Susan Howe and Nathaniel Mackey, exploring the experiments and politics of poetic form. Portland poets John Beer and Endi Bogue Hartigan will each read from Howe’s and/or Mackey’s works as well as from their own. Additional reader(s) TBA. Nationale (est. 2008) is an art space dedicated to the promotion of culture through exhibitions, performances, and a small selection of various publications. Located at 3360 SE Division, Portland, OR. John Beer is the author of Lucinda & The Waste Land and Other Poems, and the editor of Poems (1962-1997) by Robert Lax. He teaches at Portland State University. Endi Bogue Hartigan…

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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 May 18th, we'll have a feature from Julia Gaskill and a long set poetry open mic! OUR FEATURE: Julia Gaskill is a professional daydreamer hailing from Portland, Oregon. When she’s not hosting Slamlandia, she can be found performing on the Portland Poetry Slam stage, exploring the Pacific Northwest, or walking your dog. Julia has competed in IWPS, WOWPS, and NPS throughout 2016 - 2018, and she was the Portland Poetry Slam rep at WOWPS 2018 in Dallas, TX. Her work has been featured on FreezeRay Poetry, Ink&Nebula, Slam Find, Write About Now, Rising Phoenix Review, and Voicemail Poems. It goes without saying that she loves Muppets more…

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Free

Amena Brown LIVE: An Evening of Poetry, Music, and Storytelling

Sunnyside United Methodist Church 3520 SE Yamhill Street, Portland, OR, United States

Music, poetry, and storytelling vibrantly infused with laughter, lament, and dance. Amena Brown and her husband DJ Opdiggy are bringing their unique style of music, poetry and event curation to Portland, Oregon in partnership with UMC NW! Spoken word poet and author, Amena Brown, will perform a night of poetry and storytelling, including a reading from her latest non-fiction book, How to Fix a Broken Record. DJ Opdiggy will spin amazing tunes which may even cause a dance party after the show. From learning to love her big feet and natural hair, to bad dating stories and learning how to properly adult, Amena's performance will speak of home, surrender and searching for the groove while leaving the audience room to laugh, lament, and dance as…

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$5 – $25

Filament’s May Reading

Mother Foucault's Bookshop 523 SE Morrison St, Portland, OR, United States

Join us at Mother Foucault's for our last official Filament reading of the year! We'll have food, drinks, and really wonderful writing from students in the MFA program. See you on the 18th!

Free
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