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!

Readings

  1. Events
  2. Readings

Events Search and Views Navigation

Event Views Navigation

Today

PNCA Winter Residency Reading 3

Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) 511 Northwest Broadway St, Portland, OR, United States

@p_n_c_a Low-Residency MFA Creative Writing winter snowball Residency begins tomorrow! Readings are free & open to the public. You should attend! https://pnca.edu/news/grad/lrcw/pnca-offers-talks-discussions-and-readings-by-acclaimed-writers-as-part-of-the-winter-low-residency-mfa-in-creative-writing-program. @pncacriticalstudies Matt Hart Walidah Imarisha Tyrone Williams Room 601

Free

Teens Read Their Writing

Two Rivers Bookstore 8836 N Lombard Street, Portland, OR, United States

Join us as we hear the local young talented writers read their work aloud!

Free

A House on Stilts: Mothering in the Age of Opioid Addiction

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

A House on Stilts (University of Iowa) tells the story of one woman’s struggle to reclaim wholeness while mothering a son addicted to opioids. Paula Becker’s son Hunter was raised in a safe, nurturing home by his writer/historian mom and his physician father. He was a bright, curious child. And yet, addiction found him. More than 2.5 million Americans are addicted to opioids, some half-million of these to heroin. For many of them, their drug addiction leads to lives of demoralization, homelessness, and constant peril. Within this 10-year crucible, Becker is transformed by an excruciating, inescapable truth: the difference between what she can do and what she cannot do.

Free

Reading: Shawn Aveningo Sanders: What She Was Wearing

Annie Bloom's Books 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes Portland poet Shawn Aveningo Sanders to read from What She Was Wearing. How long can you keep a dark secret before you become completely unraveled? In What She Was Wearing, Sanders uses poetry, prose, and letters to tell her #MeToo story—one that has taken over 30 years to reveal. In this collection, Shawn shares her nightmare of being raped at a fraternity toga party, and examines the event from a variety of perspectives, including poems written from the viewpoint of her attackers; the toga she was wearing; homecoming years later; and even the moment she told her college-aged children. As Shawn’s story unfolds, the reader will come to understand how significant the aftermath of rape can be. For decades, she was "triggered"…

Continue readingReading: Shawn Aveningo Sanders: What She Was Wearing
Free

Kiersten White in Conversation With Laini Taylor

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

Now that Nina has turned the Watcher’s Castle into a utopia for hurt and lonely demons, she’s still waiting for the utopia part to kick in. With her sister Artemis gone and only a few people remaining at the castle – including her still-distant mother – Nina has her hands full. But there’s also a new threat on the outside, portended by an odd triangle symbol that seems to be popping up everywhere. Because one near-apocalypse just isn’t enough, right? The darkness always finds you. And once again, it’s coming for the Slayer. Chosen (Simon Pulse) is the new novel from Kiersten White, set in the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. White will be joined in conversation by Laini Taylor, author of the Daughter…

Continue readingKiersten White in Conversation With Laini Taylor
Free

Incite: Queer Writers Read

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

Welcome the New Year with a reading vaguely connected to the theme: The 20s. Our powerhouse lineup includes: Joni Renee Whitworth, Leah Baer, Jessica Mehta, and Dustin Hendrick. This year heralds great change, and it's a great time to join in this community and this discussion. Please join us.

Free

Shea Serrano

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

Shea Serrano is back, and his new book, Movies (And Other Things) (Twelve), combines the fury of a John Wick shootout, the sly brilliance of Regina George holding court at a cafeteria table, and the sheer power of a Denzel monologue. Many, many things happen in Movies (And Other Things), some of which are funny, others of which are sad, a few of which are insightful, and all of which are handled with the type of care and dedication to the smallest details and pockets of pop culture that only a book by Shea Serrano can provide.

Free

Reading: Camille Virginia: The Offline Dating Method

Annie Bloom's Books 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes Portland author Camille Virginia. The modern dating process is a mess - but it hasn't changed your innate desire for love and human connection. So rather than add to the exhausting narrative about the perils of digital dating, author Camille Virginia created a refreshing and powerful solution for it. In The Offline Dating Method, Virginia draws upon her transformation from a shy girl with social anxiety to a confident woman who's been asked out by nearly 300 men (from the Denver airport to the greeting card aisle of a drug store) without ever going online or using a dating app. Combining her own experiences with five years of teaching thousands of women across 100 different countries how to get the same results…

Continue readingReading: Camille Virginia: The Offline Dating Method
Free

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic with Luther Allen & J.I. Kleinberg

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 Luther Allen and J.I. (Judy) Kleinberg 7 pm Thursday, January 9 Open mic sign up begins at 6:30 and closes at 7 $5 Suggested donation No one turned away for lack of funds 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, ANTI-FASCIST, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004 Luther Allen writes and designs buildings from Sumas Mountain, Washington. He facilitates SpeakEasy, a community poetry reading series in Bellingham and is co-editor of Noisy Water, an anthology of local poets. His collection of poems, The View…

Continue readingGhost Town Poetry Open Mic with Luther Allen & J.I. Kleinberg
Free – $5

E.J. Koh in Conversation With Mary Szybist

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

The Magical Language of Others (Tin House) is a powerful, aching love story in letters, from mother to daughter. After living in America for over a decade, Eun Ji Koh’s parents return to South Korea for work, leaving 15-year-old Koh and her brother behind in California. Her mother writes letters, in Korean, over the years, seeking forgiveness and love – letters Koh cannot fully understand until she finds them years later in a box. Koh fearlessly grapples with forgiveness, reconciliation, legacy, and intergenerational trauma, arriving at insights that are essential reading for anyone who has ever had to balance love, longing, heartbreak, and joy. The Magical Language of Others weaves a profound tale of hard-won selfhood and our deep bonds to family, place, and language,…

Continue readingE.J. Koh in Conversation With Mary Szybist
Free
Click a category label below to view the calendar with only events in that specific category.