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Dan Mathews in Conversation With Alex Ebert

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Dan Mathews knew that his witty, bawdy, unhinged mother, Perry, was unable to maintain her fierce independence at 78 — so he flew her across the country to Virginia to live with him in an 1870 townhouse badly in need of repairs. But to Dan, a screwdriver is a cocktail not a tool, and he was soon overwhelmed with two fixer-uppers: the house and his mother. Unbowed, Dan and Perry built a rollicking life together fueled by costume parties, road trips, after-hours gatherings, and an unshakable sense of humor as they faced down hurricanes, blizzards, and Perry’s steady decline. They got by with the help of an ever-expanding circle of sidekicks — Dan’s boyfriends (past and present), ex-cons, sailors, strippers, deaf hillbillies, evangelicals, and grumpy…

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Free

Airlie Press: The Animal at Your Side Launch

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

East Coast book launch for The Animal at Your Side, featuring DC band All Her Muses and the art of Sara Everett Washington DC band All Her Muses will be performing at the virtual book launch for our new title The Animal at Your Side by Airlie Prize winner @ayil_m tomorrow, October 1, at 7pm ET.

Free

Colin Quinn

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

In Colin Quinn's new book, Overstated: A Coast-to-Coast Roast of the 50 States (St. Martin’s), the comedian, social commentator, and creator and star of the one-man Broadway show, Red State Blue State, and the Netflix special, Unconstitutional, tackles the condition of our union today. The United States is in a 50-states-wide couples’ counseling session, thinking about filing for divorce. But is that really what we want? Can a nation composed of states that are so different possibly hang together? Quinn identifies the hypocrisies inherent in what we claim to believe and what we actually do. Within a framework of big-picture thinking about systems of government — after all, how would you put this country together if you started from scratch today? — to dead-on observations…

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Free

Livestream Reading: Jessica O’Dwyer with Katey Schultz

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes California author Jessica O'Dwyer for a livestream reading from her novel Mother Mother. She'll be in conversation with Katey Schultz, author of Still Come Home. They will discuss the experience of working with a student-run, learning press—Loyola University Maryland’s Apprentice House Press—and they will also explore their approaches to authentically and respectfully "writing the other." Signed copies of both authors' new books are available! Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwud-Cqqj8tGN0jk2wm3r552FeJtLDQ1MIP About Jessica O'Dwyer's Mother Mother: A married couple in California grapples with race, betrayal, love, and loss when their son comes home from a Guatemalan orphanage. Contemporary art museum curator Julie Cowan achieves her dream of motherhood through adoption, but her life is far from perfect. Her pathologist husband, Mark, is distracted by his gorgeous,…

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Free

Marilynne Robinson: Jack

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Presented in partnership with the Black Mountain Institute, Literary Arts, and The Loft’s Wordplay, and Wisconsin Book Festival. Marilynne Robinson will appear live on Crowdcast, in conversation with novelist C Pam Zhang. Join us at: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/jack Marilynne Robinson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Humanities Medal, returns to the world of Gilead with Jack, the latest novel in one of the great works of contemporary American fiction. Presented in partnership with the Black Mountain Institute, Literary Arts, and The Loft’s Wordplay, and Wisconsin Book Festival. Marilynne Robinson’s mythical world of Gilead, Iowa—the setting of her novels Gilead, Home, and Lila, and now Jack—and its beloved characters have illuminated and interrogated the complexities of American history, the power of our emotions, and the wonders of a sacred world. Jack is Robinson’s fourth novel in…

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Free

Lee van der Voo in Conversation With Isaac Vergun

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Do children have a right to inherit a livable planet, and if so, is the government obliged to protect it? That’s the question posed by Juliana v. United States, one of the most critical lawsuits of our time. In her new book, As the World Burns (Timber Press), award-winning investigative journalist Lee van der Voo reports on Juliana v. the United States. Combining unparalleled access to the plaintiffs and reporting on the natural disasters that form an urgent backdrop to the story, Van der Voo shares a timely and important story about the environment, the law, and the new generation of activists. Twenty-one young people from across America sued the federal government over climate change, charging that U.S. actions to promote a fossil fuel economy…

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Free

October Fishtrap Fireside

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Fishtrap Fireside goes virtual as it returns for its 8th season featuring readings from Wallowa County writers on Friday, October 2nd. This season kicks off with work from Mary Emerick, Cameron Scott, and Fishtrap founder, Rich Wandschneider. Thank you to this month’s sponsor, Copper Creek Mercantile in Joseph, Oregon. Feed the Fish! You can support Fishtrap at by making a donation of any amount at: https://fishtrap.org/donationform-2018/

Free

Kids’ Storytime With Ben Hatke

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Author and illustrator Ben Hatke joins us for kids’ storytime to share his new picture book, Julia’s House Moves On (First Second). Julia and her house full of fantastic friends are back for another sweet adventure! Julia's house is restless. Julia and her family of lost creatures are ready to move on. But where will they go? And how will they get there? Don’t worry — Julia has a plan for that! Julia always has a plan. But when Julia's plans all fail… What's left for her? Register for the Zoom event  /  Buy the Book

Free

Barbara Kingsolver in Conversation With Lavinia Singer Ticketed Event

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

In her intimate new collection, Barbara Kingsolver, the beloved author of The Poisonwood Bible and more than a dozen other New York Times bestsellers, winner or finalist for the Pulitzer and countless other prizes, now trains her eye on the everyday and the metaphysical in poems that are smartly crafted, emotionally rich, and luminous. In her second poetry collection, How to Fly (In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons) (Harper), Kingsolver offers reflections on the practical, the spiritual, and the wild. She begins with “how to” poems addressing everyday matters such as being hopeful, married, divorced; shearing a sheep; praying to unreliable gods; doing nothing at all; and of course, flying. Next come rafts of poems about making peace (or not) with the complicated bonds of friendship…

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$24.99

October Open Mic feat. Ilyus Evander

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join us for our October Open Mic! Sign ups will be available in the event 30 minutes before we start! You will have 3 minutes to read 1-2 poems. We will have a feature from Ilyus Evander! More about Ilyus: Ilyus Evander is a non-binary transfem poet, playwrite, organizer, and educator based in Providence. They have represented the Providence Poetry Slam at Brave New Voices, the National Poetry Slam, and the Women of the World Poetry Slam. They are a two time finalist at the Capturing Fire International Queer Poetry Summit and a 2018 FEMSlam Champion as part of team Tender Bitch! Their work can be found in BrokenHead, CapFire Press, the Stoked! Anthology, Burrowing Artists, and elsewhere. Their debut poetry collection, Heavier Than Wait…

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Free
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