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Michelle Ruiz Keil in Conversation With Emilly Prado

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

Inspired by the Greek myth of Iphigenia and the Grimm fairytale "Brother and Sister," Michelle Ruiz Keil's second novel follows two siblings torn apart, struggling to find each other in early '90s Portland. All her life, 17-year-old Iph has protected her sensitive younger brother, Orr. But this summer, with their mother gone at an artist residency, their father decides it’s time for 15-year-old Orr to toughen up at a wilderness boot camp. When their father brings Iph to a work gala in downtown Portland and breaks the news, Orr has already been sent away against his will. Furious at her father’s betrayal, Iph storms off and gets lost in the maze of Old Town. Enter George, a queer Robin Hood who swoops in on a…

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Free

Melissa Febos in Conversation With Genevieve Hudson

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Winner of the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Award, Melissa Febos’s Girlhood (Bloomsbury) examines the narratives women are told about what it means to be female and what it takes to free oneself from them. When her body began to change at eleven years old, Febos understood immediately that her meaning to other people had changed with it. By her teens, she defined herself based on these perceptions and by the romantic relationships she threw herself into headlong. Over time, Febos increasingly questioned the stories she’d been told about herself and the habits and defenses she’d developed over years of trying to meet others’ expectations. The values she and so many other women had learned in girlhood did not prioritize their personal safety, happiness, or…

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Free

Jeff Alessandrelli and Felicity Fenton

Nationale 3360 SE Division, Portland, OR, United States

Poetry reading featuring Jeff Alessandrelli and Felicity Fenton. Jeff Alessandrelli is most recently the author of the poetry collection Fur Not Light (2019), which The Kenyon Review called an “example of radical humility…its poems enact a quiet but persistent empathy in the world of creative writing.” Entitled Nothing of the Month Club, an expanded version of Fur Not Light was released in the United Kingdom in 2021. In addition to his writing Alessandrelli also directs the nonprofit book press/record label Fonograf Editions. https://jeffalessandrelli.net/ His upcoming book of fiction And Yet from PANK can be preordered here. Felicity Fenton's work (social practice, photography, words, installation) has been featured in public and private spaces around the globe. She is a RACC grant recipient, was artist in residence at the Washington County Arts Council and her collaborative project -…

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Free

Livestream Reading: Travis Williams and Marina Richie

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes Oregon authors Travis Williams and Marina Richie for a livestream presentation of their new books from OSU Press. Please register in advance for this Zoom event: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUkce6vrzIvGdZxcalzZtaiZDtzZlM3d0bQ About Willamette River Greenways: Travis Williams, executive director of Willamette Riverkeeper, has spent countless hours paddling the Willamette, becoming familiar with its flora, fauna, and human neighbors. In Willamette River Greenways, he combines personal narrative about his experiences on the river with nuanced consideration of the controversies and challenges of the Greenway Program. Williams sheds light on current land stewardship practices, revealing the institutional and leadership failures that endanger the river’s water quality and habitat, and looks to the program’s future. He also takes readers with him onto the water, sharing what it's like to…

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Free

BIPOC Reading Series- June

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

This bimonthly reading series is intended to prioritize the safety, creativity, and stories of Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color. Come listen to our featured readers, or sign up to share your work in our open mic. Readings will be followed by a short community discussion. The theme for June is “Roots & Branches.” Our featured reader is Jessica Tyner Mehta. Click here to register for this event. This event is open to everyone, but only people who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color will be invited to read. If you have any questions, please contact our host Jessica at  jessica@literary-arts.org. Jessica (Tyner) Mehta Jessica (Tyner) Mehta is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, interdisciplinary artist, multi-award-winning poet, and author of several books.…

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Free

Spare Room Reading: Lindsey Boldt, Jacob Kahn, & Turner Canty

Passages Bookshop 1801 NW Upshur, Suite 660, Portland, OR, United States

Spare Room presents a poetry reading by JACOB KAHN, LINDSEY BOLDT, & TURNER CAPEHART CANTY Passages Bookshop 1801 NW Upshur Street, Suite 660, Portland, OR 97209 Admission free Covid precautions: Proof of vaccination and masks required PLEASE NOTE: Doors will open at 7:30; reading will start promptly at 8:00, with no late admissions. (See the Facebook Event Discussion for poems by the poets.) Lindsey Boldt is the author of Weirding (Dogpark Collective), the chapbooks Some Ennui (Portable Press @ Yoyo Labs) and <(( ))> (Couch Press), and the novella Overboard (Publication Studio). With Steve Orth, she wrote & performed plays for San Francisco Poets Theater and co-edited the chapbook series Summer BF Press. She is currently the editorial director of Nightboat Books and lives in…

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Free

PNCA Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing Presents: An Evening with K-Ming Chang & LaTanya McQueen

IPRC (Independent Publishing Resource Center) 318 SE Main Street #175, Portland, OR, United States

Find more information about this event here and register in advance here PNCA Faculty LaTanya McQueen and Guest Artist K-Ming Chang read from their most recent prose works. Proof vaccination and mask-wearing are required. K-Ming Chang is a Kundiman fellow, a Lambda Literary Award finalist, and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree. She is the author of the New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice novel BESTIARY (One World/Random House, 2020), which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award. In 2021, her chapbook BONE HOUSE was published by Bull City Press. Her short story collection, GODS OF WANT, is forthcoming from One World, as well as a novel titled ORGAN MEATS. She lives in California. LaTanya…

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Free

Cecily Wong in Conversation With Kimberly King Parsons

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

Everybody’s heard of The Brightons. From rags to riches, sleepy Oregon to haute New York, they are the biracial Chinese American family that built Kaleidoscope, a glittering, ‘global bohemian’ shopping empire sourcing luxury goods from around the world. Statuesque, design savant, and family pet — eldest daughter Morgan Brighton is most celebrated of all. Yet despite her favored status, both within the family and in the press, nobody loves her more than Riley. Smart and nervy Riley Brighton — whose existence is forever eclipsed by her older sister’s presence. When a calamity dismantles the Brightons’ world, it is Riley who’s left with questions about her family that challenge her memory, identity, and loyalty. She sets off across the globe with an unlikely companion to seek…

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Free

Rick Emerson in Conversation With Chelsea Cain

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

In 1971, Go Ask Alice reinvented the young adult genre with a blistering portrayal of sex, psychosis, and teenage self-destruction. The supposed diary of a middle-class addict, Go Ask Alice terrified adults and cemented LSD's fearsome reputation, fueling support for the War on Drugs. Five million copies later, Go Ask Alice remains a divisive bestseller, outraging censors and earning new fans, all of them drawn by the book's mythic premise: A Real Diary, by Anonymous. But Alice was only the beginning. In 1979, another diary rattled the culture, setting the stage for a national meltdown. The posthumous memoir of an alleged teenage Satanist, Jay's Journal merged with a frightening new crisis — adolescent suicide — to create a literal witch hunt, shattering countless lives and…

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Jess Walter

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

From the author of Beautiful Ruins and The Cold Millions comes a stunning collection about those moments when everything changes — for the better, for the worse, for the outrageous — as a diverse cast of characters bounces from Italy to Idaho, questioning their roles in life and finding inspiration in the unlikeliest places. We all live like we’re famous now, curating our social media presences, performing our identities, withholding those parts of ourselves we don’t want others to see. In The Angel of Rome: And Other Stories (Harper), the riveting new collection of stories from Jess Walter, a teenage girl tries to live up to the image of her beautiful, missing mother. An elderly couple confronts the fiction writer eavesdropping on their conversation. A…

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Free
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