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Livestream Reading: Donna Ward & Jackie Shannon Hollis

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes Australian author Donna Ward for the US livestream launch of her memoir, She I Dare Not Name: A Spinster's Meditations on Life. She will be joined by Portland author Jackie Shannon Hollis, whose memoir is This Particular Happiness: A Childless Love Story. They will discuss childlessness, writing, and "spinsterhood." Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIlce-oqTsoEtGoLdIc0iRs3pEUF-LjxyU3 About She I Dare Not Name: Astonishing. Luminous. A book about being human. She I Dare Not Name is a compelling collection of fiercely intelligent, deeply intimate, lyrical reflections on the life of a woman who stands on the threshold between two millennia. Both manifesto and confession, this moving memoir explores the meaning and purpose Donna Ward discovered in a life lived entirely without a partner and children. The book…

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Free

Trystan Reese in Conversation With Andrew Solomon

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

When Trystan Reese was just a year into his relationship with Biff (now his husband), the couple learned that Biff’s niece and nephew were about to be removed from their home by Child Protective Services. Immediately, Trystan and Biff took in one-year-old Hailey and three-year-old Lucas, becoming caregivers overnight to two tiny survivors of abuse and neglect. From this surprising start, Trystan and Biff built a loving marriage and happy home — learning to parent on the job. They adopted Hailey and Lucas, and soon decided to grow their family biologically with a child that Trystan, who is transgender, would carry. Trystan’s groundbreaking pregnancy attracted media fanfare, and the family welcomed baby Leo in 2017. In How We Do Family: From Adoption to Trans Pregnancy,…

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Free

The Milwaukie Poetry Series: Paulann Petersen

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Paulann Petersen's poetry reading will be livestreamed on June 9, 2021 on the Ledding Library YouTube Channel. (link is external) Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita, has seven full-length books of poetry, most recently One Small Sun from Salmon Poetry in 2019. Her poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Poetry, The New Republic, Prairie Schooner, Willow Springs, Calyx, and the online Poetry Daily. She was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and the recipient of the 2006 Holbrook Award from Oregon Literary Arts. In 2013 she received Willamette Writers' Distinguished Northwest Writer Award. A flier of the 14th season readings is available here or at the Ledding Library. Thank you to all the volunteers who make this reading possible. For information or questions about the reading and to join the group list, please contact the Series Coordinator…

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Free

Jonathan Evison in Conversation With Thomas Kohnstamm

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Dave Cartwright used to be good at a lot of things: good with his hands, good at solving problems, good at staying calm in a crisis. But on the heels of his third tour in Iraq, the fabric of Dave's life has begun to unravel. Gripped by PTSD, he finds himself losing his home, his wife, his direction. Most days, his love for his seven-year-old daughter, Bella, is the only thing keeping him going. When tragedy strikes, Dave makes a dramatic decision: the two of them will flee their damaged lives, heading off the grid to live in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. As they carve out a home in a cave in that harsh, breathtaking landscape, echoes of its past begin to reach…

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Free

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic on Zoom Featuring Shawn Aveningo-Sanders

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Shawn Aveningo-Sanders Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige 7 pm Thursday, June On Zoom $5 Suggested donation LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004 Please support Niche Wine Bar, whose owner, Leah Jackson, provided a home for the reading series from 2015-2020: https://nichewinebar.com Shawn Aveningo-Sanders grew up in Missouri and after a bit of globetrotting finally landed in Portland, Oregon. Her recent chapbook, What She Was Wearing, tells her #metoo story that took 30 years to reveal. Shawn’s work has appeared worldwide in over 150 literary journals and anthologies, including Calyx, Amsterdam Quarterly, American Journal of Poetry, Timberline Review and Poets Reading the News. She is a Pushcart nominee, Best of the Net nominee, and…

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Free – $5

Daisy Hernández in Conversation With Amy Stewart

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Growing up in a New Jersey factory town in the 1980s, Daisy Hernández believed that her aunt had become deathly ill from eating an apple. No one in her family, in either the United States or Colombia, spoke of infectious diseases, and even into her thirties, she only knew that her aunt had died of a rare illness called Chagas. But as Hernández dug deeper, she discovered that Chagas — or the kissing bug disease — is more prevalent in the United States than the Zika virus. Today, more than 300,000 Americans have Chagas. Why do some infectious diseases make headlines and others fall by the wayside? After her aunt’s death, Hernández begins searching for answers about who our nation chooses to take care of…

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Free

Livestream Launch: Cindy Baldwin with Jamie Pacton

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's Books welcomes back Portland author Cindy Baldwin for the livestream launch of her new Middle Grade novel, The Stars of Whistling Ridge. Cindy will be in conversation with Jamie Pacton, whose new MG novel is Lucky Girl. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAkduitqjorH9ISUvnW3LZ7OCxcDq0wvrQB About The Stars of Whistling Ridge: Ivy Mae Bloom is almost thirteen years old, her name is almost a complete sentence, and her family’s RV is almost a home. That’s one too many “almosts” for Ivy. She desperately wants a place to put down roots, but it’s her mama’s job as a fallen star to tend the magic underpinning the world—a job that’s kept Ivy’s family living on the road since before Ivy was born. After Ivy steals Mama's entire supply of wish…

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Free

Matthew Clark Davison in Conversation With T Kira Mahealani Madden

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Matthew Clark Davison’s Doubting Thomas (Amble Press) chronicles a challenging and disruptive year in the life of a young, gay teacher in the waning years of Obama’s America. Thomas McGurrin is a fourth-grade teacher and openly gay man at a private primary school serving Portland, Oregon's wealthy progressive elite when he is falsely accused of inappropriately touching a male student. The accusation comes just as Thomas is thrust back into the center of his unusual family by his younger brother's battle with cancer. Although cleared of the accusation, Thomas is forced to resign from a job he loves during a potentially life-changing family drama. Davison's novel explores the discrepancy between the progressive ideals and persistent negative stereotypes among the privileged regarding social status, race, and…

Continue readingMatthew Clark Davison in Conversation With T Kira Mahealani Madden
Free

Livestream Reading: Megan Galbraith with Liz Prato

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes author Megan Galbraith for a livestream reading from The Guild of the Infant Saviour: An Adopted Child's Memory Book. She will be in conversation with Portland author Liz Prato, whose latest book is Volcanoes, Palm Trees & Privilege: Essays on Hawai'i. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEufumpqjoqHtSkzzUVZXRHo13aHi9p3XAZ About The Guild of the Infant Saviour: Shortly before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion, adoptee Megan Culhane Galbraith was born in a Catholic charity hospital in New York City to a teenaged resident of the Guild of the Infant Saviour, a home for unwed mothers. Decades later, on the eve of becoming a mother herself, she would travel to the former guild site; to her birth mother’s home in Scotland; and to Cornell University, where she discovered the startling history…

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Free

Writers in the Schools End of Year Celebration

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join Writers in the Schools classroom teachers and writers-in-residence in celebrating the culmination of an incredibly challenging and fruitful 2020-21 school year filled with moments of creativity and community-building. Writers and teachers will take to the mic to share their own words and stories including WITS writers Alex Behr, Ed Edmo, Matt Smith, and Jennifer Perrine, Director of Youth Programs, Emilly Prado, and many more. Hosted by Jules Ohman, WITS Program Specialist. Alex Behr is a writer and editor based in Portland, Oregon. After receiving an MFA in creative writing from Portland State, she’s taught fiction and creative nonfiction at Portland high schools through Writers in the Schools residencies. Her writing has appeared in many online and print publications, including Bitch, Mutha, Propeller, Nailed, Salon, and Tin House. Her debut…

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Free
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