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

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Talks & Discussions

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MY BEGGING CHART virtual event with Keiler Roberts

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Keiler Roberts celebrates the release of her new graphic novel, My Begging Chart. Keiler is joined in conversation by special guest Jessica Campbell (Hot or Not, XTC69) to discuss the new book. Click here to join the live virtual event on Wednesday May 26, 5pm PST. Preorder the book here and receive a free signed and illustrated bookplate by Keiler Roberts! Keiler Roberts mines the passing moments of family life to deliver an affecting and funny account of what it means to simultaneously exist as a mother, daughter, wife, and artist. Drawn in an unassuming yet charming staccato that mimics the awkward rhythm of life, no one’s foibles are left unspared, most often the author’s own. When Roberts considers whether or not to dust the ceiling…

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Free

Cirro-numinous Presents: CIRRO-NUMINOUS SALON: THE MASK

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

THE MASK is the first in an ongoing series of lectures/salons investigating the components of craft, embodiment, and perception. During each event, we’ll take a different lens to the question “how do these interrelated undertakings interact with a holistic creative practice?” Masks aren’t just tools of performance—they can also be an important ritual artifact. When we introduce an obstructing layer between ourselves and the world, we further our own power to move beyond a limiting view of the self. We’ll explore the topic deeply over the course of an hour and a half through a combination of lecture, discussion, and generative writing.

Free

Persistence: What It Takes to Publish a Book, featuring Ellen Michaelson, Joanna Rose, and Suzy Vitello

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

We are thrilled to present (virtually) on Monday, June 7th, at 5 PM PST a multi-author reading and in-conversation with local Portland authors Ellen Michaelson, Joanna Rose, and Suzy Vitello discussing the topic “Persistence: What it Takes to Publish a Book.” Each of these authors had rather long and winding paths toward the publication of their novels. They also were all students of Tom Spanbauer in his original Dangerous Writing group. This event is free but does require preregistration at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_K44ozcbDS1ysmlmXQ1KJhA Ellen Michaelson is a physician in Portland and an MFA graduate from Pacific University. Currently an assistant professor of Medicine at OHSU and vice president of the board of the NW Narrative Medicine Collaborative, she was an NEH Fellow in Medical Humanities…

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Free

HOOD FEMINISM with Mikki Kendall

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Literary Arts, Meyer Memorial Trust, and The Women’s Foundation of Oregon present Mikki Kendall, author of Hood Feminism. Join us for a special event with best-selling author Mikki Kendall. Kendall will discuss her book Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot. After her talk, Kendall will be in conversation with Shadiin Garcia, board chair of the Women’s Foundation of Oregon. Featuring introduction by Michelle DePass of Meyer Memorial Trust. GET THE BOOK! You can find Hood Feminism in hardcover and paperback at Third Eye Books. About Hood Feminism “One of the most important books of the current moment.”—Time“A rousing call to action… It should be required reading for everyone.”—Gabrielle Union, author of We’re Going to Need More Wine   “A brutally candid and unobstructed portrait of…

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Free – $100

Super Magic Forest virtual event with Ansis Purins

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Ansis Purins returns to the world of the Magic Forest and Zombre with his latest graphic novella, Super Magic Forest, published by Revival House Press! Join Ansis in conversation with Scott Benson (Night In The Woods) on Tuesday June 15th for a virtual release party on Zoom. Preorder the book here and receive a free signed bookplate by the author! Twit Leaf the Elf’s day job is picking berries in the Magic Forest, deep within a busy national state park. He’d rather be a mighty warrior elf like his grandpa was. One day he wanders into the strange and mysterious picnic area finding a magic glowing box that the evil humans left behind (it’s just a kid’s Nintendo). Suddenly he’s tasked with the heroic quest…

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Free

This Is Not for You: An Activist’s Journey of Resistance and Resiliance, by Richard Brown, with Brian Benson

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

This Is Not For You, published by Oregon State University Press, tells the story of activist and photographer Richard Brown, a Black Portlander who has spent decades working to bridge the divide between police and the Black community. We are excited to welcome Richard Brown to our virtual stage on Wednesday, June 16th, at 6 pm, to discuss his book, which he wrote with Portland author Brian Benson. The two authors will be in conversation with our very own Eloise Doubleday. As Mr. Brown approaches his eightieth birthday, he recalls his childhood in 1940s Harlem, his radicalization in the newly desegregated Air Force, and his decades of activism in one of America's whitest cities. He questions how much longer he'll do this work, and he…

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Free

“George Venn: The Literary Lion of La Grande” Film and Q&A

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

‘George Venn : The Literary Lion of La Grande’ explores George Venn’s upbringing, his environmental work, writing process and legacy all while showcasing La Grande, Oregon as the beautiful backdrop for several poetry readings. Following the viewing of the short film will be a Q&A with filmmaker Erik Schultz from Paper Flames and George Venn. Click here to register for this event in advance. Poet, writer, literary historian, editor, linguist, and educator, George Venn (1943) is an eclectic, complex, and distinguished figure in western American literature. As one university press editor described him, "Venn’s blend of creativity and scholarship is unique...." Venn enhanced that description in the 2005 Contemporary Authors: "Politics: Independent. Religion: Ecumenist; mystic; no literalistic ethnocentric orthodoxy; everything universal." His distinguished and eclectic…

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Free

Amy Mason Doan in Conversation with Julie Clark

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

We are excited to host (virtually) Amy Mason Doan for the Portland launch of her new novel Lady Sunshine, in conversation with Julie Clark on Wednesday, June 30th, at 5:30 PM PST. This event is free but does require pregistration at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OKwKLb_DQYeqLe4VDWHX8A Amy Mason Doan is the author of two previous novels: The Summer List and Summer Hours. Amy grew up in Danville, California and now lives in Portland. She’s written for The Oregonian, The San Francisco Chronicle, Wired, Forbes, and other publications. She has an M.A. in Journalism from Stanford University and a B.A. in English from U.C. Berkeley. Her latest novel offers family drama, secrets, and the dazzling spirit of 1970s California. Here's what one reviewer had to say: "With a…

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Free

Virtual Event: Kimberly Dark, Author of Damaged Like Me, In Conversation with Lidia Yuknavitch

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Kimberly Dark is the author of Damaged Like Me: Essays on Love, Harm, and Transformation. She joins us, along with local author Lidia Yuknavitch - most recently the author of Verge, to discuss their stories and the challenges and triumphs of living in bodies. About the book Kimberly Dark's Damaged Like Me is a series of essays and stories that reveal a complex social landscape. It shows how possible and vital it is to build roads to a more equitable and loving collective culture that includes body sovereignty, racial justice, gender equity/liberation, and much more. It does so by relying on the insights and approaches to knowledge production of those on the receiving end of inequity and violence, those whose "objectivity" on issues of oppression…

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Free
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