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!

Talks & Discussions

  1. Events
  2. Talks & Discussions

Events Search and Views Navigation

Event Views Navigation

Today

National Anthems: Juhea Kim & Lidia Yuknavitch

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Two girls — one in Korea at the beginning of the twentieth century, one in a fallen American city in the coming late twenty-first century–must forge their destinies against and alongside that of their respective nations. Juhea Kim‘s Beasts of a Little Land is an epic story of love, war, and redemption set against the backdrop of the Korean independence movement, following the intertwined fates of a young girl sold to a courtesan school and the penniless son of a hunter. As rising waters—and an encroaching police state—endanger her life and family, a girl with the gifts of a “carrier” travels through water and time to rescue vulnerable figures from the margins of history in Lidia Yuknavitch‘s newest novel, Thrust. Moderated by Marisa Siegel (Fixed…

Continue readingNational Anthems: Juhea Kim & Lidia Yuknavitch
Free

Storytime: Friends Are Friends, Forever

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

A picture book based on the author’s own immigration story, the infinite impact of friendship, and passing on love and kindness around the world. On a snowy Lunar New Year’s Eve in Northeastern China, it’s Dandan’s last night with Yueyue. Tomorrow, she moves to America. The two best friends have a favorite wintertime tradition: crafting paper-cut snowflakes, freezing them outside, and hanging them as ornaments. As they say goodbye, Yueyue presses red paper and a spool of thread into Dandan’s hands so that she can carry on their tradition. But in her new home, Dandan has no one to enjoy the gift with—until a friend comes along. Portland Book Festival General Admission Passes are required for entry into all events. Passes are $15 in advance and…

Continue readingStorytime: Friends Are Friends, Forever
Free

Think Out Loud: Somewhere Sisters

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Journalist Erika Hayasaki discusses her riveting new book, Somewhere Sisters: A Story of Adoption, Identity, and the Meaning of Family with Dave Miller, host of OPB’s Think Out Loud. More about Somewhere Sisters Identical twins Isabella and Hà were born in Vietnam and raised on opposite sides of the world, each knowing little about the other’s existence, until they were reunited as teenagers, against all odds. The twins were born in Nha Trang, Vietnam, in 1998, where their mother struggled to care for them. Hà was taken in by their biological aunt, and grew up in a rural village, going to school, and playing outside with the neighbors. They had sporadic electricity and frequent monsoons. Hà’s twin sister, Loan, spent time in an orphanage before a…

Continue readingThink Out Loud: Somewhere Sisters
Free

Reality Bites: Rafael Agustin & Chuck Klosterman

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Reckoning with the nineties, a decade that is not only back in fashion in a big way but a political, social, and societal impact that still ripples through our culture today. We’ll look at the the nineties from two very different perspectives: intensely personal, with Rafael Agustin’s memoir Illegally Yours; and from the stance of cultural criticism, with Chuck Klosterman’s The Nineties. Moderated by Eden Dawn (The Portland Book of Dates). When Rafael Agustin (Illegally Yours) tried to get his driver’s license during his junior year of high school, his parents were forced to reveal his immigration status. Suddenly, the kid who modeled his entire high school career after American TV shows had no idea what to do — there was no episode of Saved…

Continue readingReality Bites: Rafael Agustin & Chuck Klosterman
Free

Storytime: Amah Faraway

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

A delightful story of a child’s visit to a grandmother and home far away, and of how families connect and love across distance, language, and cultures. Kylie is nervous about visiting her grandmother–her Amah–who lives SO FAR AWAY. When she and Mama finally go to Taipei, Kylie is shy with Amah. Even though they have spent time together in video chats, those aren’t the same as real life. And in Taiwan, Kylie is at first uncomfortable with the less-familiar language, customs, culture, and food. However, after she is invited by Amah-Lái kàn kàn! Come see!-to play and splash in the hot springs (which aren’t that different from the pools at home), Kylie begins to see this place through her grandmother’s eyes and sees a new…

Continue readingStorytime: Amah Faraway
Free

Life Story: Jon Mooallem & Casey Parks

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Narrative journalism at its very best, with acclaimed essayist Jon Mooallem and award-winning journalist Casey Parks. Moderated by Melissa Febos, author of Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative. Jon Mooallem’s powers of perception have established him as one of the most distinctive, empathic, and clear-sighted narrative journalists working today. The Wall Street Journal has called his writing “as much art as it is journalism,” and Jia Tolentino has praised his “grace and command.” In Serious Face, Mooallem brings to life the desperate hopes and urgent fears of the people he meets, telling their stories with empathy, humor, insight, and kindness. These elegant, moving essays form an idiosyncratic tapestry of human experience: our audacity and fallibility, our bumbling and goodwill. In moments of calamity and within the extreme…

Continue readingLife Story: Jon Mooallem & Casey Parks
Free

Animals with Freeman’s

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Three contributors from the new Freeman’s annual—Tess Gunty (The Rabbit Hutch), Debra Gwartney (I Am a Stranger Here Myself), and Sasha LaPointe (Red Paint)—discuss their work with editor John Freeman. More about Freeman’s: Animals Over a century ago, Rilke went to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, where he watched a pair of flamingos. A flock of other birds screeched by, and, as he describes in a poem, the great red-pink birds sauntered on, unphased, then “stretched amazed and singly march into the imaginary.” This encounter—so strange, so typical of flamingos, with their fabulous posture—is also still typical of how we interact with animals. Even as our actions threaten their very survival, they are still symbolic, captivating and captive, caught in a drama of our framing This issue of Freeman’s tells…

Continue readingAnimals with Freeman’s
Free

Storytime: Mary Had a Little Plan

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Mary had a little plan that sprouted on the spot. It all began the day she passed a drab, abandoned lot.  Fashion-forward Mary is known for adding flair everywhere she goes. When she spots an abandoned lot in her neighborhood, Mary knows she can use her stylish talent to spruce it up. Soon she’s rallying neighborhood shops and calling on her friends to help. With Mary leading the way, this group carries out her little plan that has a big impact on her community! Portland Book Festival General Admission Passes are required for entry into all events. Passes are $15 in advance and $25 day of Festival. Youth 17 & under, or with a valid high school ID get in FREE. All full-priced General Admission Passes…

Continue readingStorytime: Mary Had a Little Plan
Free

Storytime: KINDergarten

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Written by kindergarten teacher and Instagram influencer affectionately known as the Tutu Teacher, comes a picture book about a class that creates a kindness pledge to ensure that their class is the kindest it can possibly be. It’s the first day of Kindergarten and Leo isn’t at all ready. Leo is a quiet kid and would prefer to stay home. Over the summer, his new teacher, Ms. Perry sent a letter asking her students to think about how to show kindness in school. She explained that they would be making a kindness pledge, and each student should bring one way to show kindness on the first day.As it turns out, Leo’s classmates have lots of ideas about kindness: like raising your hand, never leaving anyone…

Continue readingStorytime: KINDergarten
Free

Criminal Intent: Fonda Lee & Daniel Nieh

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Action-packed stories of international intrigue, old grudges, valuable gems, and more. Daniel Nieh’s Take No Names is a riveting thriller about a fugitive in search of a quick payday in Mexico City who finds himself in the crosshairs of a dangerous international scheme. “A thriller for the global age, with characters tangled in cross-border conflicts and international intrigues…. The action is brisk, the dialogue snappy…. The story crackles, feeling nicely plugged in to the overheated power grid of an interconnected world.” — New York Times Book Review In Fonda Lee’s Jade Legacy, the Kaul siblings battle rival clans for honor and control over an East Asia-inspired fantasy metropolis, the page-turning conclusion to the Green Bone Saga. “An instantly absorbing tale of blood, honor, family, and magic, spiced with…

Continue readingCriminal Intent: Fonda Lee & Daniel Nieh
Free
Click a category label below to view the calendar with only events in that specific category.