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

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Aubrey Gordon in Conversation With Sarah Marshall

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

In her new book, “You Just Need to Lose Weight” (Beacon Press), Aubrey Gordon, co-host of the Maintenance Phase podcast and creator of Your Fat Friend, equips you with the facts to debunk common anti-fat myths and with tools to take action for fat justice. The pushback that shows up in conversations about fat justice takes exceedingly predicable form. Losing weight is easy — calories in, calories out. Fat people are unhealthy. We’re in the midst of an obesity epidemic. Fat acceptance “glorifies obesity.” The BMI is an objective measure of size and health. Yet, these myths are as readily debunked as they are pervasive. In “You Just Need to Lose Weight," Gordon equips readers with the facts and figures to reframe myths about fatness…

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Free

Ruby McConnell and Char Miller

Literary Arts 925 SW Washington Street, Portland, OR, United States

Join us for an evening with Ruby McConnell and Char Miller discussing their latest books, Ground Truth: A Geological Survey of Life and Natural Consequences: Intimate Essays for a Planet in Peril. Ruby McConnell is a registered geologist and outdoor adventurer. She is a recipient of numerous honors, including the Literary Arts Oregon Literary Fellowship, and she was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award for Creative Nonfiction. Ground Truth is an extended eulogy to a rapidly changing land, population and society awakening to the realities of logging, climate change, land-use and pollution. The book illuminates the central role of landscapes in our ideas of home and self despite the growing disconnect between modern lifestyle and the environment. Char Miller is the W.M. Keck Professor of Environmental…

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Free

Gemma Whalen in Conversation with Rene Denfeld

Broadway Books 1714 NE Broadway, Portland, OR, United States

We are excited to host Gemma Whelan for the launch of her second novel, Painting Through the Dark. Gemma will be in conversation with Portland author Rene Denfeld, the author of several books, including The Enchanted, The Child Finder, The Butterfly Girl, and the forthcoming (May 2023) Fire and Water. Gemma's new novel tells the story of feisty 21-year-old Ashling O'Leary, who flees the emotional shackles of her family in Ireland and the convent where she was training to be a nun. She arrives in San Francisco in 1982 with a backpack, a judo outfit, her artist's portfolio, a three-month visa, and a determination to find a way to speak up about the abuse of girls and women in Catholic Ireland. As she becomes embroiled…

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Free

Joy Castro & S. Tremaine Nelson

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join us for a conversation with Joy Castro, author of One Brilliant Flame, and S. Tremaine Nelson of the Northwest Review. This is a virtual event. Click here to register in advance. If you have any questions, reach out to Jessica Meza-Torres at jessica@literary-arts.org. Joy Castro Joy Castro is the award-winning author of Flight Risk, a finalist for a 2022 International Thriller Award; the post-Katrina New Orleans literary thrillers Hell or High Water, which received the Nebraska Book Award, and Nearer Home, which have been published in France by Gallimard’s historic Série Noire; the story collection How Winter Began; the memoir The Truth Book; and the essay collection Island of Bones, which received the International Latino Book Award. She is also editor of the craft…

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Free

Transmit Culture: Entrepreneurship in the Book Business

Portland State University - Fariborz Maseeh Hall 1855 SW Broadway, Portland, OR, United States

Ninety-nine percent of all businesses in the US are small businesses. From freelance publishing services (marketing, design, editing, etc.) to independent publishers and bookstores, entrepreneurs and the businesses they start are the heart of the publishing industry. In this panel of book publishing entrepreneurs, the presenters will discuss how they forged their own paths, built book businesses on their own terms, acquired capital, developed business plans, and overcame entrepreneurial challenges. FMH 204

Free

Science Pub Portland: Comics & Women’s Liberation

Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) 1945 SE Water Avenue, Portland, OR, United States

Learn More & Get Tickets In 1977 a comic was launched with the tagline, “This female fights back!” We can’t disclose who the character is, but you would recognize her from her blue and red outfit and oversized fists. Indeed, this character punched her way past a cavalcade of villains, but did so while struggling not to gain weight and keeping her day job as a magazine editor. This character was identified as “This Woman, This Warrior” in the first issue of her solo series, and her story arc offers a complicated response to second-wave feminism in the mainstream media, particularly as she was written by male creators who, based on interviews and letter columns, seemed unfamiliar with key tenets of feminism and were more…

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Free – $5

JJJJJerome Ellis

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

The PSU Program in Creative Writing is pleased to host an remote event with writer and performer JJJJJerome Ellis. This event is cosponsored by the departments of Black Studies and Speech and Hearing at Portland State. JJJJJerome Ellis is an artist and stutterer from Tidewater, Virginia. His website is jjjjjerome.com. Please register for the event at https://pdx.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_At2scnYfRe-yhzt9f1SWHg.

Free

Transmit Culture: Entrepreneurship in the Book Business

PSU - Fariborz Maseeh Hall 1855 SW Broadway, Portland, OR, United States

Ninety-nine percent of all businesses in the US are small businesses. From freelance publishing services (marketing, design, editing, etc.) to independent publishers and bookstores, entrepreneurs and the businesses they start are the heart of the publishing industry. In this panel of book publishing entrepreneurs, the presenters will discuss how they forged their own paths, built book businesses on their own terms, acquired capital, developed business plans, and overcame entrepreneurial challenges. FMH 204

Free

Works on Paper: Neal Kosaly-Meyer performs Finnegans Wake

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

Works on Paper: Experiments in Language and Sound presents Neal Kosaly-Meyer A Finnegans Wake Project Saturday, March 11 5:30 pm: Doors open 6:00 pm: Lecture and discussion, followed by a short break 7:30 pm: Performance (2.5 hours without a break) $10-20 suggested donation; no one turned away Passages Bookshop 1801 NW Upshur, Suite 660 503-388-7665 ========================== A Finnegans Wake Project, now in its eleventh year, is Neal Kosaly-Meyer’s effort to learn and perform, from memory, and with acute attention to musical detail, each of the seventeen episodes of James Joyce's final novel Finnegans Wake. At Passages Bookshop, Kosaly-Meyer will present Part II, Chapter 1 (the ninth chapter), in its entirety, preceded by a short introductory lecture and a moderated discussion. ========================== Neal Kosaly-Meyer is a…

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Free

Book Launch: “The Butter House,” by Sarah Gerard

Keys Lounge 533 NE Killingsworth Street, Portland, OR, United States

Celebrate the release of The Butter House, a new book from Lambda award-winning author Sarah Gerard. The Butter House follows a woman who moves to Florida and becomes a caretaker for a feral cat colony. Publishers Weekly says, "With precise and lush details, Gerard captures a sense of life's fragility amid new possibilities." Hosted by Portland-based publisher, Conium Press, this event will feature an author discussion between Sarah Gerard and James R. Gapinski. Paperback and limited-edition hardcover copies will be available, and there will be a book signing after the event. Keys Lounge is a 21+ venue with a full food and drink menu, including vegan, vegetarian, and gluten free options. Learn more about this event on the Conium Press website or find this event on Facebook.

Free
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