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!

Whitney Otto, Art for the Ladylike

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

We are so thrilled to be (virtually) hosting Portland author Whitney Otto with her new book Art for the Ladylike, published by Mad Creek Books. In this inviting blend of biography and memoir, Otto examines her life in terms of the women artists who influenced her, asking, “Is there any social effect when a woman is explicit in her observing?” She limns the lives of eight pioneering women photographers—Sally Mann, Imogen Cunningham, Judy Dater, Ruth Orkin, Tina Modotti, Lee Miller, Madame Yvonne, and Grete Stern— to in turn excavate her own writer’s life. The result is an affecting exploration of what it means to be a woman, what it means to be an artist, and the perils and rewards of being both at once. In…

Free

The Work Poetry Workshop: Monday Night Edition

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join us on the second and fourth Monday of every month for The Work. The Monday Night Edition of The Work takes place from 6-8:30 pm on the second and fourth Monday of each month, unless otherwise noted. These workshops will take place on Zoom until it is safe to do so again in person. Upcoming Monday night workshops will take place on May 24, June 14 & 28, July 12, August 9 & 23. There will be no workshop on July 26. The Work is a drop-in poetry writing workshop for beginners as well as more experienced writers. Poetry encourages empathy and compassion, and sparks the shifts in consciousness which can lead to healing, personal growth, and an interest in fighting for progressive social…

Free – $20

Gregory Gourdet in Conversation With Michelle Tam

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

When award-winning, trendsetting chef Gregory Gourdet got sober, he took stock of his life and his pantry, concentrating his energy on getting himself healthy by cooking food that was both full of nutrients and full of flavor. Now, the beloved Top Chef star shares these extraordinary dishes with everyone. Gourdet’s Everyone’s Table (Harper Wave) features 200 mouthwatering, decadently flavorful recipes carefully designed to focus on superfoods — ingredients with the highest nutrient density, the best fats, and the most minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants — that will delight home cooks. Gourdet’s dishes are inspired by his deep affection for global ingredients and techniques — from his Haitian upbringing to his French culinary education, from the cuisines of Asia as well as those of North and West…

Free

Fantasy Book Club (Remote)

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

The Books Around the Corner Fantasy Book Club meets monthly on the second Tuesday of every month at 6:30PM. We would like to extend an invitation to all of our fantasy loving customers. Our book discussions aim to bring people together to talk about books in a safe and inviting atmosphere. Our meetings are lovely and inclusive; we invite you to attend. Come and enjoy a lively discussion about the chosen book with other readers. Join us on Tuesday May 11th at 6:30pm for our Books Around the Corner Fantasy Book Club. We will discuss Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. About the book: From the New York Times bestselling author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative…

$27

Oregon Historical Society’s Mark O. Hatfield Lecture Series: Jon Meacham

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope Presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham is one of America's most prominent public intellectuals. A contributor to TIME and The New York Times Book Review, Meacham is a highly sought-after commentator, regularly appearing on CNN and MSNBC. Known as a skilled orator with a depth of knowledge about politics, religion, and current affairs, Meacham brings historical context to the issues and events affecting our daily lives. In his latest #1 New York Times best-seller, His Truth is Marching On, Meacham draws on decades of wide-ranging interviews with the late Congressman John Lewis. In this biography, Meacham shares how Lewis, the great-grandson of a man who was enslaved and son of an…

$30 – $80

Article Club

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Wednesday, May 12: “Out of the Barrel of a Gun" by Charles Homans Zoom meeting ID: 829 9269 6275 ### Using Zoom, we will connect and share our thoughts about articles and podcasts from national publications. Our virtual meeting will last about 30 minutes, and feature discussions on the chosen article. Participants should be 18+ and interested in sharing. https://www.wilsonvillelibrary.org/lib/page/article-club

Free

Writing Breakage: The Collage Essay

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

in the broken thing, human agency is oddly implied: breakage, whatever its cause, is the dark complement to the act of making; the one implies the other. – Louise Gluck Do you have a nonfiction story or essay that struggles to mold to a traditional structure? Sometimes the most personal stories or essays do not want to follow a linear trajectory. Collage and braided forms of creative nonfiction rely instead on fragmentation, silence and resonance to build suspense and/or complex thinking processes. We will consider how writers weave different story and thought threads into personal writing to access and represent ways of thinking/knowing. Class time will be spent writing, discussing assigned reading and aspects of the form, and finally, responding to each other’s work. Students…

$285

The Milwaukie Poetry Series: Anis Mojgani Poetry Reading

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Anis Mojgani's poetry reading will be livestreamed on May 12, 2021 on the Ledding Library YouTube Channel. (link is external) Anis Mojgani is the current Poet Laureate of Oregon. A two-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam and winner of the International World Cup Poetry Slam, he has been awarded residencies from the Vermont Studio Center, Caldera, AIR Serenbe, The Bloedel Nature Reserve, The Sou’wester, and the Oregon Literary Arts Writers-In-The-Schools program. Anis has done commissions for the Getty Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum, and his work has appeared on HBO, National Public Radio, and as part of the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day series; and in the pages of the NYTimes, Rattle, Platypus, Winter Tangerine, Forklift Ohio, and Bat City Review. Known for his performances and well regarded for them…

Free

Feminist book circle: The Revolution Question

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

"An inspiring examination of the critical role of women in revolutionary struggles and the relationship of these movements to feminism. Professor Julie Shayne, Coordinator of the Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies, UW Bothell, describes the courageous part played by women in three Latin American liberation movements from 1950s-90s. Interviews with female participants reveal what women brought to the struggle and whether their hopes for leadership and equality were answered. Learn from this still-fresh history and how it applies to questions of feminist leadership today. Everyone welcome." (Promo Copy)

Free

Incite: Queer Writers Read

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Incite: Queer Writers Read is a curated, bimonthly reading series for Queer writers. Incite’s hope is to create conversation, connection, and greater understanding both within the Queer community and with other communities. Hosted by Vinnie Kinsella and Jennifer Perrine. The theme for May is Wayfinding.  Register for this event in advance. Wayne Bund is a multidisciplinary artist weaving fantasy and identity through photography, performance, and writing. He wrote his own evening length solo performance, "Strong Female Protagonist," which he performed in Portland in 2018.  His works and performances have been exhibited nationally with Seattle Art Museum, On the Boards, and Gage Academy of Art in Seattle, the Ludlow Festival in the UK, SOMarts in San Francisco, and Risk/Reward Festival of New Performance, Portland Institute for Contemporary…

Free