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!

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…

Free

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…

Free

Book Club: YA For Adults

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Our first YA for Adults book is Legendborn by Tracy Deonn. The group will be limited to 10 people, so sign up early!

Free

Open Hours Printing!

Outlet 2500 Northeast Sandy Boulevard, Portland, OR, United States

Come in and print in person with one of our knowledgable studio assistants! OPEN HOURS printing is a collaborative in-person way for you to print your risograph projects with us! You bring your files, your paper (or you can purchase from our selection here—we’ve got a ton of different papers), and your questions and chat with our staff to bring your print projects to life. You can be as hands-on or hands-off with the process during your appointment as you like. Before signing up, we ask that anyone utilizing open hours printing take our Riso Basics workshop (either in-person or online). If you already have experience riso printing that’s great too! We just ask that you don’t sign up if you’re new to risograph or…

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,…

Free

Collecting & Art Making

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

IPRC Workshops will be held on zoom, PST through Summer 2021 Register here and zoom link will be sent on the day of the event Over the course of 6 weeks, this experimental concept studio class will demonstrate different ways to assemble, collect and identify aspects from the everyday as material for creating visual and written narratives. This class will explore chance and choice, collaboration, materiality, site specificity, and the symbolism of objects as themes to creating with different media. Class capacity: 20 Instructor: Elizabeth Arzani Workshop Fee: $75-150 sliding scale Materials: Below is a basic list of materials and tools that will be needed in class. Additional materials may vary dependent on each student’s desires and needs. Materials, tools and techniques will be discussed…

$75 – $150

Strange Love: A Short Fiction Workshop

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

“Life is a flower,” wrote Victor Hugo, “whose honey is love.” Yet too much honey can make fiction syrupy, saccharine, cloying. In this month-long workshop, we’ll use model stories, generative exercises, workshop critiques, and focused revision to defamiliarize love stories through point of view, voice, plot, situation, sensory details, and genre. By the end of the class, writers will have completed several writing exercises, drafted a short story, and learned strategies to make love stories “strange”—fresh, unexpected, and original. Access Program We want our writing classes to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present obstacles for some people. Our Access Program offers writing class registrations at a reduced rate. The access program for writing classes…

$290

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. Join us on Tuesday June 8th at 6:30pm for our Books Around the Corner Fantasy Book Club. We will discuss Malice by Heather Walter. About the book: Once upon a time, there was a wicked fairy who, in an act of vengeance, cursed a line of princesses to die. A curse that could only be broken by true love's kiss. You've heard this before, haven't you? The handsome prince. The happily ever after. Utter nonsense. Let me tell you, no one in Briar actually cares about what happens to its princesses. Not the way they care about their jewels…

$27

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…

Free – $100

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…

Free