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!

Matthew Clark Davison in Conversation With T Kira Mahealani Madden

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Matthew Clark Davison’s Doubting Thomas (Amble Press) chronicles a challenging and disruptive year in the life of a young, gay teacher in the waning years of Obama’s America. Thomas McGurrin is a fourth-grade teacher and openly gay man at a private primary school serving Portland, Oregon's wealthy progressive elite when he is falsely accused of inappropriately touching a male student. The accusation comes just as Thomas is thrust back into the center of his unusual family by his younger brother's battle with cancer. Although cleared of the accusation, Thomas is forced to resign from a job he loves during a potentially life-changing family drama. Davison's novel explores the discrepancy between the progressive ideals and persistent negative stereotypes among the privileged regarding social status, race, and…

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…

Free

Livestream Reading: Megan Galbraith with Liz Prato

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes author Megan Galbraith for a livestream reading from The Guild of the Infant Saviour: An Adopted Child's Memory Book. She will be in conversation with Portland author Liz Prato, whose latest book is Volcanoes, Palm Trees & Privilege: Essays on Hawai'i. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEufumpqjoqHtSkzzUVZXRHo13aHi9p3XAZ About The Guild of the Infant Saviour: Shortly before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion, adoptee Megan Culhane Galbraith was born in a Catholic charity hospital in New York City to a teenaged resident of the Guild of the Infant Saviour, a home for unwed mothers. Decades later, on the eve of becoming a mother herself, she would travel to the former guild site; to her birth mother’s home in Scotland; and to Cornell University, where she discovered the startling history…

Free

Writers in the Schools End of Year Celebration

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join Writers in the Schools classroom teachers and writers-in-residence in celebrating the culmination of an incredibly challenging and fruitful 2020-21 school year filled with moments of creativity and community-building. Writers and teachers will take to the mic to share their own words and stories including WITS writers Alex Behr, Ed Edmo, Matt Smith, and Jennifer Perrine, Director of Youth Programs, Emilly Prado, and many more. Hosted by Jules Ohman, WITS Program Specialist. Alex Behr is a writer and editor based in Portland, Oregon. After receiving an MFA in creative writing from Portland State, she’s taught fiction and creative nonfiction at Portland high schools through Writers in the Schools residencies. Her writing has appeared in many online and print publications, including Bitch, Mutha, Propeller, Nailed, Salon, and Tin House. Her debut…

Free

Livestream Reading: Joshua Henkin with Tom Barbash

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's Books welcomes Joshua Henkin for a livestream reading from his new novel, Morningside Heights. Joshua will be in conversation with Tom Barbash, author of The Dakota Winters. The first 15 orders of Morningside Heights will receive a signed copy! Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcpduCtqTgtHtaCFi4pJXFG9nqbgRr2kPmN About Morningside Heights: When Ohio-born Pru Steiner arrives in New York in 1976, she follows in a long tradition of young people determined to take the city by storm. But when she falls in love with and marries Spence Robin, her hotshot young Shakespeare professor, her life takes a turn she couldn’t have anticipated. Thirty years later, something is wrong with Spence. The Great Man can’t concentrate; he falls asleep reading The New York Review of Books. With their daughter, Sarah, away…

Free

June Poetry Practice Space

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join us monthly on zoom, on the third Thursday of the month for prompts and sharing. Register here, and we’ll send the zoom link on the day of the event. Poetry Practice Space is a monthly gathering for poets and writers. Writing materials, readings and prompts for generative writing will be provided. Come share a space to talk about your writing practice, and current writing projects, bemoan rejections, celebrate acceptances, share writing resources— and write together! Consider Poetry Practice Space the calisthenics for your poetics. Suggested donation, no one turned away for lack of funds Free for members

Free

Slamlandia Digital Open Mic ft. Greg Harries

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Slamlandia is hosting another digital poetry open mic. This open mic - only poetry, no music please - will take place on June 17th. We'll be hosting this event with the help of Literary Arts. You can access our Zoom link in advance. Here is the link to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYkdeiurTgrHtziFFV_qYDeWlHHi4ckn4JR Sign ups for the open mic will be posted at 6:30pm PT day of via Facebook posts and an Instagram story. Comment / reply to get your name on the list (you can also sign up via the chat function in the Zoom). Our open mic will begin at 7pm. Poets gets 3 minutes to share poetry - please do not go over time. We will have a feature from Greg Harrries. Greg Harries is…

Free

Writing with our Ancestors, with Chelsea Hicks — begins

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

WHAT: A four-week generative online collaboration WHEN: Begins Friday, June 18th, 2021. This class is hosted on our rich interactive online platform, WetInk. The class is broken into four weeks, and within those weeks you go at your own pace. In addition, Chelsea will host five weekly Zoom session on Fridays from 4-5pm PST. The final Zoom session will be a group reading/celebration. (Zoom dates: 6/18, 6/25, 7/2, 7/9, 7/16) ACCESS: While able to be purchased directly from this site at our standard rate of $350, this offering is available at a sliding scale rate to anyone who inquires. Please reach out to Daniel Elder at registration@corporealwriting.com. Payment plans are also available. In Chiapas and Oaxaca, writers center Indigenous literature with translation across languages, sometimes…

$350

June BIPOC writer workshop

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

For BIPOC writers Searching for a space to create new work with fellow BIPOC writers? This two-hour workshop meets on Zoom. A variety of prompts will be presented as avenues for generating and sharing new work in an informal setting. Open to BIPOC writers at all levels writing in poetry, fiction, or nonfiction. Scholarships are available. Contact Susan Moore at susan@literary-arts.org for more information. Jacqueline Fitzgerald is an educator, coach, writer, and musician who believes that creation is a catalyst for transformation. Working at the cross-section of art, healing, and change work, Jacqueline has a passion for stories and their ability to cultivate belonging. Her writing has been published in the Oregonian, The Learning Network of the New York Times, and Beacon Magazine. Currently, she…

$15

Bookarts: Coptic Stitch

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

All IPRC workshops through Summer 2021 will be held via Zoom, PST Register here $25-55 sliding scale 3 no-cost spots available; BIPOC prioritized; reach out to hquinn@iprc.org to inquire Bookarts Workshop: Coptic Stitch Description: In this 2 hour workshop, participants will come away equipped with a basic understanding of the tools required for bookbinding, and will learn how to create an exposed spine bound book. Commonly referred to as coptic or link stitch binding, the advantage of a section sewn binding is a spine that opens completely so that pages lie flat. Participants will come away from the workshop equipped with a basic understanding of the tools required for bookbinding, and will create one coptic bound book by hand. Paper materials provided. Beginners welcome. Instructor:…

$25 – $55