A resource for the PDX literary community. Produced by Old Pal.
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!
In this in-person Intro InDesign workshop, learn the basics of setting up a zine in InDesign. InDesign is a staple for book designers, zinesters and anyone looking to take their zines, chapbooks and publications to the next level. This guided tutorial will give participants an overview of some of InDesign’s most useful features and functions. Taught by Anthony Wylen $20-40 sliding scale. Register HERE.
The theme for our Spring 2022 issue is “Care.” We want to hear stories about responsibility and custody, attention and affection, worry and grief. What do you care about, and why? Who do you care for, and who cares for you? Is caring a burden, a privilege, or something in between? Where do you see care, and where do you notice its absence? We’re looking for nonfiction articles and essays exploring what it means to provide care and to receive it, to care about and to be cared for. Tell us how care shows up in our communities and the systems of our society. Share a fresh perspective on health care or childcare or eldercare or tender loving care. Some topics we’re interested in include—but…
Poetry open mic hosted by John Slaughter
If you've been following our social media @hocusreadings during November, you know that we've drawn a different Tarot card every morning and created a writing prompt based on that card. During the month of December, you're invited to REVISE the pieces you've written using these prompts and submit your favorite three to us for possible inclusion in a saddle-stitched volume we're thinking of as a high-class zine. If you haven't been following along, you still have time! Submissions aren't due until December 31st. Go to http://www.hocus.ink and click on "Submissions Open!"
In André Lewis Carter’s debut novel, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Kaylie Jones Books), the Vietnam War is raging, the US Navy has only recently begun the process of integration, and the country is reeling from racial turmoil and unrest. So why does César, a street-tough kid of Afro-Cuban descent, enlist in the navy? He is on the run from a life of crime and from Mr. Mike, a charismatic, sociopathic gangster who was once a mentor but has now turned on him. Escaping into a navy wrestling with its history of racism and sexism, César soon sees the absurdity of certain prejudices that seem as old as the US Armed Forces. When he is deployed aboard the USS Kitty Hawk, racial…
Frida Liu is struggling. She doesn’t have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents’ sacrifices. She can’t persuade her husband, Gust, to give up his wellness-obsessed younger mistress. Only with Harriet, their cherubic daughter, does Frida finally attain the perfection expected of her. Harriet may be all she has, but she is just enough. Until Frida has a very bad day. The state has its eyes on mothers like Frida. The ones who check their phones, letting their children get injured on the playground; who let their children walk home alone. Because of one moment of poor judgment, a host of government officials will now determine if Frida is a candidate for a Big Brother-like institution that measures the success or failure of a…
Come here these 5 wonderful people read their work around grief. Your Jan 6th self will thank you. Its a heart balm. Readings are about an hour and start at 7 PM Pacific on zoom. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83156663544?pwd=dml2Ymd1eEhnNEVVQXhtOG44SzF3UT09 Meeting ID: 831 5666 3544 Passcode: 103969
In his long-awaited true story of a search for the good life, author Dan Millman describes his quest for meaning in the modern world, including the story behind his writing of the spiritual classic, Way of the Peaceful Warrior. His evolution from childhood dreamer to world-class athlete catapults him, over a span of two decades, through mind-expanding experiences with four radically different mentors who prepare him for his calling as a down-to-earth spiritual teacher. For 40 years, through books and seminars, Millman has shown how to live with a peaceful heart and a warrior’s spirit. This memoir shares his course corrections, wake-up calls, and life lessons as he introduces readers to four key mentors: the Professor, a Bolivian scientist-mystic; the Guru, an American-born spiritual master;…
Book Launch for Exchanging Wisdom: A Guide for Parents of the Autonomous by Christopher Luna and Angelo at Birdhouse Books January 7, 2021 5-9pm Friday, January 7 Birdhouse Books 1001 Main Street Basement Vancouver, WA 98660 (360) 602-1098 Located downstairs from The Rosemary Cafe Join us during the First Friday art walk for an evening of poetry celebrating the release of Exchanging Wisdom: A Guide for Parents of the Autonomous, a new book by Christopher Luna and his son Angelo published by The Poetry Box. The poems in the book trace their relationship from the time Angelo was a toddler through age 21. Christopher and Angelo will read from the book at the top of the hour from 5-8pm and will be available to sign…
Perhaps you snuck a peek at your grandma’s romance novels and giggled at the over-the-top metaphors. Maybe your writing group said you could use a sex scene but you’re mortified by putting it on the page. Maybe you write erotica and want to polish your craft. Sex can be one of the most exciting and emotionally resonant moments in a novel. It can also be cringe-worthy and awkward. Join author and sex-positivity advocate, Karelia Stetz-Waters, for a talk on writing fabulous sex scenes. This fun, unembarrassed look at sex scenes will cover plot and character elements as well as the physicality of sex on the page, Karelia will practical tips and tricks that any writer can use. All heat levels, sexual orientations, and gender identities…