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!

Chuck Wendig in Conversation With Cassandra Khaw

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

A family returns to their hometown — and to the dark past that haunts them still — in The Book of Accidents (Del Rey), a new masterpiece of literary horror by Chuck Wendig, bestselling author of Wanderers. Long ago, Nathan Graves lived in a house in the country with his abusive father — and has never told his family what happened in that house. Long ago, Maddie Graves was a little girl making dolls in her bedroom when she saw something she shouldn’t — and is trying to remember that lost trauma by making haunting sculptures. Long ago, something sinister, something hungry, walked in the tunnels and the mountains and the coal mines of their hometown in rural Pennsylvania. Now Nate and Maddie are married,…

Free

Submission Deadline: Airlie Press Summer Reading Period

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Airlie Press is a nonprofit poetry collective based in and around Portland, Oregon. We seek manuscripts from Pacific Northwest poets who are willing and able to commit to a three-year term of doing the shared work of running a collective press. As a press, we commit to participate in the ongoing conversation and practice regarding inclusion and equity. To this end, we encourage submissions from underrepresented voices and poets from marginalized communities. Most important editorial decisions are made by consensus. Airlie Press now accepts submissions from poets previously published by Airlie. In 2021, poets published before 2018 are encouraged to submit a manuscript during our summer submission period. All submissions will be judged alongside those from new poets. Returning poets must commit to a standard…

Free

Submission Deadline: The Gravity of the Thing: Summer 2021

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Our Summer 2021 reading period is open until July 31st. We accept defamiliarized works in the following general categories: Short: tell us a story in 3,000 words or less; we are interested in fiction, creative nonfiction, self-contained excerpts, and genre-bending forms. Flash: a fiction, creative nonfiction, or genre-bending story under 500 words. Poetry: share one or more poems, prose poems, or multimedia works for a combined count of 500 words or less. Six Words: a story in six words; you may share up to five stories per submission, but only one will be chosen. Baring the Device: essays about defamiliarization—or defamiliarized essays about storytelling, literary craft, or publishing—for our Baring the Device column and resources; click here to learn more. The Gravity of the Thing publishes work on a rolling basis throughout its quarterly reading periods. A majority of submissions…

Free

See Me. iAm. HEAR. Creative Activation of Youth Voices of Color

Madison Street Plaza 1219 SW Park Avenue, Portland, OR, United States

IPRC is excited to partner with the City of Portland, I Am M.O.R.E, The Numberz.fm, NAYA Many Nations Academy, and the Portland Art Museum for event that is a part of the City of Portland “Supporting Community Healing with Art” Initiative. Saturday, July 31st join us from 12-4 PM in Madison Street Plaza (1219 SW Park Avenue) for poetry, printmaking, DJs, Open Mic, and free ice cream.

Free

Brian Evenson in Conversation With Matt Bell

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

A sentient, murderous prosthetic leg; shadowy creatures lurking behind a shimmering wall; brutal barrow men — of all the terrors that populate The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell (Coffee House), perhaps the most alarming are the beings who decimated the habitable Earth: humans. In his new short story collection, Brian Evenson envisions a chilling future beyond the Anthropocene that forces excruciating decisions about survival and self-sacrifice in the face of toxic air and a natural world torn between revenge and regeneration. Combining psychological and ecological horror, each tale thrums with Evenson’s award-winning literary craftsmanship, dark humor, and thrilling suspense. Evenson will be joined in conversation by Matt Bell, author of Appleseed and In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods. Register…

Free

Hybridity: Writing that Crosses the Line

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

*IPRC Workshops will take place via Zoom through Summer 2021 Taught by MK Chavez Meets: Tuesdays, 6-8pm July 13th – Aug. 3rd $45 – 90 sliding scale Capacity: 15 4 no-cost spots available, BIPOC prioritized; reach out to hquinn@iprc.org to inquire Register here and zoom link will be sent on the day of the workshop Workshop Description: This 4-week workshop will explore writing that lives in a liminal space. There are many benefits in hybrid writing, including providing writers with opportunities to explore and expand writing practices, especially for those of us who are writing to make the invisible visible. To enter a space of generative writing without preconceived notions of form and genre creates a landscape of possibilities that supports us to take risks…

$45 – $90

Book Club: YA For Adults

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

We've selected our next book! On August 3, we'll be discussing Raybearer! From the Publisher: Nothing is more important than loyalty. But what if you've sworn to protect the one you were born to destroy? Tarisai has always longed for the warmth of a family. She was raised in isolation by a mysterious, often absent mother known only as The Lady. The Lady sends her to the capital of the global empire of Aritsar to compete with other children to be chosen as one of the Crown Prince's Council of 11. If she’s picked, she'll be joined with the other Council members through the Ray, a bond deeper than blood. That closeness is irresistible to Tarisai, who has always wanted to belong somewhere. But The…

Free

Convos in Cohort 3: THE GROWTH LINES by Gabby Hancher

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

The third and final event in First Matter Press's Convos in Cohort series will feature Gabby Hancher, author of THE GROWTH LINES, forthcoming in September. Gabby will give a short reading and then discuss her work with fellow cohort members Jessica E. Pierce and Dan Wiencek. Audience Q & A will follow. Start time: 6:30 pacific Register here for Zoom access: https://www.firstmatterpress.org/events.html Or watch live on our Facebook page. Previews of Hancher's work can be found on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDuRXJSuv4sgqhQxE_X_iSQ/videos

Free

PDX Playwrights: AN EVENING WITH OSCAR AND NOEL – by Thomas Mason and Craig Mason

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Two theater icons meet in the afterlife. Oscar Wilde and Noël Coward, one pilloried for being gay and the other the ultimate symbol of cool sophistication. Hear what they have to say on all manner of things, scandal, play writing, coming out. This one-act play is definitely not in hell, but maybe in heaven, maybe in purgatory. At 7 pm Pacific Time, please join us using this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83860730981?pwd=YzRDd0xNUmNOYngxa3BTUUE4K1RRUT09 Meeting ID: 838 6073 0981 Passcode: 725789 One tap mobile +16699006833,,83860730981#,,,,*725789# US (San Jose) Dial by your location +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcAo2emuE NOTE: When our readings are conducted as virtual sessions, readers usually have been pre-cast by the playwrights. Fellow writers, actors and listeners are warmly invited to participate…

Free

Free Lunch + Play at Raymond Park

Raymond Park SE 118th Ave and Liebe St., Portland, OR, United States

Portland Parks & Recreation Free Lunch + Play Program  supports families by offering nutritious meals and recreational activities during the summer recess. Working alongside school districts, community partners, arts organizations, and hunger relief groups, PP&R coordinates Free Lunch + Play to ensure that it meets the needs in our community. During the school year, 57% of young Portlanders qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Without school lunches, summer becomes the time when nearly 50,000 Portland children face hunger daily. Free Lunch + Play offers accessible meal service and engaging activities at multiple parks throughout the city. In addition, Mobile Lunch + Play allows us to expand our program directly to children and families at apartment complexes and parks in even more neighborhoods. See full schedule and more details at…

Free