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!

Danse Macabre: The Testament of François Villon

Shoebox Theatre 2110 SE 10th Avenue, Portland, OR, United States

COVID NOTE: Due to the Multnomah County Mask Mandate, all audience members will be required to wear a mask while in the theatre. ShoeBox theatre is requiring proof of vaccination to be shown at the door. The theatre is equipped with an HVAC system. Audience size will be limited to 35. All performers are fully vaccinated. In March, 2020, Danse Macabre was set to premiere. The stage was set, the lights were shining, the musicians were warming up their instruments on opening night, when the decision was made by the state to close all public gatherings due to the newly declared pandemic. After much loss, isolation, despair, and civil unrest, this show is set to premiere again and the themes are now more relevant than…

$5 – $25

Daylight Book Club

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Thursday, October 7, 2021 at 11:00 AM the Ledding Library Daylight Book Club will meet via Zoom to discuss Personal History, by Katharine Graham. For more information contact Reference Librarian Laura Francillon at francillonl@milwaukieoreogn.gov.

Free

Consider This with Mitchell S. Jackson

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Our 2021–22 Consider This series, American Dreams, American Myths, American Hopes, kicks off October 13 with a conversation with writer Mitchell S. Jackson, author of Survival Math and The Residue Years. Join us for a live virtual conversation on self-determination, family, and redemption with Jackson and Adam Davis, executive director of Oregon Humanities. The program will begin at 5:00 p.m. Pacific on Wednesday, October 13, and will be streamed live on YouTube and on page. Following the panel's discussion, at 6:00 p.m., viewers may join other participants in facilitated conversations on Zoom. To participate in the second part of the program, please RSVP here. Mitchell S. Jackson was born and raised Portland, Oregon. His work explores his hometown, including the systemic forces that shaped his community, his family, and his early…

Free

Attic Institute: FALL Online Campus: Writing the Autobiographical Novel Workshop w Karen Karbo

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Nothing is more intriguing than the idea of telling your true-life story – until the moment you realize you have a terrible memory, there are some pesky facts that are both inconvenient and unavoidable, and your spouse (who has a terrific memory) promised to kill you in your sleep if you ever wrote about them. Enter the autobiographical novel, a timeless genre that is based on the truth but not bound by it. The AN can be a faithful recounting of an event in your life, or a loosely related tossed salad of facts seasoned with fantasy. There’s a reason why everyone from Charles Dickens to Maya Angelou has written one. Through in-class prompts and take-home assignments, this 8-week course will help students conceive, structure and begin an autobiographical novel. Participants…

$344 – $370

Alyssa Milano in Conversation With Charlotte Clymer / Ticketed Event

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Sorry Not Sorry (Dutton) is Alyssa Milano’s sharply observed, uproarious, and deeply intimate ode to the life she has lived and the issues that matter most. In her new book, the actress and activist delivers a collection of powerful personal essays that get to the heart of her life, career, and all-out humanitarianism. Milano’s essays are unvarnished and elegant, funny and heartbreaking, and utterly real. A timely book that shows in almost real time the importance of taking care of others, it also gives a gut-punch-level wake-up call in an era where the noise is a distraction from what really needs to happen, if we want to live in a better world. These are stories of growing up in celebrity, of family and of friends,…

$28

Delve Readers Seminar: Signs. Spoken. Memory. Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Dictee

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

This seminar is for BIPOC participants only Celebrating the 40th anniversary of this seminal publication, we will study Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Dictee along with some of its academic critique. This work in many ways defies categorization–with its mixture of French and English, text and images, and the poetic and political. Though it has been described variously as an autobiography, a postcolonial text and an avant-garde, experimental work, it still remains largely inscrutable. Through academic critique and discussion, we will seek to unearth some of its many layers and better understand its contribution to the Asian American literary canon. Text: Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Access Program We want our writing classes and Delves to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand…

$80

The Unique Art of Autofiction

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

This is a three-hour, one-day intensive discussion on the unique genre of autofiction. This course will provide insight into the many nuances of autofiction, or autobiographical fiction. This “genre” involves writing that is based on real life experiences, but also utilizes fictional literary devices, makingit  a very unique form. I will provide craft essays and novel excerpts to read ahead of time from contemporary autofiction writers like Ayah Akhtar, Brandon Taylor, Edouard Louis, Chris Kraus, and Ocean Vuong, which we will discuss as a group. During our time together, we will also explore writing in this form; although, this will not be a typical workshop format. Writers of all genres and experience levels are welcome. Access Program We want our writing classes and Delves to…

$75

Where We Come From: Writing Your Ethnoautobiography w/ Ella deCastro Baron, G. Ravyn Stanfield, and Anya Pearson—Begins September 27th

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Where We Come From: Writing Your Ethnoautobiography With Ella deCastro Baron, G. Ravyn Stanfield, and Anya Pearson  A six bi-weekly generative Collaboration (Please note: there is a brief application process for this workshop! Press the Apply Now button at the bottom of this text.) We have to co-create a better, fuller story of who we are. When we speak or write the stories of how our ancestors were harmed or harmed others, we clear the way for justice in the present. When we tell the truth about the past, we move towards the possibility for healing and repair. Ancestry gives us heritage: “traditions and practices that inform how we move through the world.” Who are our ancestors of blood, love, and spirit? This circle will…

$500 – $600

The Study and Practice of Autofiction

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

This course is for all levels of writers and readers; the only requirement is a desire to take a deep dive into the unique art of autofiction (autobiographical fiction). We will read and discuss excerpts from contemporary authors who write within the genre, such as Lucia Berlin, Tao Lin, Edouard Louis, Chris Kraus, Garth Greenwell, Zinzi Clemmons, Ayak Akhtar and others, in addition to weekly craft essays on the genre. There will be an opportunity to submit either one or two short excerpts of yourwriting (can be from a short story or novel-in-progress) to be workshopped during the. This course is generative, so participants should plan to submit at least 1500 words per week. Most importantly importantly, the goal of this course is to be…

$285

Writing the Autofiction Novella: twelve week intensive

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Autofiction is a unique genre (or non-genre) that combines the autobiographical with the fictional. In this course, we will take a close look at the craft of autofiction. We will read novel excerpts, short stories and novellas. We will also look at craft essays on the form. The goal over the twelve weeks is to work on a draft of a novella (if not a full draft, then you will get a solid head start), which can be anywhere from 20K-40K words. This course will be generative. You will be expected to write and submit a substantial amount of prose per week (1500-2500 words). We will read about 25 pages of excerpts and craft essays each week and discuss them as a group. And there…

$595