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!

What Is Justice? A Personal Exploration – Bill Denham

Another Read Through 3932 N Mississippi Ave, Portland, OR, United States

Join us for a reading from What is Justice? by Bill Denham. Matthew Avery Solomon and Noel Espinoza were murdered on September 4, 2008. Three men were charged with the crime. In What Is Justice?: A Personal Exploration, author Bill Denham studies the crime and what it reveals about himself and about our broader culture’s pursuit of retributive justice. Incorporating poetry, philosophy, theology, and memoir, Denham suggests an alternative system borne out of our inter-connectedness and reliant on the exercise of our imaginations. What Is Justice?: A Personal Exploration is an engaging, deeply personal, and deeply felt exploration into the meaning of justice. It is an essential and thought-provoking piece. “In death will come, poet Bill Denham attempts the near impossible, coming to terms with the…

Free

Bryan Denson

Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton, OR, United States

The Unabomber was a lone-wolf terrorist who carried out 14 bombings that left 3 people dead and another 23 injured. A cunning genius, he dodged his FBI pursuers for nearly two decades, terrifying Americans from coast to coast. Agent Kathy Puckett, a spy hunter and highly trained psychologist, served as the turning point in the FBI's efforts to understand the mind of the faceless killer. Her insights helped send more than a hundred agents to a remote cabin in the mountains of western Montana on April 3, 1996. There the FBI captured Theodore J. Kaczynski, engineer of the most notorious bombing spree in U.S. history. Bryan Denson’s The Unabomber (Roaring Brook) is the story of the FBI's investigation of the Unabomber and the agent who…

Free

Deadly Diversions Book Group

Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton, OR, United States

This month our group meets to discuss David Swinson’s Frank Marr crime series. Join us!

Free

Reading: Don Dupay: Frank’s Revenge

Annie Bloom's Books 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes Portland author Don Dupay to read from his novel, Frank's Revenge: Albina After Dark. Don DuPay, former Portland Police homicide detective, is a crime fighter turned crime writer. Read along as he brings private eye Frank McAllister to life as he scours the back alleys and dead-end streets of Portland's dangerous Albina ghetto in search of a killer. Be his backup as he works to solve the murders the police don't care about. But why? And what about the council of old gangsters who lured him into the case using a pretty woman as bait? What do they really want? Things get messy as Black Bart returns from eight years in prison vowing to once again be the kingpin of the St.…

Free

John Straley

Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton, OR, United States

From the wild and wonderful mind of Shamus Award-winning author John Straley comes What Is Time to a Pig? (Soho Crime), a poetic masterpiece that explores the ugly truths of the prison industrial complex, the crumbling state of humanity, the role memory plays in the formation of the self, and much more. What Is Time to a Pig? is the third book in Straley’s Cold Storage crime series.

Free

True Crime Book Club (Remote)

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

The True Crime Book Club is led by the true crime aficionado Rachel Newton Cumley. We would like to extend an invitation to all of our true crime enthusiasts. Our book discussions aim to bring people together to talk about books in a safe and inviting atmosphere. Our meetings are lovely and inclusive; we invite you to attend. Come and enjoy a lively discussion about the chosen book with other readers. Join us for the May meeting of the True Crime Book Club. This month's pick is The Five: The Untold of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold. Miscast in the media for nearly 130 years, the victims of Jack the Ripper finally get their full stories told in this eye-opening…

Free

Young Adult Book Club (Remote)

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

The Young Adult Book Club meets the last Tuesdays of every month at 6pm. Our book discussions aim to bring people together to talk about books in a safe and inviting atmosphere. Our meetings are lovely and inclusive; we invite you to attend. You don't have to RSVP, just come and enjoy a lively discussion. We welcome both teens and adults to join this book club! Join us for the our first meeting on July 28th of the Young Adult Book Club. We will discuss A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson. About the Book: An addictive, twisty crime thriller about a closed local murder case that doesn’t add up, and a girl who’s determined to find the real killer–but not everyone wants…

Free

True Crime Book Club (Remote)

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

TO ATTEND: 1) Purchase the book club book to support our shop. If you already own the book you may purchase a gift certificate or sponsor a stack for $15 or $25 dollars depending on if the book club book is paperback or hardcover. 2) Email us after your purchase that you plan on attending and we'll provide the password. The True Crime Book Club is led by the true crime aficionado Rachel Newton Cumley. We would like to extend an invitation to all of our true crime enthusiasts. Our book discussions aim to bring people together to talk about books in a safe and inviting atmosphere. Join us on Wednesday January 20th at 6:30pm for True Crime Book Club. This month's pick is The…

$15 – $25

Foul Play Nordic Style: Scandinavian Crime Fiction

Nordic Northwest 8800 SW Oleson Rd, Portland, OR, United States

Join us for an eight-week workshop focusing on Nordic crime films and novels. Tom Birnie, instructor in Scandinavian Studies at Portland State University, is back to lead this one-of-a-kind course, in which we will learn about, discuss and savor several films and books from the northernmost reaches of Europe. Nordic crime novels and films have attained an extraordinary international presence over the past three decades. Frequently addressing social issues, these allied genres investigate the troubling shadows lurking in what may at first glance be a perfect set of Scandinavian welfare states, where nothing can go wrong. Through examinations of corruption, exploitation, inequity and crooked politics, the reader/viewer is treated to superb studies of human character. About the Instructor: Thomas Birnie holds a Ph.D. in German…

$100 – $150

Don Winslow

Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton, OR, United States

Following the ambitious City on Fire, comes the dramatic second novel in an epic crime trilogy from Don Winslow, author of the Cartel trilogy (The Power of the Dog, The Cartel, and The Border). Hollywood. The city where dreams are made. On the losing side of a bloody East Coast crime war, Danny Ryan is now on the run. The Mafia, the cops, the FBI all want him dead or in prison. With his little boy, his elderly father and the tattered remnants of his loyal crew of soldiers, he makes the classic American migration to California to start a new life. A quiet, peaceful existence. But the Feds track him down and want Danny to do them a favor that could make him a…

Free