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!
Questions about applying to this year’s Oregon Literary Fellowships? Join us at this information session! Drop-in anytime between 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Register in advance for this meeting here. Please contact Susan Moore (susan@literary-arts.org) or Jessica Meza-Torres (jessica@literary-arts.org) if you have any questions.
From the world of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead… Clementine lives! In Tillie Walden’s Clementine Book One (Image), Clementine is back on the road, looking to put her traumatic past behind her and forge a new path all her own. But when she comes across an Amish teenager named Amos with his head in the clouds, the unlikely pair journeys North to an abandoned ski resort in Vermont, where they meet up with a small group of teenagers attempting to build a new, walker-free settlement. As friendship, rivalry, and romance begin to blossom amongst the group, the harsh winter soon reveals that the biggest threat to their survival… might be each other. Walden will be joined in conversation by writer-illustrator Terry Blas, author of Dead…
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…
From University of Washington professor Chantel Prat comes The Neuroscience of You (Dutton), a rollicking adventure into the human brain that reveals the surprising truth about neuroscience, shifting our focus from what's average to an understanding of how every brain is different, exactly why our quirks are important, and what this means for each of us. With style and wit, Prat takes us on a tour of the meaningful ways that our brains are dissimilar from one another. Using real-world examples, along with take-them-yourself tests and quizzes, she shows you how to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your own brain, while learning what might be going on in the brains of those who are unlike you. With sections like "Focus," "Navigate," and "Connect," The…
Join us for a conversation with Adam White and Justin Taylor, moderated by Steve Nelson of the Northwest Review. This event is in-person at Literary Arts. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination required for entry. Please see our guidelines here. Adam White Adam White grew up in Damariscotta, Maine, and now lives with his wife and son in Boston, where he teaches writing and coaches lacrosse. He holds an MFA from Columbia University. The Midcoast is his first novel. Justin Taylor Justin Taylor is the author of the memoir Riding with the Ghost, which was published by Random House in 2020. He is also the author of three books of fiction, all published by HarperColllins: Everything Here Is the Best Thing Ever (2010), The Gospel of Anarchy (2011), and Flings (2014). His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, Bomb, and Bookforum, among other…
What a thrill to be hosting two multiple-time Oregon Book Award winners, Lidia Yuknavitch and Omar El Akkad, in conversation about the new novel from Yuknavitch, Thrust, recently published by Riverhead Books/PRH. Lidia Yuknavitch is the National Bestselling author of the novels The Book of Joan and The Small Backs of Children, winner of the 2016 Oregon Book Award's Ken Kesey Award for Fiction as well as the Reader's Choice Award, the novel Dora: A Headcase, and a critical book on war and narrative, Allegories Of Violence (Routledge). Her widely acclaimed memoir The Chronology of Water, published by Hawthorne Books, was a finalist for a PEN Center USA award for creative nonfiction and winner of Pacific Northwest Booksellers' Award and the Oregon Book Award Reader's…
Join Oregon Humanities on Wednesday, September 14, for a conversation on the state of Black political power in Oregon with Joy Alise Davis, executive director at Imagine Black; Keith Jenkins, director of Southern Oregon Black Leaders, Activists, & Community Coalition; and Marcus LeGrand, vice-chair of Bend-La Pine Schools. Journalist Bruce Poinsette will facilitate the conversation. The event will take place in-person at the Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St., in Portland. Doors will open at 6:00 p.m, and the event will begin at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $15, and no-cost tickets are available by request. Joy Alise Davis is a Cincinnati native who graduated from Miami University with a bachelor of arts in political science and from Parsons School of Design with a master…
A conversation with Kate Birdsall live at the library. Seating limited to 50. Kate is the author of the memoir In Between and stars in the 2022 film Strictly for the Birds. The film is based on Kate’s memoir about her claiming her identity, finding love, and transitioning at age 65. Room Location: Community Room
Do you think in lengthy narrative strands, elegantly formed with a beginning, middle and an end? I don’t. I flit from image, to feeling, to recrimination, to joy. Light flickers over my memories, both happy and hard. I call these messy memories ‘stamps,’ events or moments that have imprinted upon me in unshakeable ways. In this workshop we will mimic our thinking on the page. We’ll write short pieces from our lives using strong storytelling techniques to enliven specific moments that changed us. We won’t be writing anecdotes, the funny stories we may tell a friend on a walk or a seatmate on a long flight. We will be writing the stories from our lives that haunt us, with joy and sorrow and growth. Finally,…
Melanie Nead (LC ’03) of Lonesome Pictopia is a muralist and wallpaper/ textile designer. Melanie will discuss the Arts & Crafts Movement and its relationship to modernist design and literature. Hosted by Professor Rishona Zimring and her ENG 450-02 Senior Seminar class. Free Miller Hall, Room 102