LitPDX seeks to amplify marginalized voices, and welcomes all, their ideas, their events, and their words.

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Livestream Reading: Rachel King: Bratwurst Haven

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes back Portland author Rachel King for the online launch of her new linked story collection, Bratwurst Haven. Rachel will be in conversation with Rajia Hassib, author of the novel A Pure Heart. Watch the video recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76hd2ncvG2M Signed and personalized copies of Bratwurst Haven are available for order! Please, please, please include the name for personalization in the order notes; or indicate "signed only." About Bratwurst Haven: Linked stories trace the vocational and emotional bargains made by workers at a Colorado sausage factory. It’s almost a decade after the Great Recession, and in Colorado, St. Anthony Sausage has not recovered. Neither have its employees: a laid-off railway engineer, an exiled computer whiz, a young woman estranged from her infant daughter, an…

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Free

Delve Readers Seminar: An Intensive Study of Totality: Jorge Luis Borges

Literary Arts 925 SW Washington Street, Portland, OR, United States

The Argentine genius Jorge Luis Borges explored every facet of the word during his lifetime of writing. From sonnets about dream tigers to stories about detectives in Buenos Aires to essays on the collapse of time, Borges oeuvre reads as if limitless, always imbuing the reader with a sense of total expansion. This seminar will draw from his Collected Fictions, Selected Poems, Selected Non-fiction in an attempt to construct (& deconstruct) the scope of one of the most boundless authors of the 20th century. Texts: Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges Selected Poems by Jorge Luis Borges Selected Non-fictions by Jorge Luis Borges Access Program We want our classes to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure…

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$245

Katherine Dunn Tribute Event with Naomi Huffman & Lydia Kiesling

Powell's City of Books 1005 W Burnside Street, Portland, OR, United States

Toad (MCD) is a previously unpublished novel of the reflections of a deeply scarred and reclusive woman, from cult icon Katherine Dunn, author of Geek Love. Sally Gunnar has been in love, has been mad, has been an agent of destruction, has been spurned; and now she has retreated from the world. She lives in isolation in her small house, where her only companions are a vase of goldfish, a garden toad, and the door-to-door salesman who sells her cleaning supplies once a month. From her comfortable perch, she broods over her deepest regrets: her wayward, weed-hazy college days; her blighted romance with a scornful poet; a tragically comic accident involving a paper cutter; a suicide attempt; and her decision to ultimately relinquish a conventional…

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Free

Alison Cochrun in Conversation With Anita Kelly

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

Alison Cochrun, author of the “swoon-worthy debut” (Harper’s Bazaar), The Charm Offensive, returns with a festive romantic comedy about a woman who fakes an engagement with her landlord… only to fall for his sister. One year ago, recent Portland transplant Ellie Oliver had her dream job in animation and a Christmas Eve meet-cute with a woman at a bookstore that led her to fall in love over the course of a single night. But after a betrayal the next morning and the loss of her job soon after, she finds herself adrift, alone, and desperate for money. Finding work at a local coffee shop, she’s just getting through the days — until Andrew, the shop’s landlord, proposes a shocking, drunken plan: a marriage of convenience…

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Free

Omar El Akkad on Writing the Codacene: Literature in an Age of Endings | 57th Annual Nina Mae Kellogg Lecture

PSU - Smith Memorial Student Union 1825 SW Broadway, Portland, OR, United States

Vanport Room (SMSU 338) The English Department presents the 57th Annual Nina Mae Kellogg Lecture, "Writing the Codacene: Literature in an Age of Endings," with Omar El Akkad. What does it mean to tell stories in a moment where it seems so much of what the world once was, it is unlikely to ever be again? Every generation must grapple with its own conception of apocalypse, and literature is no stranger to the end of the world. In this talk, journalist and author Omar El Akkad discusses some of the reporting assignments, novels and works of non-fiction that have influenced his writing, and the uncertain space many contemporary authors must inhabit when writing about a world mid-calamity. Omar El Akkad is an author and journalist. He was born…

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Free

TAP@PBF: Motherhood Is Psychedelic

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Stay tuned for a special podcast-only Portland Book Festival episode of Literary Arts’ The Archive Project! This podcast will explore the myths and realities of raising children while writing; whether the desire for motherhood is a creative desire, and how intersectional identities impact both motherhood and creativity. Featuring a stellar line-up novelists, poets and memoir authors and witches: Kendra DeColo (Enchantments), Kaitlyn Greenidge (Libertie), Mya Spalter (I Am Not Trying to Hide My Hungers From the World), and Michelle Tea (Knocking Myself Up). This event is podcast only, and will be released on The Archive Project wherever you get your podcasts as part of the 2022 Portland Book Festival. Kaitlyn Greenidge Kaitlyn Greenidge's debut novel is We Love You, Charlie Freeman (Algonquin Books), one of the…

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Free

Pushpins & Portals: Experimenting with Short Forms

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Pushpins & Portals: Experimenting with Short Forms This workshop is virtual, PST Register here Pushpins & Portals: Experimenting with Short Forms In this 6-week class, we will experiment with short form creative writing. Our focus—whether it’s flash fiction, lyric essay, prose poetry, or hybrid—will be on the art of compression. Each week, participants will be given a writing exercise, a short reading, and two workshop submissions from their peers. Class time will include workshop as well as discussion of readings and craft. Our workshop will be guided by observations, questions, and possibilities. We will be thinking less about how to “fix” a piece of writing and more about what we see, our curiosities, and how to recognize hidden opportunities. Each participant will receive feedback from…

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$80 – $200

In-Store Reading: Rosanne Parry, Trudy Ludwig, Mark Fearing

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

Annie Bloom's welcomes our own Rosanne Parry for a reading from her new picture book, Big Truck Day. Rosanne will be joined by local authors Trudy Ludwig, whose new picture book is Calling the Wind: A Story of Healing and Hope, and Mark Fearing, whose new middle grade book is Welcome to Feral. This event is presented in coordination with Portland Book Festival's Cover to Cover program. This in-store reading is first come, first served. Seating is limited. Please be mindful of any store health policies that might be in effect on the night of the reading. About Big Truck Day: Get ready for Big Truck Day! Celebrate trucks, reading, sharing, and community with award-winning and New York Times–bestselling author Rosanne Parry and debut illustrator…

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Free

Creating Vibrant and Complex Characters

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

This generative workshop will focus on the skills involved in creating and sustaining vibrant and complex characters. Through a series of in-workshop prompts and exercises participants will create and bring to life vivid characters. We will focus on physical description, internal life, setting, scene, action, and dialogue to round out and bring our creations to life. Close attention will be paid to literary and poetic devices. Supportive in-workshop sharing and feedback will be part of the process. Access Program We want our writing classes and Delves to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present obstacles for some people. Our Access Program offers writing class and Delve tuitions at a reduced rate. The access program for…

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$80

Hilary Plum

PSU - Shattuck Annex 1914 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR, United States

Hilary Plum (she/her) is the author of several books, including the essay collection Hole Studies (Fonograf Editions, 2022), the novel Strawberry Fields (Fence, 2018), and the work of nonfiction Watchfires (Rescue Press, 2016), which won the GLCA New Writers Award. A collection of poetry, Excisions, is forthcoming from Black Lawrence Press in 2023. She teaches at Cleveland State University and is associate director of the CSU Poetry Center. With Zach Savich she edits the Open Prose Series at Rescue Press. Recent work has appeared in Granta, Astra, American Poetry Review, College Literature, and elsewhere.

Free
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