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!
The Moth presents the Portland GrandSLAM, a battle of wits and words - fierce, hilarious, heartbreaking and all points between. The Moth is dedicated to finding people from all walks of life to tell inspired stories. At The Moth StorySLAM, those people find us. On this night, winners from our StorySLAM series compete to determine The Portland GrandSLAM Story Champion.
Jeanne Faulkner hosts this drop-in writing workshop on the last Tuesday of every month. Jeanne provides the prompts, tips, and coaching. You bring your computer and notebook.
Annie Bloom's welcomes Portland author Christine Babinec for an in-store reading from her new book, Want a Hug?: Consent and Boundaries for Kids. This in-store reading is first come, first served. Please be mindful of any store health policies that might be in effect on the night of the reading. Signed and personalized copies are available for order! Please, please, please include the name for personalization in the order notes; or indicate "signed only." About Want a Hug?: It’s never too early to teach children about the necessity of boundaries and the power of consent. Developed by therapist Christine Babinec after years of working with survivors of abuse, Want a Hug? is a book about communication, understanding, mutuality, listening, and love. Far from a didactic lecture,…
Edited by author, actress, and activist Amber Tamblyn, Listening in the Dark (Park Row) is an anthology on women’s intuition, with essays by Amy Poehler, Samantha Irby, Jia Tolentino, Jessica Valenti, US Poet Laureate Ada Limón, America Ferrera, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, and others. Have you ever had a feeling about something that you just couldn’t explain? Something that was telling you in your gut what decision to make, which direction to go in, or what to believe. Most women are taught from an early age to ignore their intuition in favor of making logical, evidence-based decisions. But what if that small voice or deeper knowing was your greatest power? In a time when women are revolutionizing politics, entertainment, healthcare, and other industries, it’s critical to…
This bimonthly reading series is intended to prioritize the safety, creativity, and stories of Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color. Come listen to our featured readers, or sign up to share your work in our open mic. Readings will be followed by a short community discussion. The theme for October is “Shadow.” Click here to register for this event. This event is open to everyone, but only people who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color will be invited to read. If you have any questions, please contact our host Jessica at jessica@literary-arts.org.
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…
Annie Bloom's welcome local poets Riley Danvers, Xylophone Mykland, and Ahuva S. Zaslavsky for readings from their new collections, published by Portland's own First Matter Press. They will be joined by fellow local poet Nastashia Minto, who will be reading a selection of new poems. This in-store reading is first come, first served. Please be mindful of any store health policies that might be in effect on the night of the reading. About Even the Air, Too Heavy: When the body becomes a monument of loss, the self must navigate a vast internal space, not on the world's timeline, but in its own circadian cadences. Riley Danvers's collection Even the Air, Too Heavy wayfinds through the emptiness of miscarriage with words and experimental forms that…
Over the last two decades, a fringe plan to call a convention under the Constitution's amendment mechanism — the nation's first ever — has inched through statehouses. Delegates, like those in Philadelphia two centuries ago, would exercise nearly unlimited authority to draft changes to our fundamental law, potentially altering anything from voting and free speech rights to regulatory and foreign policy powers. Such a watershed moment would present great danger, and for some, great power. In their important new book, The Constitution in Jeopardy (PublicAffairs), former U. S. Senator Russ Feingold and legal scholar Peter Prindiville distill extensive legal and historical research and examine the grave risks inherent in this effort. But they also consider the role of constitutional amendment in modern life. Though many…
Rose City Book Pub is more than thrilled to host Notes and Motes: Improvised Jazz with Surreal Poetry on August 29th at 7:30 pm. Swing on by to catch some freeform tunes and listen to some poetry with an edge. Notes and Motes: The Vlatkovich Trio Plus One Michael Vlatkovich – trombone Chris Lee – percussion Shao Way Wu – bass Casey Bush – poetry Michael Vlatkovich has produced over 20 CDs as band leader and composer. He has collaborated with musicians, poets, and conceptual artists. He is an emotionally charged performer expressing raw power and beauty in a minimally structured format. He has worked with many poets including Lisa Gill, Dottie Grossman, Anna Holmer, Chuck Britt, Bill Roper and Mark Weber. Vlatkovich holds duel…
When wellness teachers and husband-wife duo Chelsey Luger and Thosh Collins founded their Indigenous wellness initiative, Well for Culture, they extended an invitation to all to honor their whole self through Native wellness philosophies and practices. In reclaiming this ancient wisdom for health and wellbeing — drawing from traditions spanning multiple tribes — they developed the Seven Circles, a holistic model for modern living rooted in timeless teachings from their ancestors. Luger and Collins have introduced this universally adaptable template for living well to Ivy league universities and corporations like Nike, Adidas, and Google, and now make it available to everyone in their wise guide. In The Seven Circles (HarperOne), Luger and Collins share intimate stories from their life journeys growing up in tribal communities,…