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!

How to Pitch and Edit an Anthology, an Electric Literature virtual salon presented by Mount Saint Mary’s University

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

tHave you ever dreamed of editing your own anthology? Even if you haven’t, should you? Join our panel of veteran anthology editors to learn how to develop an idea for an anthology, pitch it to publishers, solicit and edit work from writers, and pull together a finished book that unites a range of talented voices, all digging deep into a topic you are passionate about. We’ll also address how writers can get their work included in such anthologies. Whether you already have an idea for an anthology or you’re wondering if this publishing pathway might be right for you, bring your curiosity and your questions to this event. Audience Q&A to follow. Sari Botton, editor of Goodbye To All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving…

$10

How to Get a Literary Agent

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Sarah Bowlin, Aevitas Creative Kirby Kim, Janklow and Nesbit Renée Jarvis, Triangle House Literary agents are the publishing professionals whose job is to be in an author’s corner, to champion their work and find it the best home and negotiate the strongest deals. So, how do you research hundreds of agents to find ones who would be the best fit for your creative visions? How do you query them to demonstrate that you are a perfect addition to their list? Once you’ve signed with an agent, what will your professional relationship look like? What are the reasons an author-agent relationship might end, and what should you do next? Join our panel of seasoned literary agents to learn about all about the process, from the early…

$10

Creating the Graphic Novel: Inception to Publication

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join us for a lively panel discussion about graphic novels and their creators. Moderated by Jonathan Hill, author of Odessa, and featuring winners of the Oregon Book Award in Graphic Literature. Jonathan Hill is an award-winning cartoonist who lives in Portland, OR. His comics and illustrations have been featured in publications by Fantagraphics, Lion Forge, tor.com, Powell's City of Books, The Believer Magazine, and the Society of Illustrators. His first two books, Americus and Wild Weather, were created with writer MK Reed and published by First Second Books. Jonathan also teaches comics at the Pacific Northwest College of Art and serves on the board of directors at Literary Arts. Odessa is the first book he has written and drawn himself. Cartoonist Barry Deutsch's 2010 graphic novel Hereville: How Mirka…

Free

Friends of Mystery Presents: Tracy Clark, Mary Keliikoa, and Elle Marr

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Please join us to kick off the first Bloody Thursday of our 2021/22 season with writers Tracy Clark, Mary Keliikoa, and Elle Marr! Our virtual door will open at 6:30 for general chat, with the moderated discussion starting at 7 PM. We will send out a Zoom link on the day of the event. About the Speakers: Tracy Clark, a native Chicagoan, is the author of the Cass Raines Chicago Mystery series, featuring ex-cop turned PaI Cassandra Raines. Her debut, BROKEN PLACES, made Library Journal's list of the Best Crime Fiction of 2018 and CrimeReads named Cass Raines Best New PI of 2018. The novel was nominated for a Lefty Award for Best Debut Novel, an Anthony Award for Best Debut Novel and a Shamus…

Free

Everyone’s a Critic

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Whether it’s the role of take-downs, accusations of smarm, writers rebutting their reviews, or the daily Twitter discourse, the role of criticism in our culture is complex, ever-changing, and seemingly always up for debate. The tools of criticism are evolving, too. Goodreads, Substack, and social media remove critics from an ivory tower and allow anyone to assume the mantle. New Yorker staff writer and former New York Times book critic Parul Seghal, New York Times film critic A.O. Scott, and novelist-cum-critic Brandon Taylor will discuss these topics as well as their own pursuits of critical honesty and excellence. Moderated by Halimah Marcus. Their discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A. This event is part of Electric Lit’s Fall 2021 series, presented by Mount Saint…

$10

Steel Yourself Before You Reveal Yourself

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

A good journalist reports the story, but never becomes the story. But as essayists and non-fiction writers, we're not journalists. Sometimes our lives are, in fact, the story. What does it mean to write about ourselves and our lives, and then, to publish that writing? What does it mean when people read that writing, and discuss it—and us—publicly, as well as privately? Alexander Chee (How To Write an Autobiographical Novel), Morgan Jerkins (This May Be My Undoing), and Joseph Osmundson (Virology, forthcoming 2022) will discuss the choice to write about ourselves and dive into the public discourse as both writer and subject, and how to prepare for the unique scrutiny that comes with essay, memoir, and autobiographical writing. They will also offer tools to help…

$10

Pitch Roulette

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

What goes through an editor’s mind when they read a pitch? What turns them off, and what grabs their interest? One of our most popular salons is back with a twist: Editor-in-Chief Denne Michele Norris and Executive Director Halimah Marcus will review your anonymous pitches, submitted just for this event. They will read each pitch for the first time live on screen, sharing their immediate reactions as they go. Your pitch may even be commissioned for Electric Lit! Submission instructions: You can find the link to submit in the chat, on the right hand side of the event page. (Please note, you will only see the chat if you are registered for the event.) If you are unable to find the submission portal or have questions…

$10

Livestream Event: Belonging – Middle Grade Author Panel

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join Annie Bloom's Books for a livestream event with middle grade authors Waka Brown (While I was Away), Kathleen Lane (Pity Party), Susan Hill Long (The Care and Keeping of Freddy), Rosanne Parry (A Whale of the Wild) and Kate Ristau (Clockbreakers series). The authors will discuss the theme of belonging: how kids search for and maintain connections, and how the books they read explore and support those connections too. This event is free and open to all ages. Please register in advance for this Zoom event: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIud-CqqzgpG9UUTbHOhaYNOUq-9c1Smc0q If you would like signed or personalized copies of the authors' books, please leave a note in the comments section of your order! Waka T. Brown's While I Was Away is an empowering middle grade memoir from debut author…

Free

Everybody Reads: OLGA TOKARCZUK’S THE BOOKS OF JACOB

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

The 2022 Levy Event The Sixth Annual Levy Event at Portland State University Everybody Reads: OLGA TOKARCZUK’S THE BOOKS OF JACOB We invite you to read Olga Tokarczuk’s masterpiece, now translated for the first time into English, and attend a worldwide discussion of the book guided by our distinguished panelists, held on Zoom. HOW TO PARTICIPATE: 1. Read the book. Go ahead and start reading! The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk is widely available! Purchase through your favorite bookseller! 2. Register. This event is free with prior registration and will be held on Zoom. Please go to our registration page. 3. Log in on May 15 and participate in the community-wide discussion. About the book and its author Poland’s literary star Olga Tokarczuk won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2019.…

Free

Ursula K. Le Guin and Her Legacy: Panel Discussion

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

As modern life and literature focus more on material gains and marshall conflicts, the work of Ursula K. Le Guin stands out for her commitment to depicting pacifism and environmentalism in her speculative fiction. Join Becky Chambers (A Prayer for the Crown-Shy), Juhea Kim (Beasts of a Little Land), and Michelle Ruiz Keil (Summer in the City of Roses, All of Us With Wings) for a discussion moderated by Theo Downes-Le Guin about Ursula K. Le Guin’s literary legacy–and the authors who are carrying it forward today.  

Free