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!

Storytime: KINDergarten

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Written by kindergarten teacher and Instagram influencer affectionately known as the Tutu Teacher, comes a picture book about a class that creates a kindness pledge to ensure that their class is the kindest it can possibly be. It’s the first day of Kindergarten and Leo isn’t at all ready. Leo is a quiet kid and would prefer to stay home. Over the summer, his new teacher, Ms. Perry sent a letter asking her students to think about how to show kindness in school. She explained that they would be making a kindness pledge, and each student should bring one way to show kindness on the first day.As it turns out, Leo’s classmates have lots of ideas about kindness: like raising your hand, never leaving anyone…

Free

Criminal Intent: Fonda Lee & Daniel Nieh

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Action-packed stories of international intrigue, old grudges, valuable gems, and more. Daniel Nieh’s Take No Names is a riveting thriller about a fugitive in search of a quick payday in Mexico City who finds himself in the crosshairs of a dangerous international scheme. “A thriller for the global age, with characters tangled in cross-border conflicts and international intrigues…. The action is brisk, the dialogue snappy…. The story crackles, feeling nicely plugged in to the overheated power grid of an interconnected world.” — New York Times Book Review In Fonda Lee’s Jade Legacy, the Kaul siblings battle rival clans for honor and control over an East Asia-inspired fantasy metropolis, the page-turning conclusion to the Green Bone Saga. “An instantly absorbing tale of blood, honor, family, and magic, spiced with…

Free

Food Is a Weapon: Ghetto Gastro with Gregory Gourdet

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join Jon Gray, Pierre Serrao, and Lester Walker of Bronx-based culinary collective Ghetto Gastro, and authors of the new book Ghetto Gastro Presents Black Power Kitchen, for a conversation with acclaimed Portland-based chef Gregory Gourdet. Part cookbook. Part manifesto. Created with big Bronx energy, Black Power Kitchen combines 75 mostly plant-based, layered-with-flavor recipes with immersive storytelling, diverse voices, and striking images and photographs that celebrate Black food and Black culture, and inspire larger conversations about race, history, food inequality, and how eating well can be a pathway to personal freedom and self-empowerment. “Black Power Kitchen is as much a cooking manual as it is a manifesto of Ghetto Gastro’s decade-long mission: Seeing eating as simultaneously a form of survival and a source of luxury, Black Power Kitchen…

Free

This is Portland: An Evening of Poetry & Music

Honey Latte Cafe 1033 SE Main St, Portland, OR, United States

Perhaps the most wild and unique reading Portland has seen in years. Clear your calendar for this event! Presented collaboratively by Buckman Journal and Future Prairie, This is Portland brings together creativity across medium, making for a multi-genre performance. Local poets will share short-form work and will be joined by musicians offering instrumental accompaniment and interludes throughout the evening. All in attendance, including the audience, will be encouraged to contribute to a collaborative piece of writing, by offering a line in a crowd-sourced poem which will be composed in real-time during the event and then compiled and printed in the next issue of Buckman Journal. We believe poetry belongs in nightlife! Doors at 7:00pm. Show 7:30pm-9:30pm

Free

PBF Cover to Cover: Write a Renga, Save the World

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Renga is a form of collaborative Japanese poetry whereby multiple poets create and respond in turn. Join our group of poets from Portland and abroad for an afternoon of renga writing that examines some of today’s most pressing concerns–bodily autonomy, religious extremism, and imminent environmental ruin. We’ll take inspiration from Basho’s popular “haikai” style, which employed a satirical edge and witty playfulness, even while discussing complex topics. Event contact: Heather Brown, heather@mindthebirdmedia.com  

Free

Write a Renga, Save the World – A PBF Cover to Cover Event

Mother Foucault's Bookshop 523 SE Morrison St, Portland, OR, United States

Renga is a form of collaborative Japanese poetry whereby multiple poets create and respond in turn. Join our group of poets from Portland and abroad for an evening of group renga writing that examines some of today's most pressing concerns - bodily autonomy, religous extremism, and imminent environmental ruin. We'll take inspiration from Basho's popular "haikai" style, which employed a satirical edge and witty playfulness, even while discussing complex topics. Guest facilitators - Mira Rosenthal, Becca Wadlinger This events is organized under the umbrella of PBF Cover to Cover

Free

PBF Cover to Cover: Voices Like Thunder: An afternoon of poetry with the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join us for the release of NACF’s first published anthology The Larger Voice – Celebrating Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Literature Fellows. This event will bring poetry readings by Washington State Poet Laureate Rena Priest (Lummi Nation), previous Oregon State Poet Laureate (2016-18) Liz Woody , Laura Da’ (Eastern Shawnee/Seneca/Miami), and emerging local Native poets. This program will be moderated by author Trevino Brings Plenty (Minneconjou Lakota). The readings will be followed by a Q&A panel and an open mic for Indigenous and BIPOC community poets. Event tickets will include free admission the day of to both the Jeffrey Gibson: They Come From Fire and the Dakota Modern: The Art of Oscar Howe exhibitions. This event is a partnership between the Portland Art Museum and…

Free

PBF Cover to Cover: Tin House Autumn Workshop Showcase

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join Tin House as they celebrate their Autumn Workshop faculty with an evening of readings and merriment. Featured readers will include Carolina De Robertis, Lydia Kiesling, Kimberly King Parsons, and Morgan Talty. Please note that masks will be required. Doors will open at 7:00pm , with the reading starting at 7:30pm. Event contact: Lance Cleland, Executive Workshop Director, workshop@tinhouse.com Morgan Talty Morgan Talty is a citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation where he grew up. He received his BA in Native American Studies from Dartmouth College and his MFA in fiction from Stonecoast’s low-residency program. His story collection Night of the Living Rez is forthcoming from Tin House Books (2022), and his work has appeared in Granta, The Georgia Review, Shenandoah, TriQuarterly, Narrative Magazine, LitHub,…

Free

PBF Cover to Cover: Lit-Mondo

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Lit-Mondo is an improv comedy show inspired by prose, poetry, and other writing by local and traveling authors. A team of experienced improv comedians listen to short readings by authors and pull from the themes and ideas in their work to create hilarious original comedy scenes on the spot!   

Free

PBF Cover to Cover: SPEKTRUM Tea Service

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Nick Jaina is an author and musician living in Oakland, California. His 2015 memoir Get It While You Can was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. His work has appeared in McSweeney’s, Atlantic Monthly, Wilderness House Review, Somnambulist, Oregon Journal of the Humanities, and many other places. He has composed music scores for feature films, such as the indie comedy All Sorts and the forest fire documentary Elemental. He also co-founded a ballet collective in New York City, in which he was the musical composer and worked with dancers from Julliard and New York City Ballet and performed works at the Baryshnikov Center and BAM Center for the Arts. His new book, SPEKTRUM, is a literary re-creation of an immersive light and sound exhibit…

$25