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!

FROM KNOWLEDGE TO POWER Launch Party

Lucky Labrador Beer Hall 1945 NW Quimby St, Portland, OR, United States

We're hosting a party to celebrate the launch of FROM KNOWLEDGE TO POWER by John Perona! Join us in celebrating K2P's release with food, drinks, and by spending the evening with other climate advocates. The launch party will include a discussion between author John Perona and climate advocate and actress K.B. Mercer, a brief talk by John Perona about several of his favorite chapters from the book, and an author signing with Q&A. Mark your calendars, this is an event you won't want to miss!

Free

Overcoming Rejection for Writers

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

FEATURING: Jami Attenberg Deesha Philyaw Tommy Pico Moderated by Denne Michele Norris Sponsored by GrubStreet's Muse & the Marketplace conference Whether you’re just starting out or a seasoned pro, all writers face rejection—but how we cope with that rejection plays a huge role in shaping our literary future. Rebounding can be tough, but rather than allowing rejection to stop us in our tracks, we can reframe it into a motivational and instructional tool. Some rejections actually make us stronger—as writers, editors, applicants, and people—while others just need to be ignored. Poet and TV writer Tommy Pico (JUNK, Reservation Dogs), memoirist Jami Attenberg (I Came All This Way to Meet You), and award-winning short story writer Deesha Philyaw (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies) will share…

$10

Busting Myths About Parenting and Writing

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

FEATURING: Claire Vaye Watkins Kaitlyn Greenidge Matthew Salesses Moderated by Kelly Luce Sponsored by GrubStreet's Muse & the Marketplace conference The idea that parenthood is a barrier to art creation is outdated, even dangerous—that we create in spite of having children rather than making complex work productively informed by parenthood in all its glory, sorrow, and ambivalence. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought parenting issues to the forefront of the national conversation, and the result has been that the discussions around parenthood specific to writing have evolved, too. Novelists Claire Vaye Watkins (I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness), Kaitlyn Greenidge (Libertie), and novelist and essayist Matthew Salesses (Craft in the Real World) will talk about the struggles, triumphs, stereotypes, and assumptions of writing as parents…

$10

How to Pitch Electric Lit: Updated with Our New Editors!

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

FEATURING: Denne Michele Norris Michelle Chikaonda Sponsored by GrubStreet's Muse & the Marketplace conference Writing an essay, opinion piece, or feature doesn’t start with the first sentence. You have talent and a compelling idea, but how can you get an editor to pay attention? A pitch is the writer’s chance to package their work so that it catches an editor’s eye. In this conversation, Denne Michele Norris, Electric Literature's editor-in-chief, and Michelle Chikaonda, contributing editor, will answer some key questions so you can take your idea from successful pitch to published piece. We’ll discuss things like what makes a good pitch, common mistakes and misconceptions, and why Electric Lit even asks for pitches in the first place. This event is an update to our previous…

$10

Jacob Frank in His Time and Ours: Prof. Pawel Maciejko on the Historical Contexts of Olga Tokarczuk’s The Books of Jacob

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

The 2022 Lorry I. Lokey Program at Portland State University Presents: Jacob Frank in His Time and Ours: Prof. Pawel Maciejko on the Historical Contexts of Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob  In 2014, the Polish Nobel-prizewinning author Olga Tokarczuk published her epic novel The Books of Jacob about Jacob Frank, a real-life messianic leader in eighteenth-century Poland. Pawel Maciejko is an internationally recognized authority on the history of Jacob Frank. Join us for Prof. Maciejko’s scholarly response to the question: How does history inform Tokarczuk’s novel and our reading of it? There will be a question and answer period following Prof. Maciejko’s talk. Jacob Frank was a religious charismatic who claimed to be the messiah. In 1759 he led his Jewish followers into Catholic…

Free

re/source residency Virtual Q & A

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

*BIPOC only event* Join co-director/residency organizer Emmy Eao to learn more about the IPRC, the residency program’s history, the application process, and what folks can expect as re/source residents.  There will be open time for questions and conversation towards the end of the session. Email Emmy at eao@iprc.org with any concerns. Can’t make the session? Reach out and we can send you the presentation! REGISTER FOR Q & A HERE RESIDENCY APPLICATION HERE

Free

Oregon Literary Fellowships Information Session

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Questions about applying to this year’s Oregon Literary Fellowships? Join us at this information session! Drop-in anytime between 3:00 – 4:00 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.  

Free

Oregon Literary Fellowships Information Session

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

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.  

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

Where We Call Home: Josephine Woolington & Kristin Thiel in Conversation

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

In partnership with Ooligan Press. Join us in celebration of the launch of Where We Call Home: Lands, Seas, and Skies of the Pacific Northwest, an essay collection by Josephine Woolington. This conversation with Josephine Woolington and Kristin Thiel, coeditor of Fire & Water: Stories from the Anthropocene, will be followed by a Q&A and book signing. You can pre-order Where We Call Home: Lands, Seas, and Skies of the Pacific Northwest here. Josephine Woolington Josephine Woolington is a writer, musician and educator. She previously worked at several newspapers in Oregon, where her work was read by both regional and national audiences via The Associated Press. During her time at The Register-Guard in Eugene, she received an award for best education coverage from the Oregon…

Free