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Sloane Crosley in Conversation With Arthur Bradford

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

One night in New York City's Chinatown, a woman is at a work reunion dinner with former colleagues when she excuses herself to buy a pack of cigarettes. On her way back, she runs into a former boyfriend. And then another. And… another. Nothing is quite what it seems as the city becomes awash with ghosts of heartbreaks past. What would normally pass for coincidence becomes something far stranger as the recently engaged Lola must contend not only with the viability of her current relationship, but the fact that both her best friend and her former boss, a magazine editor turned mystical guru, might have an unhealthy investment in the outcome. Memories of the past swirl and converge in ways both comic and eerie, as…

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J. M. Miro in Conversation With David D. Levine

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

England, 1882. In Victorian London, two children with mysterious powers are hunted by a figure of darkness — a man made of smoke. Sixteen-year-old Charlie Ovid, despite a brutal childhood in Mississippi, doesn't have a scar on him. His body heals itself, whether he wants it to or not. Marlowe, a foundling from a railway freight car, shines with a strange bluish light. He can melt or mend flesh. When a jaded female detective is recruited to escort them to safety, all three begin a journey into the nature of difference, and belonging, and the shadowy edges of the monstrous. What follows is a story of wonder and betrayal, from the gaslit streets of London, and the wooden theatres of Meiji-era Tokyo, to an eerie…

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Liz Prato in Conversation With Lidia Yuknavitch

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

Generation X was born between the legions of Baby Boomers and Millennials, and was all but written off as cynical, sarcastic slackers. Yet, Gen X's impact on culture and society is undeniable. In her revealing and provocative essay collection, Kids in America (Santa Fe Writers Project), Liz Prato reveals a generation deeply affected by terrorism, racial inequality, rape culture, and mental illness in an era when none of these issues were openly discussed. Examined through the lens of her high school and family, Prato reveals a small, forgotten cohort shaped as much by Sixteen Candles and Beverly Hills, 90210, as it was by the Rodney King riots and the threat of nuclear annihilation. Prato is unflinching in asking hard questions of her peers about what…

Continue readingLiz Prato in Conversation With Lidia Yuknavitch
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Kim Harrison in Conversation With Charlaine Harris

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Rachel Morgan, witch-born demon, has one unspoken rule: take chances, but pay for them yourself. With it, she has turned enemies into allies, found her place with her demon kin, and stepped up as the subrosa of Cincinnati — responsible for keeping the paranormal community at peace and in line. Life is… good? Even better, her best friend, Ivy Tamwood, is returning home. Nothing’s simple, though, and Ivy’s not coming alone. The vampires’ ruling council insists she escort one of the long undead, hell-bent on proving that Rachel killed Cincy’s master vampire to take over the city. Which, of course, Rachel totally did not do. She only transformed her a little. With Rachel’s friends distracted by their own lives and problems, she reaches out to…

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Jules Ohman in Conversation With Kimberly King Parsons

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

Body Grammar (Vintage) is a coming-of-age queer love story set in the glamorous but grueling world of international modeling — and a radiant debut by a talented new writer. By the time Lou turns 18, modeling agents across Portland have scouted her for her striking androgynous look. Lou has no interest in fashion or being in the spotlight. She prefers to take photographs, especially of Ivy, her close friend and secret crush. But when a hike ends in a tragic accident, Lou finds herself lost and ridden with guilt. Determined to find a purpose, Lou moves to New York and steps into the dizzying world of international fashion shows, haute couture, and editorial shoots. It's a whirlwind of learning how to walk and how to…

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Fariha Róisín

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

Growing up in Australia, Fariha Róisín, a Bangladeshi Muslim, struggled to fit in. In attempts to assimilate, she distanced herself from her South Asian heritage and identity. Years later, living in the United States, she realized that the customs, practices, and even food of her native culture that had once made her different — everything from ashwagandha to prayer — were now being homogenized and marketed for good health, often at a premium by white people to white people. In Who Is Wellness For? (Harper Wave), her thought-provoking new book — part memoir, part journalistic investigation — the acclaimed writer and poet (How to Cure a Ghost) explores the way in which the progressive health industry has appropriated and commodified global healing traditions. She reveals…

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Madeleine Trebenski in Conversation With Matthew Carroll

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

If you've ever expressed even the slightest bit of dissatisfaction with the current state of your life, you've inevitably gotten the response, "Have you tried meditation? Exercise? Joining a cult? Joining an exercise cult?" And a variety of other helpful suggestions. Madeleine Trebenski’s Do I Feel Better Yet?: Questionable Attempts at Self-Care and Existing in General (Chronicle Prism) explores these topics with intellectual essays like "I'm Moving to the Woods to Live in a Nightmare Shack" and instructional guides such as "Are You Hungry or Are You Just Horny?" If you learn anything from Trebenski’s book, it should be that a $72 artisanal hand-blown glass cup isn't going to change your life. Trebenski will be joined in conversation by Matthew Carroll, author of Can I…

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Ruth Ozeki

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

One year after the death of his beloved musician father, 13-year-old Benny Oh begins to hear voices. The voices belong to the things in his house — a sneaker, a broken Christmas ornament, a piece of wilted lettuce. Although Benny doesn't understand what these things are saying, he can sense their emotional tone; some are pleasant, a gentle hum or coo, but others are snide, angry and full of pain. When his mother, Annabelle, develops a hoarding problem, the voices grow more clamorous. At first, Benny tries to ignore them, but soon the voices follow him outside the house, onto the street and at school, driving him at last to seek refuge in the silence of a large public library, where objects are well-behaved and…

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Joseph Han in Conversation With Gene Kwak

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Things are looking up for Mr. and Mrs. Cho. Their dream of franchising their Korean plate lunch restaurants across Hawaiʻi seems within reach after a visit from Guy Fieri boosts the profile of Cho’s Delicatessen. Their daughter, Grace, is busy finishing her senior year of college and working for her parents, while her older brother, Jacob, just moved to Seoul to teach English. But when a viral video shows Jacob trying — and failing — to cross the Korean demilitarized zone, nothing can protect the family from suspicion and the restaurant from waning sales. No one knows that Jacob has been possessed by the ghost of his lost grandfather, who feverishly wishes to cross the divide and find the family he left behind in the…

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Leah Sottile in Conversation With Ryan Haas

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

Inspired by Jon Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven and Jess Walter’s Every Knee Shall Bow, Leah Sottile’s When the Moon Turns to Blood (Twelve) explores modern-day survivalism and end-times extremism through the story of Lori Vallow and her husband, gravedigger turned doomsday novelist, Chad Daybell. When police in Rexburg, Idaho perform a wellness check on seven-year-old J.J. Vallow and his sister, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, both children are nowhere to be found. Their mother, Lori Vallow, gives a phony explanation, and when officers return the following day with a search warrant, she, too, is gone. As the police begin to close in, a larger web of mystery, murder, fanaticism, and deceit begins to unravel. Vallow’s case is sinuously complex. As investigators prod further, they find…

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