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!

Diane Williams and Rodney Koeneke

PSU - Smith Memorial Student Union 1825 SW Broadway, Portland, OR, United States

Diane Williams is the author of nine books of fiction, including The Collected Stories of Diane Williams (Soho Press, 2018). She is the founder and editor of the literary annual NOON. She lives in New York City. Rodney Koeneke is author of the poetry collections Body & Glass (Wave Books, 2018), Etruria (Wave Books, 2014), Musee Mechanique (BlazeVOX, 2006), and Rouge State (Pavement Saw, 2003). An early member of the Flarf collective, he was active in the San Francisco Bay Area poetry scene until 2006, when he moved to Portland, Oregon. He teaches in the History Department at Portland State University. Monday, November 5 at 6:30pm Smith Memorial Student Union, Room 238

Free

Rodney Koeneke & Jennifer Denrow

Passages Bookshop 1801 NW Upshur, Suite 660, Portland, OR, United States

Jennifer Denrow is the author of California. She lives in Oregon. Rodney Koeneke's latest book of poems, Body & Glass, is just out from Wave Books. Other books include Etruria (Wave, 2014), Musee Mechanique (BlazeVOX, 2006), and Rouge State (Pavement Saw, 2003). His work has appeared in Fence, Granta, Harper's, The Nation, Poetry, Zyzzyva, and elsewhere. He lives in Portland, OR.

Free – $5

Marathon reading of Bernadette Mayer’s Midwinter Day

Passages Bookshop 1801 NW Upshur, Suite 660, Portland, OR, United States

Bernadette Mayer's Midwinter Day is an "epic poem about a daily routine" (Alice Notley) written in a single day on the winter solstice in 1978 in Lenox, Massachusetts. On the 40th anniversary of its composition, we'll read the whole book aloud. Listeners are welcome to come and go at will, or stay for the full reading which should take about three hours. Similar events are scheduled around the country on the same day; for a full listing see Becca Klaver's Midwinter Day at 40 page. The readers (in approximate order of appearance) are David Abel, Sam Lohmann, Jen Coleman, Linda Austin, John Beer, Marilyn Stablein, Laura Feldman, Tom DeBeauchamp, Endi Bogue Hartigan, Jesse Morse, Jen Denrow, Bronwen Tate, Emily Kendal Frey, Rodney Koeneke, Seann McCollum,…

Free

A Marathon Reading of Robert Duncan’s ‘Ground Work’

Passages Bookshop 1801 NW Upshur, Suite 660, Portland, OR, United States

Each winter, the Spare Room reading series hosts a marathon reading of a long work. This year, we are observing the centenary of Robert Duncan (1919–1988), a central figure of Bay Area poetry associated with the Berkeley Renaissance and Black Mountain groups. We'll read Duncan's last two collections, Ground Work: Before the War (1984) and Ground Work: In the Dark (1988), which together form a single work, reprinted in a single volume by New Directions in 2006. The reading is free; come and go as you please or stay for the whole thing! There will be a beverage table (BYO and sharing encouraged). More about Robert Duncan: Michael Palmer's preface to Ground Work (2006) Audio from Duncan's readings and lectures on PennSound Readers, in approximate…

Free

AWP 2019 // Wave Books at the IPRC

IPRC (Independent Publishing Resource Center) 318 SE Main Street #175, Portland, OR, United States

Come out to one of Portland's coolest literary spaces, the Independent Publishing Resource Center, and help us make an edition and learn how to sew a simple booklet. Then, in the evening, join us for a celebratory reading by Wave poets. Readers will include: Aaron Kunin, Danielle Dutton, Dorothea Lasky, Joshua Beckman, Magdalena Zurawski, Michael Earl Craig, Prageeta Sharma, Rachel Zucker, Rodney Koeneke, Richard Meier, Tyehimba Jess, Matthew Zapruder, John Beer, Alejandro de Acosta, and Dara Wier. The book-sewing will go from 2–5PM; the reading will go from 5–11PM.

Free

Bookseller’s Ball

Star Theater 13 NW 6th Ave, Portland, OR, United States

A raucous party featuring visiting writers with new books from national independent presses (McSweeney’s, Third Man Books, Wave Poetry, and others), along with beloved local authors and popular NW bands (Power of County, The Savage Family Band, Ex-Kids, Morgan and the Organ Donors, and Bergerette). Come celebrate the last night of AWP 2019 at Portland’s historic Star Theater: Saturday, March 30, 5pm-2am, and dance the night away with DJ Cecilia after our roster of readers, rock and shenanigans have properly entertained you. For the complete list of performers, sponsors and stage times, please check: www.motherfoucaultsbookshop.com Doors at 5pm Full Schedule: 5pm Doors. DJ. 5:30 band: Power of Country 6:00 readers: Adèle Barclay, Cari Luna, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, Jaswinder Bolina, Casandra Lopez 7pm Bookseller’s Ball. 7:00…

Free

A Marathon Reading of Ronald Johnson’s ARK

Chris Ashby's Apartment 615 SE 18th Avenue, Apt. 1 (not A), Portland, OR, United States

Each winter, the Spare Room reading series hosts a marathon reading of a long work. In 2020 we’ll be reading Ronald Johnson’s long poem ARK, which was written over about 25 years and published in sections between 1980 and 1996 (and reprinted in 2013 by Flood Editions). Guy Davenport wrote: "ARK is a metaphysical poem that could only have been written in our time, of which it displays a new vision. It is a late harvest of seeds sown by Blake, the Bible, and Zukofsky, all in a new architecture, a wholly new voice, and even a new chemistry of words and images. It is for those who can see visions, and for those who know how to look well and be taught that they can see them." Free.…

Free

Lorraine Lupo, Kyle Schlesinger, Rodney Koeneke, & Adam Torres

Passages Bookshop 1801 NW Upshur, Suite 660, Portland, OR, United States

Spare Room and Passages Bookshop present an evening of poetry and music ADAM TORRES LORRAINE LUPO KYLE SCHLESINGER RODNEY KOENEKE Thursday, March 16 Doors open at 7:00 pm; reading at 7:30 pm Admission free; no late entry Passages Bookshop 1801 NW Upshur, Suite 660 Portland, OR 97209 503-388-7665 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Adam Torres released both Pearls to Swine and I Came to Sing the Song on Fat Possum Records in 2016 & 2017 respectively, from his then-home of Austin, Texas. After three years of touring far and wide, he…

Free

Spare Room Annual Marathon Reading: Gertrude Stein & Jackson Mac Low

Passages Bookshop 1801 NW Upshur, Suite 660, Portland, OR, United States

Spare Room and Passages Bookshop present a marathon reading IDA  by  Gertrude Stein Pieces o’ Six  by  Jackson Mac Low Sunday, April 30 12:00 pm until finish (probably around 8:00-8:30 pm) Admission free Passages Bookshop 1801 NW Upshur, Suite 660 Portland, OR 97209 503-388-7665 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = The Spare Room Reading Series hosts an annual marathon reading, in which local writers, artists, and friends read aloud one or more booklength texts. This year's marathon features Gertrude Stein's short novel Ida (1945) and Jackson Mac Low's thirty-three "poems in prose"…

Free

Marathon reading: Keats & Boone

Passages Bookshop 1801 NW Upshur, Suite 660, Portland, OR, United States

Spare Room Reading Series presents our annual marathon reading: Endymion by John Keats & Century of Clouds by Bruce Boone Sunday, April 7, 2024 10:00 am until we finish (probably around 6:00-7:00 pm) Passages Bookshop, 1801 NW Upshur St., Suite 660, Portland Free admission; come and go as you please Readers include: David Abel, Chris Ashby, Chris Daniels, Laura Feldman, Rodney Koeneke, Sam Lohmann, Seann McCollum, Joe Safdie, Andrew Simon, & James Yeary. ============================================================== Also Upcoming at Passages April 3      Reading by Chris Daniels. Tom De Beauchamp, & Flavia Rocha ==============================================================

Free