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!

The Moth: StorySLAM: Grown

The Old Church Concert Hall 1422 SW 11th Ave, Portland, OR, United States

GROWN: Prepare a five-minute story about the highs and lows of adulting, or the trials and tribulations of getting there. Old enough to know better or wishing someone else would grow the heck up. Growing pains, rites of passage and the great onslaught of responsibility. You know what they say: age is just a number. COVID Requirements: See The Old Church's COVID Policy for details. We will not be selling any tickets at the door. This venue is 16+ *Seating is not guaranteed and is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please be sure to arrive at least 10 minutes before the show. Admission is not guaranteed for late arrivals. All sales final. Media Sponsors: OPB and Literary Arts

$15

Fiction Technique in Memoir

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

Memoir is not “biography” and it doesn’t have to read like a textbook. Memoir is a unique and exciting format in which the writer has the creative freedom to tell some portion of their life’s story in a captivating way. We don’t necessarily need to read your story from birth up to the present day but like any good novel, a good memoir should have a storyarch, memorable characters and a narrator who changes in some way by the end of the story. In this class, we will look at techniques for forming that story arch, for developing stronger characters and for writing scenes that will create an impact. We do this by applying some of the same storytelling and structural techniques that fiction writers…

$285

One Page Wednesday: October

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

One Page Wednesday is back in-person at our downtown center! Here is an opportunity to share or listen to one page of work in progress from talented writers from everywhere. Come with a single page of work and sign up to read – or come to listen and prepare to be inspired. Our host this month is the one and only, Emme Lund. Our featured reader is cosima bee concordia. Please review our Covid-19 guidelines. Be prepared to show proof of vaccination or a negative PCR Test at the door. Masks are not required but encouraged. If you have any questions, contact Jessica at jessica@literary-arts.org. Emme Lund Emme Lund is an author living and writing in Portland, Oregon. She has an MFA from Mills College. Her work has…

Free

In-Store Reading: Cai Emmons, Yuvi Zalkow, Kate Gale

Annie Bloom's Books 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes Oregon author Cai Emmons who is presenting her new novel, Livid, published by Red Hen Press. The author Whitney Otto will be a stand-in reader for Cai, whose ALS precludes public speaking. They will be joined by fellow Red Hen author Yuvi Zalkow, whose new novel is I Only Cry with Emoticons, and Red Hen co-founder Kate Gale, whose new poetry collection is The Loneliest Girl. This in-store reading is first come, first served. Please be mindful of any store health policies that might be in effect on the night of the reading. About Livid: Sybil White Brown returns from Boston to the small West Coast city where she once lived, hoping to heal after a terrible loss. Summoned to jury duty,…

Free

In-Store Reading: Steven Mayfield: Delphic Oracle, U.S.A.

Annie Bloom's Books 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes back Portland author Steven Mayfield for the in-store launch of his new novel, Delphic Oracle, U.S.A. Masks are required for this event. We keep a supply of masks near our front door for anyone who needs one. Signed and personalized copies are available for pre-order! Please, please, please include the name for personalization in the order notes; all orders without a name specified in the order notes will be signed only. About Delphic Oracle, U.S.A.: It is 1925 when a love affair between enchantress Maggie Westinghouse and con man July Pennybaker upends the small town of Miagrammesto Station, tumbles it about, and sets it back down as Delphic Oracle, Nebraska. Will their love fulfill its destiny? The narrator of this wry, entertaining…

Free

Bookmark: A Benefit for Literary Arts

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Literary Arts is proud to invite you to Bookmark: A Benefit for Literary Arts, a showing of essential support for and celebration of the stories in our community and the essential ideas and issues they raise. Join us on Wednesday, October 12, 2022 at 5:30 p.m. (PT) for a special pre-show in advance of the 6:00 p.m. (PT) event to support readers, writers, and the next generation of storytellers. You’ll hear moving stories from artists within our community, as well as surprise special guests, performances, and more! Throughout the evening, you can directly support the work we do to shape the future of storytelling in Oregon. RSVP and learn more here: https://www.avcast.me/bookmark.  

Free

Delve Readers Seminar: Siri Hustvedt: A Woman’s View

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

Winner of the 2019 Princesa de Asturias Award for Literature, Siri Hustvedt has an especially acute way of looking at the world around her. A feminist and an activist for democracy, Hustvedt has a visual and profound way of seeing the world around her, which is reflected in her writing’s subjectivity. This attentive observation allows her to develop complex characters and relations, with a close intimacy between them and with the reader. In this six-week seminar, we will read two of Husvedt novels—one early in her career and another closer to our time: The Blindfold and Memories of the Future. We may also add one or two of her essays to connect her theoretical ideas with her fictional work. As stated by the jury in…

$245

In-Store Reading: David Ambroz: A Place Called Home

Annie Bloom's Books 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes Los Angeles author David Ambroz for a reading from his new memoir, A Place Called Home. This in-store reading is first come, first served. Seating is limited. Please be mindful of any store health policies that might be in effect on the night of the reading. About A Place Called Home: There are millions of homeless children in America today and in A Place Called Home, award-winning child welfare advocate David Ambroz writes about growing up homeless in New York for eleven years and his subsequent years in foster care, offering a window into what so many kids living in poverty experience every day. Told with lyricism and sparkling with warmth, A Place Called Home depicts childhood poverty and homelessness as it…

Free

In-Store Reading: The Great Uncluttering: Carolyn Moore Tribute

Annie Bloom's Books 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes Penelope Scambly Schott, Laura Weeks, and Melody Wilson for readings from the new posthumously published collection of Carolyn Moore's poetry, The Great Uncluttering, as well as their own work. Per our current policy, masks are strongly encouraged at this event. Thank you! Carolyn Moore (1944–2019) was the author of four chapbooks—Against a Second Fall, winner of the New Eden Chapbook Prize; The Great Uncluttering, winner of the Bread and Lightning Chapbook Competition; The Flavors of Quarks and Blame, winner of the Refined Savage Press National Poetry Competition; and The Seven Deadlies, winner of Interrobang’s Chapbook Competition—and one full-length collection, What Euclid’s Third Axiom Neglects to Mention about Circles (White Pine Press, 2013). In total, Moore won over 60 awards and honors for…

Free

The Moth: StorySLAM: Costumes

Holocene 1001 SE Morrison St, Portland, OR, United States

COSTUMES: Prepare a five-minute story about playing the part. Holidays, parties or the school play. Stories of wearing the clothes to conform or stand out. Imposter syndrome or uniforms that itch. From ComiCon to Mardi Gras— Santa Clause to Spock, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle to Sexy Zombie Cat. Reveal yourself! COVID Requirements: See Holocene's COVID Policy for details. We will not be selling any tickets at the door. This venue is 21+ *Seating is not guaranteed and is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please be sure to arrive at least 10 minutes before the show. Admission is not guaranteed for late arrivals. All sales final. Media Sponsors: OPB and Literary Arts

$15