Literary Arts has been hard at work preparing for Portland Book Festival (formerly Wordstock), presented by Bank of America. This event builds community around books, from children’s story times and writing workshops to author events and the book fair. Below are some highlights and updates as we look forward to the festival’s return on Saturday, November 11, 2017.
The 2017 Festival features a range of authors writing in all genres. Click here to read this year’s press release, including a list of authors by category.
Portland Book Festival is an event for everyone. Every kind of reader can find their story within the books at this year’s festival. Literary Arts is proud to host more than 103 authors who will be featured in the more than 40 on-stage interviews and discussions. In the stories they have given us, we see ourselves, and we can imagine lives beyond our own. We meet a wrestler, an astronaut, undocumented immigrants, a detective, a soldier, an artist, an outlaw, a boy band; we look back to the Ice Age and toward dystopian futures; we travel from Florence, Italy to war-torn Syria, from Silicon Valley to space, from Northern Michigan to the Mexican border, and, of course, we explore the Pacific Northwest and our hometown, Portland.
Literary Arts is also thrilled to have The New York Times as a new programming and media partner. Times writers will moderate select on-stage conversations. The full festival schedule will be announced in early October. Sign up for our monthly email newsletter to receive the latest updates.
Portland Book Festival will take place on Saturday, November 11, with events starting every 15 minutes from 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. Ticket prices will remain $15 general admission for advance purchases, with prices go up to $18 day-of. Paid entry includes the $5 voucher to spend at the book fair. Youth 17 years of age and younger and/or with valid high school ID enjoy free admission. This year, in acknowledgement of Veterans Day, we are proud to offer free admission to active duty military and veterans. The festival schedule of event will be released in early October; watch this space and sign up for our e-news to be the first to hear.
For attendees looking for a VIP festival experience, a very limited number of Friends of the Festival tickets are available for $250 each, and will grant priority access to select stages and come with other great perks.
The festival will once again be hosted by Portland Art Museum, Portland’5, the First Congregational United Church of Christ, the Old Church, the Oregon Historical Society, and the Northwest Film Center. We are grateful to all of our venue partners for their continued support. A range of writing workshops will be held at the Northwest Film Center, including free workshops for youth and veterans. The extended book fair featuring 80 local and national vendors, will take over two ballrooms at the Portland Art Museum. Continuing with our tradition of celebrating the visual splendor of the Portland Art Museum, pop-up events will feature festival authors reading their work in the museum galleries. We are also adding additional food carts this year.
Partner events will occur throughout the festival weekend, including, on Friday, November 10, Lit Crawl Portland, LOFI @ Wordstock. NWFC’s Film to Page will host screenings Friday and Saturday, and Live Wire Radio has Wordstock shows on Saturday night and Sunday brunch o’clock. Tickets for these events–except Lit Crawl, which is free and open to the public–are available through the presenting organizations.
Portland Book Festival is made possible by our incredible community of volunteers. We are looking for new and returning volunteers to help fill a variety of roles before and during this year’s festival. Help us share this opportunity and sign up to be a volunteer today.
We are proud to present a festival reflecting the amazing literary community in this city and state, and we strive to make the festival accessible and enjoyable for all ages and all backgrounds. We look forward to celebrating with you at Portland Book Festival on Saturday, November 11.
All the best,
Amanda Bullock,
Director of Public Programs
Wordstock: Portland’s Book Festival is made possible by the following sponsors and partners:
