Each week, Literary Arts staff will round up news, events, and more happening in the literary community. Let us know if you have any events or book news to share.
Virtual Festivals
Bay Area Book Festival #UNBOUND
#UNBOUND presents notable authors in free, stimulating literary conversations highly relevant for our challenging times. Programs debut on YouTube Premiere with live audience chat, then remain as recordings there and on our site. (Some special ticketed programs include live audience questions to the authors —join their mailing list to find out!)
Wisconsin Book Festival
Follow their Crowdcast page for upcoming events and to watch replays of past events.
Vanport Mosaic Festival
May 8 – 30
The annual Vanport Mosaic Festival cannot happen as originally planned in N/NE Portland venues rich with invisible and intangible history, but the Spirit of Vanport lives on through a virtual season of hope, moral imagination and solidarity.
The Vanport Mosaic Festival is a series of memory activism opportunities: screenings, presentations, conversations and art performances that amplify personal experience of individuals and communities impacted by the long-endured inequalities across American economic, social, and civic systems.
Virtual Events
Choice Words: Writers on Abortion (Haymarket Books)
Sat, May 9, 2020
2:00 – 3:30 p.m. EDT
A special international-focused discussion of Choice Words: Writers on Abortion, a landmark literary collection of essays, poems, and prose that are a testament to the profound political power of defying shame. Haymarket Books convenes a panel of contributors from this powerful volume for a conversation on the personal-political fight for abortion rights.
Discussing The Cassandra with Author Sharma Shields
Thursday, May 14
6:30-7:30 p.m. PST
This salon is free and open to the public. Please join us!
Join Satya Doyle Byock for an evening Salon conversation with author Sharma Shields about her masterful book, The Cassandra.
In many ways paralleling Carl Jung’s pre-cognition about WWI as documented in The Red Book, The Cassandra is a novel exploring the inner and outer story of a woman who goes to work in a top secret research facility during WWII, only to be tormented by visions of what the mission will mean for humankind.
First Matter Press Poetry Reading and Open Mic
Saturday, May 16
6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
Join First Matter Press for a poetry reading and open mic on Saturday, May 16 at 6:00! Peter Hamer, Eitan Codish, and K. M. Lighthouse, joined by guests, will read from their forthcoming books to be released in summer/fall 2020 by First Matter Press. Details will be given about their open submission period as well.
Mt St. Helens: A Discussion of Post-Eruption Resilience and Recovery (Overcup Books)
Friday, May 15
6:00 p.m. PST
Join Ruby McConnell, registered geologist and author of Ground Truth, a Geological Survey of a Life and Eric Wagner, biologist and author of After the Blast for a reading and discussion at the 40th-anniversary mark of the Mt. St. Helens 1980 eruption. They’ll share their personal stories of their time on Mt. St. Helens and discuss the most significant volcanic eruption in modern U.S. history, and the resilience and recovery of the surrounding land.
Podcasts/ Radio
Think Out Loud (OPB)
Listen to Literary Arts board member and the 10th Poet Laureate of Oregon Anis Mojgani on OPB’s Think Out Loud. Mojgani shares some of his poetry and how he’s thinking about his new role in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
What We’re Reading
Coronavirus Notebook: Finding Solace, and Connection, in Classic Books (New York Times)
Jenny Odell on Taking the Time You Need to Notice, Think, and Grow (The Creative Independent)
Activities for Kids & Teens
Harry Potter at Home (Wizarding World)
Daniel Radcliffe reads the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone/Sorcerer’s Stone, as part of Harry Potter At Home. Look out for more special video readings in the upcoming weeks.
And more…
Daily Write with Brian Benson
Open to all. 12:00 p.m. every day!
The Kristen Arnett Show (Black Mountain Institute)
Every Wednesday, live from Las Vegas at 3 p.m. PST, hang out with BMI Shearing Fellow Kristen Arnett and guests including brilliant writers like Lisa Ko, and Carmen Maria Machado.
Turn Scraps into Poetry with Hanif Abdurraqib (Pop-Up Magazine)
Blog cover photos by Ashley Gilbertson/VII for The New York Times
