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Community News

In the Community: Upcoming Online Literary Events and Connections

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

2020 digital World Voices Festival, These Truths (PEN America)
The PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature traditionally brings hundreds of writers from around the world to New York and Los Angeles each spring, drawing audiences of thousands to book talks, readings, and lectures. With those in-person events now impossible to convene, PEN America has curated an ongoing digital version of the Festival that includes a suite of podcasts, videos, interviews, and musical playlists, with live events and other features to be rolled out over the coming weeks.

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 our mailing list to find out!)

Gaithersburg Book Festival
May 16–June 14
A celebration of books, writers, and literary excellence.

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.

Wisconsin Book Festival
Follow their Crowdcast page for upcoming events and to watch replays of past events.

Virtual Events

Becoming American. A conversation (Vanport Mosaic Festival)
Sunday, May 17
5:00–6:00 p.m.

Join author Ramiza Koya and founder of The Immigrant StorySankar Raman as they bring their unique perspectives and explore ideas of “Americanness.”

Sex, Art and Power: Writer to Writer with Garth Greenwell and Lidia Yuknavitch, moderated by Keiko Lane (Bay Area Book Festival)
Program will air Tuesday May 19th, 7:00 PM PST (Register)

Suppressed: The Right to Vote Screening and Talkback (Bay Area Book Festival)
With Phoebe Einzig-Roth, director Robert Greenwald, moderated by John Diaz.
Program will air Thursday May 21st, 7:00 PM PDT (Register)

The Road to Women’s Suffrage (New York Times, Live at Home)
Tuesday, May 19
1:00 p.m. PST

Join us as we kick off “Unfinished Work,” our new series investigating the ongoing battle for women’s rights in America. This week, we’ll explore the road to the 19th Amendment and the women who made it happen — including women of color whose work toward winning truly equal voting rights for all has been less celebrated. Then, we’ll take a closer look at the legacy and impact of the 19th amendment on the present day fight for equality. 

Featuring Valerie Jarrett, board chair, When We All Vote, co-chair, The United State Of Women. Special guests Martha S. Jones, Society of Black Alumni presidential professor and professor of history at the Johns Hopkins University; Kate Clarke Lemay, historian at the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute; and Susan Ware, honorary women’s suffrage centennial historian at Radcliffe’s Schlesinger Library, Harvard University. Hosted by Jennifer Schuessler, culture reporter at The Times.

Summer Reads for a Not-Quite-Normal Summer
(New York Times: Live at Home)
Thursday, May 21
12:30 p.m. ET

Join us as we share our perfect summer reads and much more, in this special two-part edition of Book Review Live.
In Part 1, Pamela Paul, editor of The New York Times Book Review, welcomes best-selling author Ann Patchett to celebrate the joy of great stories in unsettling times.

What do you read when the summer you know is suddenly unknowable? In Part 2, John Williams, daily Books editor at The Times takes a virtual peek through the shelves of Lisa Lucas, executive director of the National Book Foundation and Parul Sehgal, book critic at The Times.


Resources for Writers

(Play)Writing During the Quarantine (Artists Rep Theatre)
Mondays, May 18 – June 22
6:30-9:30pm

A remote playwriting class with Dan Kitrosser

Submit a Video of YOU Reading Your Poem (Airlie Press)
Poetry is always necessary, but especially in these strange and trying times. Help us spread virtual poetry love and send us a video of you reading your poetry for consideration to be included in Airlie’s new YouTube channel and social media channels. 

Podcasts/ Radio

Poetry in the Pandemic (OPB)
Oregon Poets Offer Reflection In Times of Crisis

Activities and Events for Kids & Teens

Hay Festival Programme for Schools
May 18-22
Each day, from 8am onwards, you can see two primary (years 3-6) authors introduced by Konnie Huq and two secondary (years 7-10) authors introduced by Jenny Valentine. These events will be available to watch again on Hay Player and you can access teaching materials to support learning before, during and after the festival.

Virtual Story Time with Nikki McClure (Green Bean Books)
Tuesday, May 19
11:00 – 11:30 a.m.

And more…

Lit Stitch: 25 Cross-Stitch Patterns for Book Lovers (Book Riot)
Clever and quirky cross-stitch patterns that proudly show off your love for all things literary.

The Loft’s Equilibrium: Anis Mojgani (YouTube)
On September 22, 2012, Anis Mojgani performed as part of Equilibrium’s 10th Anniversary Show. An inspiring performance by Oregon’s newly appointed Poet Laureate.

#ReadIndieForward (Shelf Awareness)
Like a chain letter for books, #ReadIndieForward encourages readers to buy one book a week from indies for as many as eight to 10 weeks, send those books to family and friends, and ask recipients to pay it forward with their friends and families–and mention the gift and bookstore on social media.

Readers can purchase books directly from their favorite independent bookstore, Indiebound.org or Bookshop.org, which has a special page for #ReadIndieForward.


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