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          Finalists reading: Creative Nonfiction, Fiction and Poetry
          April 3, 2024
          One Page Wednesday: APRIL
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          Everybody Reads 2024: Gabrielle Zevin
          April 8, 2024
          2024 Oregon Book Awards Ceremony
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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.

MISS A PORTLAND BOOK FESTIVAL EVENT?

Watch the replay of any free event in our Portland Book Festival Video Library

Simply register for a free account to view. To request closed captioning on any video in the library, email la@literary-arts.org or call us at 503-227-2583, option 2.

BEST BOOKS OF 2020

Our favorite lists from all around the web. Consider purchasing from a local independent bookstore, like our partners Broadway Books, Powell’s, or Green Bean Books!

Multnomah County Library’s Best of 2020 List

Lit Hub’s Favorite Books of the Year

The 10 Best Books of 2020: The Times Book Review

42 Best-of Lists and Counting: Powell’s Books

Publishers Weekly: Best Books 2020

NPR’s Book Concierge: 2020

VIRTUAL LITERARY EVENTS

Powell’s Virtual Events

Over 250 authors and conversation partners, all free to view online! Including Board Member Jonathan Hill, author of Odessa.

Pastries, Poetry, and Prose: Monique Truong (The Loft)

January 14 | 7:00 p.m. CST | $10
Featuring acclaimed authors, we’ll dig into all things delicious, whether we’re talking about books, baked goods, or both.

Bay Area Book Fest

Ongoing | Free and online

Wisconsin Book Festival

Ongoing | Free and online

Wordplay (The Loft)

Wordplay 2020 is over, but you can still access all of our virtual events on the schedule page! Wordplay 2021 will be happening in early May.

Black Mountain Institute

Black Mountain Institute will be running virtual programming all year long. Watch replays of WestXMidwest and Black Talk, Black Feeling in the PDXBookFest.org Video Library.

RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES FOR WRITERS

The 2021 Page Turner Awards
Giving you the chance to propel your writing career! The Page Turner Awards aim to give writers and authors the chance of securing a publishing contract or a film rights option, plus many more prizes.

How to Pitch Electric Literature
December 14 | 6:00 p.m. EST | $10
In our virtual salon, How to Pitch Electric Literature, Electric Lit editors share best practices, common mistakes, and everything else you need to craft a pitch-perfect pitch that’s sure to grab an editor’s attention, with Literature editor-in-chief Jess Zimmerman and contributing editor Jennifer Baker.

MASS MoCA Fellowship for Writers of Color
Deadline: January 8
This fellowships shall be awarded to one writer working in English in any genre who self-identifies as Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color. The fellowship funds all residency fees for up to four weeks in residence.

We Need Diverse Books Emergency Fund
We Need Diverse Books have recently updated their eligibility criteria so that even more diverse creatives can apply during this challenging time. Grant amounts range from $500–$1,000.

Authors League Fund
The Authors League Fund provides assistance in times of emergency, when a writer is struggling to afford necessities. Recipients of Authors League Fund assistance must be career writers with a substantial body of work.

Dramatist’s League Foundation
DGF provides emergency financial assistance to individual playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists in dire need of funds due to severe hardship or unexpected illness.


FOR KIDS/TEENS

Youth Power PDX: Speak Up Sing Out

Youth Power PDX is a youth-run collective, centering BIPOC and queer (LGBTQ+) stories and voices through the crossroads of story, music, visual art and activism. Speak Up Sing Out, a youth directed event where youth arts, activism and discussions come together to uplift and empower youth action. Youth poets (BIPOC and LGTBQ to the front) to recite their poetry and talk about issues that are important to them. Stipends range from $10—$50 dollars, apply via their website. 

Penguin Random House Creative Writing Awards Program in Partnership with We Need Diverse Books
Deadline: March 2, 2021
Calling all high school seniors attending a public high school in the United States! We Need Diverse Books and Penguin Random House are happy to announce that submissions are open for the 2021 Creative Writing Awards, a scholarship program dedicated to furthering the education of students with unique and diverse voices.
I Matter Poetry Contest: National Youth Foundation

Deadline: July 23, 2021
The contest is open to students in grades K—12. Submit one poem on the topic of Black Lives Matter here. Top prize is $500!

The Youth Passion Project

The Youth Passion Project creates a space where high school students can share their passions with others by offering free, online courses taught by high schoolers to encourage younger students to expand and supplement their learning. Classes range from Songwriting to Introduction to Coding in Java. 

Les Misérables Virtual Student Auditions
December 5–13 (new dates may be added)
Grades 9–12 & ages 7–9
Stumptown Stages Director of Education and Les Misérables cast member alum Jim Charles is seeking 40 students from around the country for an all-youth performance of Les Misérables.

WHAT WE’RE READING

Black History Month: Authors of the Pacific Northwest (Powell’s)

As part of Powell’s Black History Month celebrations, they are spotlighting Black authors who were raised in the Pacific Northwest, or make their homes and livelihoods here now. From Newbery and Caldecott medalist Renée Watson to Whiting and Ernst J. Gains Award winner Mitchell S. Jackson, the writers below often examine Black life in the Pacific Northwest, and their words are central to our evolving, collective sense of place and identity.

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