Each month, Literary Arts staff will round up news, events, and more happening in Portland, and beyond. Let us know in the form below the blog if you have any events or news to share.
EVENTS
Voices of the Soul featuring Fred Child (Chamber Music Northwest)
Sunday, July 23, at 4:00 p.m. | In person at Portland State University, Lincoln Performance Hall, 1620 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR | Tickets
Monday, July 24, at 8:00 p.m. | In person at Reed College, Kaul Auditorium, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland, OR | Tickets
Music can be an extraordinary expression of personal suffering, loneliness, loss, and ultimately triumph. The wild colors of Alexander Scriabin’s brilliant third piano sonata, the penetrating soulfulness of the folk songs of the great Armenian priest Komitas, and the symphonic scale of Richard Strauss’s chamber music make this the most wide-ranging concert of the summer festival. Chinese-American composer Wang Jie’s world premiere for Pierrot ensemble and narrator, Blame the Obituary, is simultaneously a whimsical, comical, and bleak musical picture of life during the trying last few years. Wang Jie’s husband and host of the radio show Performance Today, Fred Child, narrates with pathos and self-deprecating humor.
Reading: Brittney Corrigan: Solastalgia (Annie Bloom’s Books)
Monday, July 24, from 7:00–8:00 p.m. | In person at Annie Bloom’s Books, 7834 SW Capitol Hwy., Portland, OR | FREE
Annie Bloom’s welcomes back Portland poet Brittney Corrigan for an in-store reading from her new collection, Solastalgia. Brittney will be joined by fellow Portland poet Kristin Berger, whose latest collection is Earthwork. Signed and personalized copies of Solastalgia are available for 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.
The Book Lovers Bike Ride (Street Books)
Tuesday, July 25, at 6:00 p.m. | Revolution Hall Parking Lot, 1300 SE Stark St (on the south side of the building, on 14th street), Portland, OR | FREE
Love books, bikes and community? Street Books is hosting the Book Lovers Ride on July 25th and connect over our shared love of books! Bring a well-loved book for a book exchange and leave with a new-to-you one! There will also be prizes from local authors and writers, games, and opportunities to learn about the amazing work of Street Books, Portland’s bicycle-powered mobile library, serving people who live outside. This is a leisurely ride open to all. We’ll meet by the Revolution Hall parking lot (SE 14th and SE Alder) and end at Colonel Summers Park.
FESTIVAL FINALE: American Masterworks (Chamber Music Northwest)
Thursday, July 27, at 8:00 p.m. | In person at Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, 12625 SW Crescent St., Beaverton, OR | Tickets
Saturday, July 29, at 8:00 p.m. | In person at Reed College, Kaul Auditorium, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland, OR | Tickets
Our festival finale is an exciting celebration of the vitality of American music from the turn of the 20th century until today: native and folk influences in Antonín Dvořák, New England church hymns and popular tunes in Charles Ives, traditional Romanticism in Amy Beach, and modern-day lyricism in Chris Rogerson. The sensational Fleur Barron, who opened the festival, returns to close the summer in a beautiful world premiere work by Rogerson, and the dynamic South African pianist Anton Nel makes his CMNW debut in Beach’s ravishing Piano Quintet.
Paseo
July 30 | In person at the South Park Blocks at Shemanski Park, Portland, OR
Paseo will feature music, dance, spoken word, and other creative forms, along with yoga and healthful, family activities in the heart of downtown.
RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARTISTS AND WRITERS
Oregon Literary Fellowships
Deadline: August 4, 2023
Literary Arts is honored to run the Oregon Literary Fellowships, which are intended to help Oregon writers at all stages of their career initiate, develop, or complete literary projects in poetry, fiction, literary nonfiction, drama, and young readers’ literature. Fellowships are also awarded to support Oregon’s independent publishers and small presses that demonstrate a commitment to literary publishing. You don’t need to be published to apply!
We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) is preparing for our 2023 Summer Auction. We are looking for author and publishing professionals interested in donating items like manuscript and query critiques, AMA/phone consultations, and more. For this auction, we are focusing on adult fiction and non-fiction genres. Find more details here. Thank you so much for your support!
Creative (Writing) Drop-In Sessions (with Haldane King, MFA)
Every Wednesday, from 5:00–6:00 p.m.
In person at the Vintage Conference Room. Vida Coworking Space, 401 NE 19th Avenue Suite #200, Portland, OR and online via Google Meet
Email HaldaneKing@gmail.com to sign up
Haldane King is an author and facilitator currently working with the Why There Are Words Literary Organization. He has an MFA in Writing & Consciousness from the California Institute of Integral Studies. The Creative (Writing) Drop-in is open to everyone and all forms of creative expression, with an emphasis on the written form.
WNDB IS SEEKING 2024 MENTORS
Are you a traditionally published author or illustrator? WNDB mentors are paid a stipend of $1,000 and work one-on-one with an unpublished writer or illustrator for the entire year (January-December 2024). Mentors must be traditionally published with three or more forthcoming/published books in their category, either: Illustration, Picture Book, Middle Grade, or Young Adult. If you are interested in serving as a mentor, please email mentor@diversebooks.org with the subject line ‘2024 WNDB Mentor,’ with your name, your publication history, and the genre you are seeking to mentor.
Pick Your Wilderness Writing Adventure (Fishtrap’s 2023 Outpost Programs)
September 3–8
Give yourself the time to explore a remote, natural environment as a way to find solitude, connect to the landscape in a meaningful way, and write about your experience. Registration opens December 1, 2022. Each Outpost experience includes a week of discovery, writing instruction, meals, and camping in an inspiring and unforgettable setting.
FOR KIDS/ TEENS
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (The Judy)
July 22–August 6 | Saturdays and Sundays, 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. | Tickets
What happens when a troupe of actors prepare for a play . . . but everything goes wrong? You end up with a marvelous mixup of very cheesy stories! Featuring a cast of colorful characters and zany musical numbers, this hilarious parody flips classic fairy tales on their head. Cinderella snubs Rumpelstiltskin, frogs trick princesses into kissing them with no magical outcome, and The Ugly Duckling grows up to be a Really Ugly Duck. WARNING: This play is incredibly stupid!
Scribes Summer Camps (Hugo House)
Online options available | Through August 25
Scribes Summer Camps provide young writers the opportunity to participate in week-long, all-day workshops, during which you can focus on, dig deep into, and nurture your inner writer. You’ll work alongside instructors who are published writers and educators themselves, as well as guest teaching artists. Every camp offers the option to pay at 30%, 60%, 90%, or 100% of the registration amount. Just click on the pay option you prefer when you register online! If you are having trouble, please contact us at 206.322.7030 or email welcome@hugohouse.org.
Summer Reading at Multnomah County Library
Through August 31
Find Your Voice at Multnomah County Library. Play the Summer Reading Game! Read for fun and prizes this summer. Babies, kids and teens can play the Summer Reading game by starting a daily reading habit. In addition, the library will have fun interactive virtual performances, storytelling, and arts and crafts for kids and families. It all kicks off June 16! Kids of all ages can play online or on paper. Summer Reading Volunteer applications will be available online and in libraries on April 15. Visit our volunteer page.
IN THE NEWS
Oregon Poet Laureate Anis Mojgani Is Rewriting the Role (Portland Monthly)
Take a moment to read Portland Monthly’s incredible profile on Anis Mojgani, Oregon poet laureate. We’re so grateful and honored to work with him on our Board of Directors and as the host of our youth poetry slam championship, Verselandia!
Creation Story (The New Yorker)
2022 Portland Book Festival author Tayi Tibble has a poem in The New Yorker. Enjoy!
The Divine Comedy of Roman Emperors’ Last Words (The New Yorker)
2023/24 Portland Arts & Lectures author Mary Beard writs on how “In the end, godlike aspirations often met with all too human final moments.” Get tickets for the 23/24 season of Portland Arts & Lectures now!
Here are the winners of the 2023 Pulitzer Prizes (NPR)
2022 Portland Book Festival author Hua Hsu won a Pulitzer Prize for Memoir or Autobiography!
Highlights Foundation Names Cottage in Honor of New York Times Bestselling Author Renée Watson
A huge congratulations to Literary Arts board member Renée Watson for this honor!
Meet 2023 Miss Juneteenth Oregon: Princess Fletcher of McDaniel High School (The Oregonian)
We were thrilled to see one of our Top 5 Verselandia! 2023 winners, Princess Fletcher, was crowned!
On Killing Charles Dickens (The New Yorker)
2023/24 Portland Arts & Lectures author Zadie Smith did everything she “could to avoid writing my historical novel. When I finally started The Fraud, one principle was clear: no Dickens.” Get tickets for the 23/24 season of Portland Arts & Lectures now!
RECOMMENDED READING
A Reading List for Disability Pride Month 2023 (clmp)
Broadway Books Summer 2023 Reading Challenge
Summer Reading Lists (Multnomah County Library)
The 17 Best LGBTQ+ Books of 2023 (Cosmopolitan)
Pickathon 2023 Reading List (Broadway Books)
Community News Submissions
Let us know if you have any events, news to share, or opportunities for writers for the In the Community blog and we will consider adding it to the next blog post!
