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
2026-27 Consider This: What Do We Trust? (Oregon Humanities)
Multiple dates | Various Prices
How do we decide who or what to trust in a changing world? Join Oregon Humanities for their 2026–27 Consider This series of onstage conversations. Featuring writers and community leaders like Christian Wiman and Rukaiyah Adams, the series will explore trust through family, technology, civic life, and faith. Click here to learn more and reserve tickets for events in Portland, Corvallis, La Grande, and more.
The Raven (Readers Theatre Repertory)
Friday, October 9 and Saturday, October 10, 7:30 p.m. | 1201 SW 12th Avenue, Portland, OR | Various prices
Flycatchers bring joy and amazement when they’re spotted. They are amongst the most difficult birds to identify, so lets look at the details and paint these lovely little birds, learning along the way the slight differences among them.
The Basics of Bird Journaling: Train Your Observation (The Bird Alliance)
Saturday, October 10, 10:30 a.m. | Heron Hall at Bird Alliance of Oregon, 5151 NW Cornell Road, Portland, OR | FREE
Practice noticing and discover how to see shapes, postures, proportions, and angles more easily, and then draw those birds in your journal more effectively. Add a little watercolor to your page and some writing, and you have a wonderful journal page.
BIPOC Affinity Night: Pride & Prejudice (Portland Center Stage)
Saturday, October 10, 5:00 p.m. | The Armory, 128 NW 11th Ave, Portland, OR | FREE
Join us for our BIPOC Affinity Night for Pride & Prejudice! Enjoy complimentary beverages from Deschutes Brewery, local vendors on our mezzanine, and live music from local R&B act West Note. A free pre-show event 🙂
American Psycho x Movie Book Club (Tomorrow Theater)
Sunday, October 11, 2:30 p.m. | PAM CUT’s Tomorrow Theater, 3530 SE Division St., Portland, OR | $15
Welcome to Movie Book Club—for anyone who loves movies, books, or simply having opinions about both. Hosted by author Margaret Malone, each session invites you to watch a literary adaptation and then stick around for a warm, lively, and lightly irreverent post-screening conversation. Bring your thoughts, your questions, your favorite passages, and your spiciest hot takes.
Nature Night | Feathered Forest: Aloft with Birds in Ancient Trees (The Bird Alliance)
Tuesday, October 13, 7:00 p.m. | Online via Zoom | Sliding scale
From Pacific Wrens in the understory to Marbled Murrelets in the overstory, ancient forest birds are guides to a hidden world rich in wondrous relationships. Join award-winning nature author Marina Richie for an evening of immersion into the Pacific Northwest old-growth forests as she shares stories from her new book Feathered Forest, the first to entwine birds with wild trees.
Tell It In 400 Words: Post-Writing Circle with Write Around Portland (Oregon Humanities)
Tuesday, October 13, 6:00 p.m. | Multnomah County Library, East County Branch, 475 NW Division St, Gresham OR | FREE
Join Write Around Portland and Oregon Humanities for a free 90-minute writing circle on writing short-form personal narrative. Oregon Humanities’ Posts section is dedicated to short narrative essays built around personal stories and anecdotes. Guided by Write Around Portland facilitator and Oregon Humanities editor Alexandra Silvester, we’ll explore this economical form and how a tight word limit can help to sharpen focus and heighten emotional impact.
David Naimon in conversation with Lidia Yuknavitch (Powell’s City of Books)
Tuesday, October 13, 7:00 p.m. | Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., Portland, OR | FREE
In a series of interviews with David Naimon (host of Between the Covers), Le Guin discusses craft, aesthetics, and philosophy in her fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. The discussions provide ample advice and guidance for writers of every level and give Le Guin a chance to sound off on some of her favorite subjects: the genre wars, the patriarchy, the natural world, and what, in her opinion, makes for great writing. With excerpts from her own books and those that she looked to for inspiration, Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing (Tin House) is a treat for Le Guin’s longtime readers, a perfect introduction for those first approaching her writing, and a tribute to her incredible life and work.
Capturing Bigfoot – Presented by the Oregon Historical Society (Portland Art Museum)
Wednesday, October 14, 6:00 p.m. | Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR, Whitsell Auditorium | $15-20
“Capturing Bigfoot” reveals the untold story behind the world’s greatest mystery, told for the first time by Patterson’s own son and the people who were there.
Elissa Minor in conversation with Justin Hocking (Powell’s City of Books)
Friday, October 16, 7:00 p.m. | Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., Portland, OR | FREE
On the rugged terrain of the northern Oregon coast, Minor discovers passion and harmony in the grip of nature and in the arms of a lover who will become her wife. In the salty sea air, she learns that her own queerness — though less-charted territory — is like her love of backwoods hiking and that to accept her sexuality, she must take full pleasure in the wild that encompasses her. Poignant and powerful, Another Eve (Oregon State University) re-examines past truths and celebrates honoring oneself and living authentically. For Minor, the end of her transformation is only the beginning.
Erynne Rivers in conversation with Stephanie Binx (Grand Gesture Books)
Friday, October 17, 7:00 p.m. | Grand Gesture Books, 814 Southwest 10th Avenue, Portland, OR | $35
Grand Gesture Books is so excited to welcome PNW debut author Erynne Rivers to Portland, OR, to celebrate her new release, WENCH. She’ll be joined in conversation by local author Stephanie Binx. Alex Land of Mad Woman Literary will be moderating this event.
hecho a mano: Ofrendas de Cempasúchil (Milagro Theater)
Saturday, October 17, 12:00 p.m. | Milagro Theater, 525 SE Stark St, Portland, OR | $5
Join IDEAL PDX Founder and Artistic Director Jessica Lagunas for a bilingual (English/Spanish) hands-on workshop creating marigold-inspired artwork while learning about the flower’s significance in Día de Muertos traditions. In this hecho a mano, adults and teens will explore creativity, remembrance, and cultural traditions through art.
What’s Letterpress Printing? The Mechanics of Printing the Book by Hand with Gay Walker (Wilsonville Public Library
Monday, October 19, 6:30 p.m. | Milagro Theater, 525 SE Stark St, Portland, OR | FREE
Walker, an Oregon native, studied letterpress printing and calligraphy at Reed College. She spent 20 years as the Curator of the Arts of the Book Collection at Yale University Library and later led Reed’s Special Collections and Archives for 15 years. During this time, she curated exhibits, created artist’s books, and printed at home with her Vandercook 4 proof press and Albion hand press as The Wildwood Press. An exhibit of her broadsides was recently showcased in August at the Wilsonville Public Library. Join us to explore her passion for letterpress printing.
The Moth Open-Mic StorySLAM: Frenemies (The Moth)
Tuesday, October 20, 7:00 p.m. | Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St Portland, OR | FREE
The Moth StorySLAM is an open-mic storytelling competition in which anyone can share a true, personal, 5‑minute story on the night’s theme. Sign up for a chance to tell a story or sit back and enjoy the show.
Portland in Black: Documenting Our Lives in the City of Roses (Oregon Historical Society)
Saturday, October 24, 10:00 a.m. | Oregon Historical Society, 1200 SW Park Ave, Portland, Oregon | FREE
Join us for a free community archives event in collaboration with Don’t Shoot PDX and Portland City Archives. Learn more about the Oregon Historical Society’s collections, work on personal archiving projects, connect with community members, and receive guidance from the memory workers at Don’t Shoot PDX, the Oregon Historical Society, Oregon Public Broadcasting, the Albina Music Trust, and Portland City Archives.
The Elk: A Film Screening and Walking Tour (Portland Art Museum)
Sunday, October 25, 10:00 a.m. | Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR, Whitsell Auditorium | FREE
See the award-winning short documentary featuring a beloved Portland icon, then join a post-screening walking tour to view the Thompson Elk and other monuments that shape the story of our city. Part of ADX Fest, a region-wide art and design festival activating venues, studios and spaces across the Portland Metro Area.
Miller Family Community Free Day (Portland Art Museum)
Sunday, October 25, 10:00 a.m. | Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR, Whitsell Auditorium
Join us at the Portland Art Museum for a special Miller Family Free Day celebrating artist Lisa Jarrett’s exhibition Tenderhead! Enjoy free admission for the whole family as we explore themes of identity, Black hair culture, care, and community.
From New Age to Evangelical: Radical Religion in the American West (Oregon Historical Society)
Monday, October 26, 7:00 p.m. | McMenamins Kennedy School, 5736 N.E. 33rd Ave. Portland, Oregon | FREE
Charismatic religious leaders have long sought to realize their visions in the vast expanses of the American West. American evangelicals who flocked to the once-sleepy mountain town of Colorado Springs planted new churches and built religious empires that left their mark on American politics — including 1990s political campaigns in Oregon. New Age spirituality has made tarot cards, astrology, and crystals ubiquitous. Love Has Won’s Mother God, also based in Colorado, and the mysterious channeler Ramtha, based in Yelm, Washington, built large and devout followings based on their teachings. Recent books by historian Will Schultz and journalist Leah Sottile illuminate how fear, hope, spirituality, and capitalism have been stoked by religious radicals in the American West.
A Heathen Halloween: A Marionette Show and Poetry Reading with John Shirley and Adam Bolivar (Rose City Book Pub)
Saturday, October 31, 8:00 p.m. | Rose City Book Pub, 1329 Northeast Fremont Street, Portland, OR 97212 | FREE
Lectura de los Muertos (Milagro Theater)
Saturday, October 31, 11:00 a.m. | Milagro Theater, 525 SE Stark St, Portland, OR | FREE
Join IDEAL PDX artist Marilyn Shawe for a presentation about the cultural significance and traditions of Día de Muertos. Marilyn designed and assembled Nossa Familia Coffee’s altar, entitled “De la Tierra a la Taza: Raíces, Café y Memoria” (From Earth to Cup: Roots, Coffee, and Memory), and she will share about her artistic inspirations and creative process.
CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS
Resonate: A BIPOC Writing Circle (Write Around Portland)
2nd & 4th Thursdays of the month | 4:00–5:30 p.m. | Online via Zoom
Led by a Write Around Portland facilitator of color, Resonate consists of writing, sharing, and giving strengths-based feedback to each other. No preparation or experience in writing is required! Resonate is a great way to unlock your creativity, build or maintain a writing practice, and get some writing done! REGISTER HERE.
Intro to Flash Nonfiction w Brian Benson (Attic Institute of Arts and Letters)
Tuesdays, October 6 through November 3, 4:00 p.m.| Online via Zoom | $275
Minimum words, maximum impact. Flash nonfiction, simply put, is true-to-life writing defined by extreme compression. It’s saying what you’ve got to say using as few words, and as much beauty, as possible. An endlessly accessible, playful, potent form, flash nonfiction is evermore popular; from Brevity to Barren, The Forge to The Sun, legions of journals are publishing great flash. This class is open to all writers, whether you’re new to flash or finishing your first collection. Over five weeks, students will read stellar flash, begin new pieces, workshop works-in-progress, and move toward submitting work for publication. | Maximum: 16 writers. Open to all writers.
An Online Memoir and Poetry Workshop with Amy Minato (Fishtrap)
Tuesdays, October 6, 13, 20, and 27, 6:00 p.m.| Online via Zoom | $240
Fall into fall with this series where we release stories that are ready to drift and sink into mulch. In this workshop, we give time, space, and peer support for deepening our understanding of, and perhaps making peace with, stories of our lives that ache to be told. Amy Minato provides a supportive environment and provocative prompts. You provide the material and courage. All levels welcome.
Freewrite Virtual Writing Circle – Election Anxiety (Write Around Portland)
Wednesday, October 14, 6:00 p.m. | Online via Zoom | FREE
Feeling anxious about the upcoming midterm elections? With so much at stake, plus regular news reports about active efforts to repress voting, it’s no wonder nerves are running high. Many of us could use a moment to work through our feelings of fear and frustration on paper. In this session, we’ll free-write to dig into those feelings. What is driving our anxiety and what does it distract us from? How can we use our frustration in a more meaningful way? This event is non-partisan, FREE, and participants are free to share their point of view with the group.
October Resonate BIPOC Writing Circle Mixers! In-Person (Write Around Portland)
Thursday, October 15, 4:00 p.m. | Oak Lodge Library, 3783 SE Concord Rd, Oak Grove, OR | FREE
Meet BIPOC writers and learn about Resonate: BIPOC Writing Circles. Whether you’ve attended many Resonate groups or none, all BIPOC writers are welcome to our BIPOC Writing Circle Mixers! Feel free to join us at both sessions this month if you’d like!
Filling the Empty Bowl Workshop with Matthew Dickman (Attic Institute of Arts and Letters)
Sundays, October 18 through November 22, 10:00 a.m. | Online via Zoom | $335
How do we fill our emotional and creative bowls when they are emptied? How do we write when dealing with stress, grief, or anxiety? I believe we can turn to the physical world for guidance and support. In this 6-week generative class, we will write and share together, exploring our own immediate work alongside poems by Michael Dickman, Katie Peterson, Callie Siskel, Erin Clarke, Robin Coste Lewis, Major Jackson, and others. Join me and let’s fill our bowls together! Limit: 12 writers.
Make Your Story Move: Honing the Engine with Kyle Lucia Wu (McCormack Writing Center)
Saturday, October 25, 11:00 a.m. | Online via Zoom | $75
In this generative craft intensive, we’ll study excerpts of published works to analyze and identify their engines and the craft techniques that make them compelling. We’ll explore different kinds of engines and ways to build propulsion on the page, and practice building and emphasizing our own engines through generative exercises and discussion.
RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARTISTS AND WRITERS
Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Contest (Fiction Collective Two)
Deadline: November 1, 2026
Award: $3,000
The FC2 Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Contest is open to writers of, from, or in the United States writing in English who have not previously published with FC2. Submissions may include a collection of short stories, one or more novellas, or a novel. There is no length requirement. Translations and previously published or self-published works are not eligible, although shorter works that have previously appeared in magazines or anthologies may be included in collections, provided that the collection as a whole is unpublished. To avoid conflict of interest, employees and Board members of FC2, as well as former or current students or close friends of the final judge, are not eligible to enter.
Kurt Vonnegut Speculative Fiction Prize (North American Review)
Deadline: November 2, 2026
Award: $1,000
Fee: $25
The Kurt Vonnegut Prize is an annual fiction competition intended to recognize the finest speculative fiction, which can include, but is not limited to, work influenced by the postmodern science-fiction of Kurt Vonnegut. We love Vonnegut’s dark humor, but please avoid mere imitation. We welcome all forms of previously unpublished fiction—one story per submission. We are enthusiastic about all work painted with speculative fiction’s broad brush: fairy tale, magical realism, fabulism, the fantastic, horror, Afro-futurism, science fiction hard and soft, and everything in between. The winner, runners-up, and any honorable mentions may be offered publication in the North American Review’s summer issue. Additional finalists and semifinalists may be offered publication in a future issue or on Open Space. Results will be announced in January.
James Hearst Poetry Prize (North American Review)
Deadline: November 2, 2026
Award: $1,000
Fee: $25
The James Hearst Poetry Prize is a competition intended to recognize the finest poetry. We welcome all forms of previously unpublished poetry and up to five poems per submission. James Hearst wrote like he farmed, with an eye for clean fields and straight fences. A writing professor at the University of Northern Iowa for four decades, he also served as a contributing editor and guiding light for the North American Review. The Complete Poetry of James Hearst was published in 2001 by the University of Iowa Press. The winning entry, runners-up, honorable mentions, and finalists will be offered publication in the North American Review’s spring issue. Results will be announced in January.
FOR KIDS & TEENS
Children’s Storytime (Bold Coffee & Books)
Saturdays from 11:00–11:30 a.m. | Bold Coffee & Books, 1755 SW Jefferson St, Portland, OR 97205 | FREE
Whether an author is here to read their book or our staff is reading a favorite, we’ll feature stories that spread compassion, awareness, and positivity. Children will get a coloring page or sticker to take home too!
Rainbow Family Storytime (Bold Coffee & Books)
Saturdays from 11:00–11:30 a.m. | Albina Library, 205 NE Russell Street, Portland, OR, 97212 | FREE
Children from birth to age 6 (with a favorite adult) enjoy books highlighting LGBTQ+ families, along with songs, rhymes and movement activities building language, literacy, and community in an identity-supporting environment. Attendance is limited and available on a first come, first served basis.
Moomin Story Time for Kids (Nordic Northwest)
Wednesday, October 7, 10:00 a.m. | Nordia House, 8800 SW Oleson Road, Portland, OR | FREE
Step into the whimsical world of the Moomins with the Portland Finnish School! Enjoy a delightful bilingual story time experience in both English and Finnish, perfect for families and young readers alike.
Hillsboro Art Walk
Wednesday, October 7, 5:00 p.m. | Walters Cultural Arts Center, 527 E Main St, Hillsboro, OR 97123 | FREE
Hillsboro Art Walk is a free, all-ages event presented with support from Hillsboro’s Cultural Arts District and local nonprofit, Influence Music Hall.
The Golem’s Gift (Northwest Children’s Theater)
Sunday, October 11, 2:00 p.m. | The Judy Kafoury Center for Youth Arts 1000 SW Broadway, T-100 Portland, OR | $25-35
Mark your calendar for Gardner School’s annual book swap on Friday, October 9, from 11 am. to 3 pm! Families are invited to bring gently used books, puzzles, and games to trade with one another. This year’s swap also features a chili cook-off and cornbread competition. Sign up here to participate.
Howloween at the Oregon Zoo (Oregon Zoo)
Saturday, October 17, 9:30 a.m. | Oregon Zoo 4001 SW Canyon Road Portland, OR | $21-26
Spooky season is back and it’s time to celebrate with Howloween at the Oregon Zoo! Bring your costumed kids for treats and Halloween fun. Enjoy a safe setting for trick-or-treaters to learn about wildlife with exciting activities throughout the zoo. Howloween activities are best suited for children ages 2-10, but all are welcome. Both weekends feature keeper chats and live entertainment.
Kids’ Storytime (Powell’s City of Books)
Saturday, October 24, 10:30 a.m. | Powell’s City of Books 1005 W Burnside St. Portland, OR, 97209 | FREE
Join us every Saturday for kids’ storytime. Today we’re reading Vampire Girl Conquers the Night by Betina González.
IN THE NEWS
RECOMMENDED READING
Staff Picks | (The Literary Arts Bookstore)
Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific Northwest | (Multnomah County Library)
Mes de la Herencia Hispana y Latina | (Multnomah County Library)
National Day of Remembrance (Orange Shirt Day) | (Multnomah County Library)
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!
