We have moved many of our offerings online! We hope you will join us.
Six kids are ready to play: three speak English. Y tres hablan español . But all of them laugh alike and together! This clever playground adventure weaves together bilingual Spanish and English conversations, so two groups of children can express similar thoughts in their own languages. Join Carmen T. Bernier-Grand for this fun, online storytime with Multnomah County Library's Natasha Forrester Campbell!
This generative workshop will focus on the skills involved in creating and sustaining vibrant and complex characters. Through a series of in-workshop prompts and exercises participants will create and bring to life vivid characters. We will focus on physical description, internal life, setting, scene, action, and dialogue to round out and bring our creations to
Ever see a work of art and you want to tell the artist or the piece: I love it, or I don’t get it, or I don’t see myself in this at all? You can! In this workshop, we’ll talk back to art. Look at examples of other artists and writers who have done the
Portland Book Festival virtual events, presented by Bank of America, will feature variety-show style interviews. Each night, three authors whose work shares thematic connections will join remotely, and interviewers will be broadcasting live from Portland literary locations. Tonights event features: Rita Dove & Mary Szybist; Lauren Groff & Andrew Proctor; Qian Julie Wang & OPB's Jenn Chavez
This event is podcast only, and will be released on The Archive Project wherever you get your podcasts as part of the 2021 Portland Book Festival.
There is a great temptation to airbrush ourselves on the page, to fill in the pockmarks of our flaws—and yet this leaves us not only less trustworthy, but less interesting. Students will explore how the contradictions in their personalities—the gaps between dirty laundry and grace—are the most interesting spaces for both readers and writers. Together,
In this class led by author Ruth Ozeki, we will explore ways that meditation and writing can work as complementary practices, opening our minds and imaginations and enriching our expression on the page. We will learn some contemplative practices to tap into the power of the body, breath, and senses, helping us to write more
A snowy day, a trip to Grandma’s, time spent cooking with one another, and space to pause and discover the world around you come together in this perfect book for reading and sharing on a cozy winter day. Join author Cathy Camper for this special Portland Book Festival edition of the Multnomah County Library's Stories with Friends!
“It was about time that I realized that searching was my symbol, the emblem of those who go out at night with nothing in mind, the motives of a destroyer of compasses.” –Julio Cortazar. In this workshop, we will try destroying compasses, writing about travel in a way that isn’t just about going places and
Portland Book Festival virtual events, presented by Bank of America, will feature variety-show style interviews. Each night, three authors whose work shares thematic connections will join remotely, and interviewers will be broadcasting live from Portland literary locations. Tonights event features: Julia Cooke & Amy Wang; Ruth Ozeki & OPB's Dave Miller; Atsuro Riley & David Biespiel.
How can we ethically write about other people—and what does it mean to do it well? In this 3-hour virtual workshop, writers explore the craft of building nuanced characters, reckon with owning their stories’ difficult truths, and consider the legal or logistical implications of their storytelling. Access Program We want our writing classes to be
Portland Book Festival virtual events, presented by Bank of America, will feature variety-show style interviews. Each night, three authors whose work shares thematic connections will join remotely, and interviewers will be broadcasting live from Portland literary locations. Tonights event features: Jasmine Guillory & Kisha Jarrett; Danielle Henderson with Live Wire's Luke Burbank & Elena Passarello; and Devon Walker-Figueroa with Jennifer Perrine.
Get your pass for our one day in-person Portland Book Festival on Saturday, November 13, 2021. Please note: all attendees must provide proof of vaccination (OR negative COVID test within 72 hours of event) to attend.
Featuring contributors Jason Arias, Rene Denfeld, Juhea Kim, and Jesse Kwak with moderator Arwen Spicer.
A discussion about the way food shapes the way we experience the world, and who we are. Moderated by Liz Crain.
Two novels explore our contemporary crises through stories of people in the middle of them. Moderated by Andrew Proctor.
In this science fiction seminar for high school students, Matt Smith will teach students how to start brainstorming their stories. The nature of the genre often demands a lot of imagination, and the function of the class will be to show students how to make this part of the process fun and exciting. Students will
John D’Agata describes memoir as “an agitation of memory,” which suggests memory-based writing as not just the expression of memory but volatile, vital consideration of memory. In this workshop, participants will look at examples of prose memoir in which the writer uses the poet’s tools of meditation, dream, and lyricism, and then do their own
Eight friends, one country house, four romances, and six months in isolation—a novel about love, friendship, family, and betrayal, a book that reads like a great Russian novel, or Chekhov on the Hudson, by a novelist The New York Times calls “one of his generation’s most original writers.” Best-selling author Gary Shteyngart discusses his new novel with Jon Raymond.
“The right book can change a person forever in a few hours time. Anyone looking for evidence to pair with this grand claim of mine should read Loaners immediately.” –Karen Russell, author of Orange World
Charles Valle pops-up in the Portland Art Museum galleries with his debut collection, Proof of Stake: An Elegy. Valle is paired with the artwork Moment of Silence by Hans Burkhardt; found in the Modern & Contemporary Art, on the 1st floor of the Portland Art Museum. Please reference the Portland Art Museum Map to find
Sonora Jha discusses her book, which Rebecca Solnit praised as “ beautiful hybrid of memoir, manifesto, instruction manual, and rumination on the power of story and possibilities of family," with Sarah Rothenfluch.
Jennifer Hanlon Wilde pops-up in the Portland Art Museum galleries with her mystery novel, Finding the Vein. Hanlon Wilde is paired with the artwork Dual Form by Barbara Hepworth; found in the Modern & Contemporary Art, on the 2nd floor of the Portland Art Museum. Please reference the Portland Art Museum Map to find this
Dao Strom discusses her new multi-disciplinary project, Instrument/Traveler's Ode with fellow poet, musician, teacher, composer, and filmmaker Alicia Jo Rabins.
Essayist A.M. ROSALES pops-up in the Portland Art Museum galleries. Rosales is paired with the artwork Chief Bundle by Ka'ila Farrell-Smith; found in the Northwest Art, on the 3rd floor of the Portland Art Museum. Please reference the Portland Art Museum Map to find this location.
Dave Miller, host of OPB's Think Out Loud, interviews Kristen Radtke about her new graphic exploration, a finalist for the 2021 Kirkus Prize in Nonfiction.
Ash Davidson discusses her stunning novel about love, work, and marriage that asks how far one family and one community will go to protect their future, with Jacqueline Fitzgerald.
Stories about friendship, growing up, and growing apart with young adult novelists J. C. Geiger and Alissa Sallah. Moderated by Kate Ristau.
BRITTNEY CORRIGAN pops-up in the Portland Art Museum galleries with her latest collection, Daughters. Corrigan is paired with the artwork For the Love by Isaka Shamsud-Din; found in the Northwest Art, on the 3rd floor of the Portland Art Museum. Please reference the Portland Art Museum Map to find this location. About Daughters: This collection
STACY BREWSTER pops-up in the Portland Art Museum galleries with his debut story collection, What We Pick Up. Brewster is paired with the artwork William Jamison by Patrick Abbey; found in the Northwest Art, on the 3rd floor of the Portland Art Museum. Please reference the Portland Art Museum Map to find this location. About
Louise Erdrich discusses her latest novel in this conversation with Trevino Brings Plenty. Purchase a copy of THE SENTENCE, along with your in-person festival pass, to attend.
These exciting new story collections tackle race and place and America with honesty and humor. Moderated by Margaret Malone.
“One of the things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good
Poet ALYSSA OGI pops-up in the Portland Art Museum galleries. Ogi is paired with the artwork The Sea in Me by Mary Josephson; found in the Northwest Art, on the 3rd floor of the Portland Art Museum. Please reference the Portland Art Museum Map to find this location.
New poetry collections about homelands, generational trauma, what we inherit and how we face our current moment. Moderated by Erika Stevens.
Eli Saslow discusses his new book, a powerful and cathartic portrait of a country grappling with the Covid-19 pandemic—from feeling afraid and overwhelmed to extraordinary resilient—told through voices of people from all across America.
Award-winning Portland chef Joshua McFadden (Ava Gene's, Tusk, Cicoria) discusses his new cookbook with bartender and cocktail expert Jim Meehan.
Each year, Literary Arts’ Writers in the Schools (WITS) program publishes an anthology of exemplary student work. Connections in 1s and 0s showcases poetry, prose, drama, and comics written by high school students from Portland’s public high schools in 2020-21.
In partnership with the Portland Book Festival, the Gastro Obscura vending machine will be making its West Coast debut on Saturday, November 13 at the Portland Art Museum’s sculpture garden. Co-author Cecily Wong will be on-site for a meet-and-greet from 2:00 - 5:00pm, along with tasting stations from some of Portland's most inspiring and imaginative culinary artists and a special fruit and vegetable synth performance.
The first-ever full reckoning with Marvel Comics’ interconnected, half-million-page story, a revelatory guide to the “epic of epics”—and to the past sixty years of American culture—from a beloved authority on the subject who read all 27,000+ Marvel superhero comics and lived to tell the tale.
Current National Book Award Longlisters, Finalists, and potential Winners come together for a variety-style showcase of readings and interviews. Presented in partnership with the National Book Foundation.
The follow-up to her 2014 collection Sorrow Arrow (winner of the 2015 Oregon Book Award for Poetry), Emily Kendal Frey’s volume LOVABILITY is a dialogue of social and interpersonal dynamics, as well as an exploration of the feelings of freedom and longing they produce.
Inspired by the Greek myth of Iphigenia and the Grimm fairy tale “Brother and Sister,” Michelle Ruiz Keil’s novel follows two siblings torn apart and struggling to find each other in early ’90s Portland. Moderated by Alicia Tate of Multnomah County Library.
Past, present, and future collide in stories about journeys, family, and consequences. Moderated by Chelsea Bieker.
These novels introduce us to women who are navigating their art alongside obligations to family and the possibility—and end—of relationships. Moderated by Cari Luna.
Telling a writer to write without fear is like telling a human to breathe without oxygen. It’s impossible to do and why would you want to? Fear is a natural part of the creative process. Instead of fighting it, work with it. Through stories, mindfulness, and free-writing, you will discover simple, realistic ways to face
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