Our events, classes, and seminars bring the community together to hear, learn, and discuss the most compelling issues and ideas of our day. We hope you will join us in our downtown Literary Arts space, online, and at partnering venues across Portland and Oregon.
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.
For young readers, join us for "Rainy with a Chance of Rainbows," a Storytime Singalong at Hammer + Jacks' REC Room with the festival's Kids Stage host Emily Arrow! All ages are welcome for a rainy and colorful pre-celebration of the Portland Book Festival.
There are three inevitable things in life: taxes, death, and wacky trivia about death. Join us for a macabre round of froth led by the Dames of Deathly Delights, writers Sallie Tisdale and Elizabeth Fournier.
(re)moved is an exhibition uncovering new meanings from the erasure of words. The project will include a collective of artists from PNCA’s Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies who will consciously transform a pre-existing text to a new text.
Annie Bloom's welcomes our own Rosanne Parry for a reading from her new picture book, Big Truck Day. Rosanne will be joined by local authors Trudy Ludwig, whose new picture
Come to the beautiful, new Lincoln High School library and discuss romance books with the members of the nationally renowned Lincoln High School Romance Book Club.
Talk about poetry and make new friends while partaking of wine and snacks! Join us for an evening of pairings in which you’ll get to engage with other poets and editors to discuss the craft of writing, publishing, editing, and marketing with several rounds of fun conversation prompts. Hosted by Airlie Press.
Poetry Karaoke lets audience members perform a poem, accompanied by the Portland/Corvallis-based band Mule on Fire. Audience members pick a poem from the Poetry Karaoke book (like picking a song from an available song list during real karaoke . . . a curated book with well-known published poems--from Shakespeare to Dr. Seuss).
In conversation with Kat Topaz of Topaz Farm on Sauvie Island, authors Jessica Gigot (A Little Bit of Land), Marilyn Milne (Cheese War: Conflict and Courage in Tillamook County, Oregon), and Tami Parr (Pacific Northwest Cheese: A History) will chat about the varied histories and practices of cheesemaking, women farmers, and small-scale agriculture in the Pacific Northwest.
Acclaimed, award-winning cookbook author Naomi Duguid discusses her new book with Liz Crain.
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
How do the big questions of our time--from climate change to racism--inhabit the stories of our lives? And what does it look like on the page to tell exquisitely personal
Get early access to our exhibitor fair the night before the Festival!
Wild Rose: Poetry & Story is a new reading and performance series brought to you by YesYes Books and hosted by KMA Sullivan. Our event on Friday Nov 4 features Stephanie Adams-Santos, Mindy Nettifee, Jae Nichelle, Nina Packebush, Courtney Faye Taylor, and Shelley Wong!
Laugh and cringe your way through a live talk show interviewing Portland’s movers and shakers about the one horror we can all relate to—dating experiences gone awry.
Calling all lovers of indie bookstores for the Portland Book Festival’s two-part event: a screening of a new literary documentary and a panel of the city’s foremost booksellers.
When an author crosses the country visiting bookstores and promoting his online-only novel, he discovers a community of readers who buy their books locally. These readers make their case for local bookshops in the short documentary film: "The Bookstour."
First Matter Press invites all participants to explore scrambling traditional poetry into something more playful and exploratory by journeying through our activity stations and collecting stickers for their event maps.
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
Portland Book Festival, presented by Bank of America, returns to the Portland Art Museum and neighboring venues on Saturday, November 5, 2022. This daylong event features author discussions, pop-up readings, writing workshops for youth and adults, kids' story time, an extensive book fair, local food trucks, and more!
Emily Arrow opens the festival day with a singalong! Portland Book Festival General Admission Passes are required for entry into all events. Passes are $15 in advance and $25 day of
Celebrate the beauty and diversity of life in the Arab diaspora throughout the year.
A gentle, cozy story following a family’s bleary-eyed wake-up routine, a little one who’s eager to start the day, and the quiet magic of early mornings.
This is one of two Portland Book Festival events at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, and requires a ticket for entry, in addition to your festival pass. A limited number of tickets include priority seating and a signed copy of Mean Baby.
George Saunders (Liberation Day) and Jess Walter (The Angel of Rome and Other Stories) in conversation, moderated by OPB's Geoff Norcross.
Two novels that reveal truths about our time through an reimagined past and a speculative future.
Two girls -- one in Korea at the beginning of the twentieth century, one in a fallen city in the late twenty-first century--must forge their destinies against and alongside the nation. Moderated by Marisa Siegel.
In this workshop, we’ll learn how to talk to and about artwork through poetry. Also known as Ekphrastic writing! We’ll look at examples of other artists and writers who have
The famous abstract painter Joan Mitchell once said, “My paintings repeat a feeling about Lake Michigan, or water, or fields. … it’s more like a poem, and that’s what I
A picture book based on the author's own immigration story, the infinite impact of friendship, and passing on love and kindness around the world.
Identical twins Isabella and Hà were born in Vietnam and raised on opposite sides of the world, each knowing little about the other’s existence, until they were reunited as teenagers, against all odds.
Reckoning with the nineties, a decade that is not only back in fashion in a big way but a political, social, and societal impact that still ripples through our culture today. We'll look at the the nineties from two very different perspectives: intensely personal and from the stance of cultural criticism. Moderated by Eden Dawn.
A delightful story of a child's visit to a grandmother and home far away, and of how families connect and love across distance, language, and cultures.
Meg E. Griffitts pops-up in the Portland Art Museum galleries with her poetry collection, Hallucinating a Homestead. Griffitts is paired with the artwork Living on the Moon by Reika Iwami;
Narrative journalism at its very best, with acclaimed essayist Jon Mooallem and award-winning journalist Casey Parks. Moderated by Melissa Febos.
Three contributors from the new Freeman's annual—Tess Gunty, Debra Gwartney, and Sasha LaPointe—discuss their work with editor John Freeman.
Fashion-forward Mary is known for adding flair everywhere she goes. When she spots an abandoned lot in her neighborhood, Mary knows she can use her stylish talent to spruce it up.
Caitlin Scarano pops-up in the Portland Art Museum galleries with her poetry collection, The Necessity of Wildfire. Scarano is paired with the artwork Unravel #3 by Ritsuko Ozeki; found in
Written by kindergarten teacher and Instagram influencer affectionately known as the Tutu Teacher, comes a picture book about a class that creates a kindness pledge to ensure that their class is the kindest it can possibly be.
Liz Prato pops-up in the Portland Art Museum galleries with her book, Kids in America: A Gen X Reckoning. Prato is paired with the artwork Please Participate by Jeppe Hein;
Joamette Gil pops-up in the Portland Art Museum galleries with her comics anthology, Mañana: Latinx Comics From the 25th Century. Gil is paired with the artwork Magma Spirit Explodes, Tsunami
Action-packed stories of international intrigue, old grudges, valuable gems, and more. Moderated by Curtis C. Chen.
Diana Garvin pops-up in the Portland Art Museum galleries with her book, Feeding Facism: The Politics of Women's Food Work. Garvin is paired with the artwork Le Petit Pâtissier (The
Join Jon Gray, Pierre Serrao, and Lester Walker of Bronx-based culinary collective Ghetto Gastro, and authors of the new book Ghetto Gastro Presents Black Power Kitchen, for a conversation with acclaimed Portland-based chef Gregory Gourdet.
Two stories about how the past is always present, the secrets we keep, and the meaning of home.
Ahead of the 73rd National Book Awards, 2022 honorees Fatimah Asghar and Shelley Wong read from and discuss their selected works. Asghar’s debut novel and Wong’s debut poetry collection delve into queerness and freedom, and imagine a new idea of homecoming, across literary genres. Presented in partnership with the National Book Foundation.
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