Arts & Media❯Books❯Author Talks

Join scholars Dr. Lindsey Mantoan, author of It's All Happening: How Musical Theater Does High School (Oxford, 2026), and Dr. Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, author of Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist (Simon & Schuster, 2025) for a free conversation about high school on the musical theater stage. This evening will feature performances by PSU students from some favorite high school musicals--come to sing, chat, and cheer along!

Books will be available for purchase and signing.

Learn more about theTheater Arts program at PSU's School of Music & Theater.

Some evenings stay with you forever. This fall, Portland welcomes an extraordinary celebration of classical ballet as PRIMA Ballet Gala brings together artists of the Grand Kyiv Ballet and international guest performers for one unforgettable night. More than a performance, PRIMA Ballet Gala is a night of elevated artistry – where timeless classics meet contemporary expression, and the stage becomes a space of beauty, power, and emotion.

The program features iconic highlights from world-renowned ballets, including Don Quixote, Spartacus, and The Dying Swan, alongside vibrant national dances such as the thrilling Hopak, set to music by legendary composers such as Tchaikovsky. Begin your evening on the red carpet, then step inside for a celebration of artistic excellence and international cultural connection. Guests are warmly encouraged to attend in evening attire, helping create an atmosphere of elegance worthy of this special occasion.

Join a rare opportunity to experience world-class dancers, timeless choreography, and a night filled with beauty and inspiration.

Seats are limited. Be part of PRIMA Ballet Gala — where ballet speaks from the heart.

Join an essential lecture by the acclaimed Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath. Jared Cooney Horvath (PhD, MEd) is a neuroscientist, educator, best-selling author and expert in the field of human learning. His new book, The Digital Delusion: How Classroom Technology Harms Our Kid's Learning - And How to Help Them Thrive Again, pulls back the EdTech curtain and explains the research showing how digital tools in the classroom consistently undermine learning. It also explains how parents, teachers and schools can push back with purpose.

As a leading expert in learning and technology, Jared testified before the US Senate on EdTech and is an internationally sought-after speaker.

Sponsored by the Institute for Families and Technology and OR Unplugged.

Live Wire joins forces with the Portland Art Museum for an afternoon of roving performances ahead of an evening recording of the program. The event coincides with PAM's monthly Free First Thursday and the Portland Book Festival's expanded programming. Performers will include poet and rapper Dessa, bestselling children’s author Mac Barnett, Pulitzer Prize Finalist Ed Park, and Portland comedian Mx. Dahlia Belle.

Free pop-up performances will take place throughout the Museum’s galleries, giving visitors a chance to catch live performances and storytelling while moving through the PAM spaces. Completely free through PAM’s Free First Thursday general admission. Also, enjoy a fully seated, ticketed Live Wire taping hosted by Luke Burbank with announcer Elena Passarello, featuring a blend of interviews, comedy, and music performed live for the audience, then edited into an episode for broadcast to over 200 public radio stations nationwide.

Visitors can take in the afternoon gallery pop-ups, the evening show, or both.

Inspired by Davide De Pierro’s newly released novel The Letters I Never Sent, his live show blends personal storytelling, humor, and audience conversation. Throughout the night, De Pierro will deliver a monologue and read selections from the book, followed by an open Q&A with the audience. Limited meet-and-greet opportunities will also be available for those who purchase in advance. Davide is a New Jersey native that has cultivated over 3M followers on TikTok and 2.7M followers on Instagram and has been earning millions of views online. Known for his commentary on relationships, finances, and those relatable moments that capture the human experience, Davide is excited to be expanding into a fresh medium.

Portland Book Festival welcomes Molly and Meherwan Irani, the husband-and-wife team behind Asheville’s nationally celebrated Chai Pani Restaurant Group. Their flagship restaurant, Chai Pani, was named Outstanding Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation in 2022.

This year, Molly and Meherwan each bring a new book to the table. Meherwan has written No. 1 Best Indian Cookbook in the World: At-Home Recipes from the Streets, Truck Stops, Villages, and Palaces of India. Molly’s Service Ready: A Story of Love, Restaurants, and the Power of Hospitality was published earlier this year. Together, the books offer two very different—and deeply connected—perspectives on food, restaurants, and hospitality.

In celebration of Diwali—the Hindu festival of lights, marked by food, gathering, and celebration—Molly and Meherwan will join their longtime friend Chef Troy MacLarty at Bollywood Theater on Alberta Street for a collaboration. Bollywood Theater will serve a special menu inspired by recipes from Meherwan’s book alongside its own Diwali-inspired menu. It’s a gathering of longtime friends, great food, and two books that reflect different sides of a shared life in restaurants.

Both books will be featured at Portland Book Festival, and Molly and Meherwan will be on hand at Bollywood to meet guests and sign copies.

Derek Hough Dance for the Holidays is a joyous celebration of the most festive time of the year! With jingle bells and sleigh bells, holiday carols and cheer, Hough’s latest dance spectacular is a show-stopping event for the whole family. Fans will be thrilled and delighted as Hough and his cast of phenomenal dancers bring your favorite holiday tunes to life through dance, from the well-sung classics to modern pop hits, with the incredible choreography, exciting stage production and dance mastery audiences have come to expect. Creative team and Emmy winners, Napoleon and Tabitha Dumo, also known as NappyTabs (Jennifer Lopez’s ‘All I Have’, Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour, Grammys), co-create, direct and supervise choreography for the tour.

Broadway Books is thrilled to welcome Anthea Kreston with her debut memoir Crescendo: Chronicles of an Adventurous Violinist (Paul Dry Books, 2026). She will be joined in conversation with Ling Ling Huang, author of Natural Beauty and Immaculate Conception.

When American violinist Anthea Kreston, called “An Indomitable Spirit” by Yo-Yo Ma, is selected as the fourth member of Germany’s Artemis Quartet, it is the culmination of decades of dedication. In Crescendo, her enchanting and deeply personal memoir, Kreston writes about growing up in a well-to-do but difficult family in Chicago, leaving home at age sixteen, studying at the ultracompetitive Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia (Hilary Hahn was a classmate), then burning out and leaving it all behind for a commune in Oregon.

Centerpiece event of Milagro’s 31st Annual Día de los Muertos Celebration.

Marigolds y Memorias is an original devised production inspired by the traveling carpa tradition, in which humor, music, and storytelling come together in a vibrant theatrical journey. Guided by their ancestors, a younger generation rediscovers the heart of Día de Muertos, the meaning behind each of its elements, from candles and marigolds to ofrendas and cherished recuerdos. Through song, dance, and short theatrical vignettes, an altar gradually takes shape as an act of remembrance and cultural inheritance, inviting audiences to consider how traditions are taught, how memory is kept alive, and what is carried forward when we share rituals across generations.

An Ensemble-Devised Piece
Directed by Juliana Morales Carreño

Age recommendation: All ages
Running time: About 1 hour 30 minutes, including one intermission
Tickets: Adults $32, seniors (50+) $28, and students $24; groups of 10 or more $18 each

Portland Art Museum invites the community to join a Free First Thursday event, offering free admission to the museum for all, plus a Live Wire event as part of the Literary Arts Portland Book Festival. Visitors can take in the afternoon gallery pop-ups, the evening show, or both!

4:30 – 6 p.m. — Free, pre-show, pop-up performances will take place throughout the Museum’s galleries. Performers are poet and rapper Dessa, bestselling children’s author Mac Barnett, Pulitzer Prize Finalist Ed Park, and Portland comedian Mx. Dahlia Belle.

Free First Thursday tickets can be reserved online one week in advance and are also available at the door.

7 p.m. — Enjoy a fully seated, ticketed Live Wire taping hosted by Luke Burbank with announcer Elena Passarello, featuring a blend of interviews, comedy, and music performed live for the audience, then edited into an episode for broadcast to over 200 public radio stations nationwide. Performers are poet and rapper Dessa, bestselling children’s author Mac Barnett, Pulitzer Prize Finalist Ed Park, and Portland comedian Mx. Dahlia Belle. Doors will open at 6:30pm.

GA Tickets are $15. Preferred Seating is $40. Discounts available to Portland Book Festival passholders.

Dessa is a singer, rapper, and writer who fell in love with language as a toddler—and just never got over it. Now, she works in fields that traffic in words: she’s recorded rap bangers as part of the fiercely independent Doomtree collective, released a live album with the Grammy-winning Minnesota Orchestra; contributed to The New York Times and National Geographic Traveler; delivered a TED Talk on the intersection of romance and neuroscience that’s notched more than 4 million views; hosted 2 seasons of behavioral science podcast Deeply Human (BBC/American Public Media); and published a memoir recounting most of the above called My Own Devices (Penguin Random House).

Mac Barnett, the 2025–2026 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, is a New York Times bestselling author of stories for children. Mac’s books have won many prizes, including two Caldecott Honors, three New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Book Awards, three E. B. White Read Aloud Awards and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, as well as several international prizes. He lives in Oakland, California. His latest book, illustrated by X. Fang, is Tom Nancy: The Sheep Who Swapped Brains with a Boy. From two of the most exciting picture book makers today comes a hilarious trickster tale and Freaky Friday switcheroo story: a sneaky, cheeky sheep named Tom Nancy has a brain swap proposal for an innocent farm boy named Felix that will change both of their lives forever. Laugh-out-loud, subversive, and totally unexpected.

Ed Park is the author of the novels Personal Days and Same Bed Different Dreams. He is a founding editor of The Believer, and has worked in newspapers, book publishing, and academia. His writing appears in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, Harper’s Magazine, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. Profound, wily, and beautifully wrought, his new book Three Tenses: A Transmission from the Nineties is a meeting of memory and myth, confession and obfuscation, coalescing to offer a singular picture of creativity in action.

The princess of Portland comedy, best known for her breakout performance on the popular Netflix special Hannah Gadsby’s Gender Agenda, Mx. Dahlia Belle has been compared to a Swiss Army knife—different tools to extract sharpness, softness, vulnerability, hope, and wicked wit. She’s been declared one of “11 Trans Comedians… Funnier Than Dave Chappelle” by Out Magazine, repeatedly featured on NPR, and has written for Cosmopolitan Magazine, The Guardian, The Stranger, and Portland Mercury. Her live performances have included NW Black Comedy Festival, Upper Left Comedy Festival, SF Sketchfest, and an awkward conversation with John Waters and Piers Morgan. In the upcoming live taping of her comedy special Affirmed at Polaris Hall on November 22nd, Mx. Dahlia Belle delivers 60 new minutes of stand-up to celebrate and affirm being human in the modern world through a combination of the wholesome and mundane, anecdotes about house cats, liscivious foibles of the LGBT community, and an unapologetic account of her personal journey with gender-affirming care, all delivered with her trademark free form wit.

Free First Thursdays at the Museum and PAM CUT’s Tomorrow Theater aligns with the revitalization of the long-standing Portland art galleries’ tradition of opening their doors for openings, receptions, and events on the first Thursday of each month. In recent months art and culture organizations have joined to bring back this popular activity, including the Pacific Northwest College of Art and the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education in the North Park Blocks.

Generous support provided by Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program.

Young adult authors, Maggie Stiefvater (The Dream Thieves) and Isabel Cañas (The House of Gardenias) come together for a conversation on the hauntingly enchanted worlds in their latest releases. In the newest installment of the graphic novel iteration of The Raven Cycle, Stiefvater and adapter Sas Milledge bring the original text to life with rich illustrations and suspenseful panels. Like Stiefvater, Cañas expertly constructs a gothic world threatened by an unimaginable ancient power. Moderated by Alicia Tate, these authors discuss the mythical worlds they built and the characters that try to understand them.

The second book in Maggie Stiefvater‘s #1 NYT bestselling series The Raven Cycle, now gorgeously illustrated as a graphic novel!

Ronan Lynch is made of secrets. His longest kept one? He can pull impossible things out of dreams. It’s a secret that’s nearly killed him more than once. Waking the corpse road should have led Blue and the Raven Boys straight to Glendower, the Whelsh king rumored to be sleeping beneath the mountains of Henrietta. But instead, the forest of Cabeswater has disappeared, energy hums and sputters beneath the town, and the Raven Boys’ search is at a dead end.

Ronan’s dreams may be the key to finding Glendower, but none of the Raven Boys are prepared for what will be unleashed in Ronan’s desperate attempt to finally control his power. Reimagined as a stunning full-color graphic novel adapted and illustrated by Sas Milledge, Dream Thieves blurs the line between reality and nightmare until they are one and the same.

A debut gothic YA from the USA Today bestselling author of The Hacienda and The Possession of Alba Díaz Sixteen-year-old Minerva has endured hunger, violence, and unrest in a capital city inspired by colonial Mexico.

Determined to escape her father’s cruelty, she reinvents herself in a wealthy loyalist enclave, becoming lady’s maid to the formidable widow Encarnación del Valle.

For the first time, Minerva knows stability with regular meals, warm light powered by magical chispa, and a measure of protection. When a ruthless regime rises to power, the household withdraws to the del Valle family’s secluded estate, Casa de las Gardenias. There, amid resentful heirs and rigid social hierarchies, something far older than the nation’s turmoil waits in the shadows.

It’s a haunting, timely gothic novel that weaves Mexican history, class tension, and supernatural dread.

In this lecture demonstration, members of Hung Dance will provide an introduction to Taiwanese dance company Hung Dance’s movement language, including how their acclaimed work Birdy blends traditional Chinese exercises and materials with contemporary dance. The company will also delve into the inspiration and concepts behind Birdy, followed by a short excerpt of the work. Guests will have the opportunity to have their questions about the dance answered by members of the company. This lecture demonstration will be delivered primarily in Mandarin, with live translation between Mandarin and English.

An all-star Portland group of musicians including Eric Stern and Michael Beach, the group performs music from the Middle East and features bellydancers.

**Atlantis Lounge is All Ages until 9:00 PM, at that time any minors will be asked to leave the space. Thanks for your understanding!

Join a special evening with trailblazing drag artist, activist, and political candidate Marti Cummings and Portland-based constitutional law professor and author Robin Maril. Before the film, Marti and Robin will sit down for a live conversation about queer representation, civic engagement, and the power of showing up for your community. The conversation will be moderated by Kyndall Mason of Basic Rights Oregon.

Following the conversation, stick around for Queen of New York, the acclaimed documentary following Marti Cummings’ groundbreaking 2020 campaign to become one of the first openly nonbinary members of the New York City Council. This evening also celebrates the launch of Robin Maril’s new book, A Queer Guide to Saving American Democracy. Copies will be available for purchase on site.

ON SCREEN: Queen of New York

2023. Directed by Emma Fidel. Runtime: 1 hour 20 minutes.

Welcome to a different kind of drag race. As NYC emerges from the chaos of 2020, Marti Cummings (they/them), an audacious and big-hearted drag queen, goes all out in a historic bid to become a City Councilperson. It’s one of the most hotly contested Council races in years, and Marti’s strongest competitor is Shaun Abreu, a tenants’ lawyer with deep roots in the district’s Latinx community. As these first-timers race to do the most good for their Upper Manhattan neighbors, they offer very different visions for Democratic politics — one in a suit and tie, the other in combat boots and floral print. As this immersive documentary reveals, Marti’s passion inspires queer activists and allies to change the political system. Their campaign becomes a community of its own, especially for Marti’s non-binary peers who have never before seen themselves represented.

November 15, 2026

Family Series

Alice McLerran’s classic children’s book The Mountain that Loved a Bird tells a heartwarming story of unlikely friendship between a barren mountain and a visiting bird named Joy. Experience Portland-based composer Caroline Shaw’s musical interpretation of the story as the book is narrated live in this celebration of friendship that teaches us the transformative power of kindness and care.

• Su-Han Yang Harold & Arlene Schnitzer Associate Conductor
• Pam Mahon Narrator
• Dance West Jason Davis, Artistic & Technical Director
• Pacific Youth Choir Chris Maunu, Artistic Director; Amber Schroeder, Associate Conductor
• Oregon Symphony

This concert is part of the Family Series, and is eligible for the Choose Your Own Series (Portland only).

This concert is part of the 2026/27 Sounds Like Portland festival.

The Understudies, Portland’s hottest new musical improv group, is debuting their one-hour fully improvised musical, The Understudies: A Fully Improvised Musical. It’s curtain time, but the musical’s principal cast has all mysteriously fallen ill! Can the Understudies fill in and perform a show they’ve never even heard of, much less practiced? Come enjoy a fully improvised musical comedy filled with drama, epic songs, joy, dance, and a heaping helping of laughs.

21Ten Theatre is a cozy 40-seat black box theater in Southeast Portland, providing an up close and personal experience with some of Portland's most talented performance artists.

The Understudies are Sean Arlo (Dropped Notes, Curious Comedy), Whitney Kemper (Mouth Stuff, Kickstand Comedy, Curious Comedy), Lydia Manning (Slydia, Bike Play, Kickstand Comedy), Heather Riggs (Mouth Stuff, Kickstand Comedy), Megan Monroe (Kickstand Comedy, Curious Comedy), Wren Reynolds (Kickstand Comedy), Brantley Bacon (pianist extraordinaire, No Soap Radio, Los Mal Hablados), and Bloom Davis (Kickstand Comedy).

The In Bocca books are a curious and beautiful collection of 20 Italian cookbooks, each devoted to a different region of Italy. Originally published in the 1970s, they’re filled with recipes, hand-drawn illustrations, folk art, and wonderfully wonky English translations, offering a glimpse into the food and character of Italy from region to region. Long out of print, they’ve become cult objects for collectors and lovers of Italian food.

For the past three years, Cathy Whims and the Nostrana team have cooked their way through the entire collection, creating 19 dinners: one for each book. Now, for the Portland Book Festival, that journey comes to an end with Roma in Bocca the 20th book.

For this special finale, Cathy Whims is welcoming Italia in Bocca director Robert Serrini, an expert and passionate champion of these remarkable books. Robert will mingle with guests throughout the evening and document the dinner as part of a short film about Roma in Bocca. He also dreams of one day seeing the full collection published once again, bringing these quirky, art-filled books back into the hands of a new generation.

Whether you’ve followed the series from the beginning or are discovering these peculiar books for the first time, come take one last trip Italy in Bocca with us.

Cathy Whims recently published her own culinary book: The Italian Summer Kitchen: Recipes for La Dolce Vita. During this event her book will be available for purchase and signing.

Reservations required. Limited seating available.

Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less, showcases his wit, sophistication, and deep knowledge of focaccia in this tale of a young man who takes an unspecified job with a charismatic elderly Baronessa at her crumbling villa in the Tuscan hills. Interviewed by Lucy Feldman (TIME).

An aspiring archivist determined to begin a “serious” life after an undistinguished undergraduate career takes up residence in the Italian countryside. Here, he becomes the all-purpose assistant to the Baronessa, known to her friends as Coco, a defiantly youthful and naturally flamboyant woman of ninety-two. Amid a chaotic and colorful milieu of gin-swilling princesses, incomprehensible handymen, roaming boarhunters, nuns, and other local wildlife, our young man does his best to catalog the villa’s extensive collection of art and antiques—although he notices that things seem to go missing from right under his nose.

Despite himself, he tumbles into an affair with a married man, complicating his future plans considerably. And when the Baronessa loses someone close to her, he becomes an unwitting accomplice in the acceleration of Coco’s great and final plan: to locate the love of her life and be reunited before it’s too late. Told with the signature wit, charm, and humanity that made Less an international phenomenon, Villa Coco is a dazzling, sun-soaked ode to life itself, a meditation on how seriously we ought to take ourselves, and a bawdy Mediterranean ballad about becoming who we’ve always wanted to be.

The World’s MOST Iconic Ballet — With a LIVE Orchestra!

The legendary tale of Swan Lake takes flight in a breathtaking production from World Ballet Company, as fate and magic entwine in a timeless battle between good and evil. Performing with a Live Orchestra, and featuring a cast of 50 international dancers, over 150 radiant hand-sewn costumes, and stunning hand-crafted sets, this spellbinding ballet captures every heart-pounding moment — from the Dance of the Little Swans to the Black Swan’s 32 fouettés, and every pirouette in between.

With Tchaikovsky’s unforgettable score soaring through the air and played LIVE, immerse yourself in this mesmerizing journey where dreams, heartbreak, and hope unfold right before your eyes.

Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes (including 20-minute intermission)
Audience: For ages 5 & over

*About the Company: Based in Los Angeles, and led by Sasha Gorskaya and Gulya Hartwick, World Ballet Company presents the most beloved and iconic ballets of our time in cities nationwide. Driven by the belief that ballet is for everyone, performances appeal to newcomers and seasoned ballet goers alike. The company attracts many international artists and comprises renowned professional dancers representing over ten countries.

To date, World Ballet Company has traveled to more than 300 cities, reaching an audience of more than 500,000 fans.

Make it a group experience! Special pricing is available for groups of 10 or more.

Parallel Worlds Bookshop and the Hollywood Theatre present a special author conversation with Jane Schoenbrun and SenLinYu, celebrating the release of Jane’s debut novel, Public Access Afterworld, followed by a screening of Schoenbrun’s acclaimed film I Saw the TV Glow.

When: November 5, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Where: Hollywood Theatre 4122 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland, OR 97212
Tickets: $18 sold via Hollywood Theatre
Ticket price does not include a copy of the book. Preorder Here!

A mysterious realm waits on the other side of our screens. A dark force draws victims into its static. An unlikely hero must save them, and herself, from an electric hell.

Spanning decades and realities, Public Access Afterworld follows an unforgettable ensemble of outcasts and obsessive television viewers whose lives become entangled with a surreal pirate network. At the center is Bethany Peters, a trans content moderator working the night shift at a sprawling tech corporation. When a young streamer begins appearing in her feed and calling out to Public Access Afterworld, Bethany is pulled into a conspiracy stretching across screens, timelines, and realities.

A mesmerizing collision of speculative fiction, horror, conspiracy, and queer transformation, Public Access Afterworld marks the literary debut of the celebrated filmmaker behind I Saw the TV Glow and We’re All Going to the World’s Fair.

Jane Schoenbrun is an award-winning filmmaker and writer. Their films include I Saw the TV Glow and We’re All Going to the World’s Fair. Their newest film, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, starring Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder, releases in 2026. Public Access Afterworld is their first novel.

Tickets for the screening and conversation are sold through the Hollywood Theatre. Copies of Public Access Afterworld will be available for purchase onsite from Parallel Worlds Bookshop.

Jane Schoenbrun and SenLinYu will not be signing books. Pre-ordered books or books purchased at event will be pre-signed.

Still photography is permitted. Audio and video recording are not permitted unless approved in advance.

1. Public Access Afterworld by Jane Schoenbrun - Signed Edition
   (Pub Date: October 27, 2026)
   A mysterious realm on the other side of our screens. A dark force that draws victims into its static. The unlikely hero called to save them and herself from this electric hell. Public Access Afterworld is the profound, binge-all-night, headrush of a novel by the celebrated filmmaker of I Saw the TV Glow and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.

2. Alchemised by Senlinyu Signed Edition (Out Now)

3. Alchemised by Senlinyu 3 Volume Deluxe Boxset(Pub Date: October 13)
   In this riveting dark fantasy debut, a woman with missing memories fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy—and the man tasked with unearthing the deepest secrets of her past.

Get ready to set sail with Portland’s own Haus of DeVille for a night of Diabolical Drag and Buccaneer Burlesque. Presenting “DeVilles of the Caribbean” At Portland’s own Peacock PDX.

Nautical-themed performances by
Valerie DeVille
Anna Nymph
Theoddra B. MonStar
Xo Skeleton
Prince Peanut Butter
and Princess Jelly!

Featuring Acts inspired by The Goonies, Cutthroat Island, One Piece, Disneyland’s own Pirates of the Caribbean ride and much, much more. Perhaps even a mermaid or two. So stow your weapons and bring your treasure chests for the performers to pillage your tips. Follow the treasure map to the QR code and claim your tickets for $13. Otherwise, it be $15 at the door on the night of the show, mateys. Join the crew, or walk the plank.

21+

BOLD is thrilled to host The Body Has Teeth: A Reading and Conversation with Amy Baskin, David Loring Nash, Anthony DiPietro, and Summer Stewart.

Four writers enter the dark from different doors. Anthony DiPietro’s poems move through gay love, sex, and the strange repetitions of desire. Amy Baskin gives Lilith—the first woman, cast as a demon—her fierce voice. Summer Stewart’s poems and essays expose the scripts written onto women’s bodies and lives. In David Loring Nash’s Northwoods, witchcraft, revenge, and human folly wait just beyond the treeline. Join them for a reading, followed by a conversation led by Summer Stewart.

Polynesian dance and narration from Hawaii, Tahiti, Samoa, and New Zealand with authentic costuming and music. Troupe of 10 to 18 dances for 50 minutes. Interactive dance with the audience—the show is exciting and colorful for all ages.

Join Blueprint for a trip into two worlds: distinguished masterpieces and Disney. Featuring the Topaz ensemble, the first half includes both classic and modern classical standards, including…

• Purcell’s Hear My Prayer
• Gjeilo’s Sancus
• Allegri’s Miserere Mei, Deus
• Mealor’s Locus Iste

The second half is a fully choreographed half with new arrangements of animated favorites, both old and new, including selections from:

• The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• Anastasia
• Aladdin
• Frozen
• Mulan
• and featuring a mashup of songs from five different films.

So take a trip through both the classical and the Disney classic with Blueprint for a solemn and yet magic-making good time.

When Toni Morrison declares that she “can't wait for the ultimate liberation theory to imagine its practice and do its work,” she raises an issue at the heart of modern democratic life: What does freedom mean in the shadow of racial slavery and colonialism? While Morrison's literary achievements are widely celebrated, her contributions as a “revolutionary political thinker” remain underappreciated. Lawrie Balfour approaches Morrison’s political thought through her account of “word-work,” or the creative use of language, as a practice of freedom. First, Balfour considers Morrison’s defense of the necessity of writers to the flourishing of democracy and her reflections on the political implications of her own literary practice. Second, Balfour examines Morrison’s use of the language of “sovereignty” to convey what writers do, when they create worlds out of words. Third, she asks what Morrison might say about the part her novel Beloved played in the 2021 governor’s race in Virginia and concludes with some thoughts about the political urgency of Morrison’s word-work today.

Lawrie Balfour is James Hart Professor of Politics and a member of the American Studies faculty at the University of Virginia, where she offers courses on race, gender, democracy, and literature. She is the author of Toni Morrison: Imagining Freedom; Democracy’s Reconstruction: Thinking Politically with W. E. B. Du Bois; and The Evidence of Things Not Said: James Baldwin and the Promise of American Democracy. Lawrie’s current projects include a series of essays on reparations for slavery and a study of the Black feminist visions of the journal Freedomways (1961-1985).

Free and open to the public.

This fall, Portland welcomes an extraordinary celebration of classical ballet as PRIMA Ballet Gala brings together artists of the Grand Kyiv Ballet and international guest performers for one unforgettable night.

More than a performance, PRIMA Ballet Gala is a night of elevated artistry – where timeless classics meet contemporary expression, and the stage becomes a space of beauty, power, and emotion.

The program features iconic highlights from world-renowned ballets including Don Quixote, Spartacus, and The Dying Swan, alongside vibrant national dance such as the thrilling Hopak, set to music by legendary composers including Tchaikovsky.

Begin your evening on the red carpet, then step inside for a celebration of artistic excellence and international cultural connection.
Guests are warmly encouraged to attend in the evening attire, helping create an atmosphere of elegance worthy of this special occasion.

Join us for a rare opportunity to experience world-class dancers, timeless choreography, and a night filled with beauty and inspiration.

Seats are limited. Be part of PRIMA Ballet Gala — where ballet speaks from the heart.

Each year, Milagro observes Día de Muertos with the premiere of a new production, altar displays, and community events with the Día de Muertos Festival. The Centerpiece event of the 31st Annual Día de los Muertos Celebration is Marigolds y Memorias, an original devised production inspired by the traveling carpa tradition, in which humor, music, and storytelling come together in a vibrant theatrical journey. Guided by an elder, a younger generation learns o build an altart, the heart of Día de Muertos, discovering the meaning behind each of its elements, from candles and marigolds to photographs, ofrendas, and cherished recuerdos. Through song, dance, and short theatrical vignettes, the altar gradually takes shape as an act of remembrance and cultural inheritance, inviting audiences to consider how traditions are taught, how memory is kept alive, and what is carried forward when we share rituals across generations.

Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a long-honored tradition with roots in Indigenous Mexican culture. Día de Muertos is observed annually in Mexican and other Latin American cultures on November 1st and 2nd as a remembrance of those who have passed. Individuals and families who honor this day set up ofrendas (altars) with offerings to their departed loved ones. Typical offerings include marigolds, calaveras, photos of the dead, and traditional food like “pan de muerto.”

Poets Victoria Chang (Tree of Knowledge) and Beth Piatote (distant waters) sit down for a conversation on their recent publications andtheir evocative use of nature throughout their poems. Moderated by writer and editor Alyssa Ogi, this discussion promises a rumination on our shared home, oppressive efforts of erasure, and the art and language that we use to understand our world and ourselves.

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

A poet watches the limbs of a eucalyptus tree get sawed off: the image persists, refracting and recurring across poems of art, language, selfhood, memory, and loss.

Joan Mitchell said, When I talk about love, I mean loving a tree. When I talk about love, I mean loving where a tree used to be.

Men assess the eucalyptus tree growing on the poet’s street; a crane arrives. The sound of a chainsaw rings in the air and branches begin to fall. This tree-cutting haunts the poet and becomes the locus from which the rest of the collection spirals. It refracts across works by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Joan Mitchell, and Hilma af Klint, whose painting series lends the collection its title and who becomes a model for engaging with the world. At the core of the collection, the long poem “Eureka” examines the violent 1885 expulsion of Chinese Americans from the eponymous California town. Roving, evocative, and intricate, Tree of Knowledge is rooted in Victoria Chang’s crystalline voice and generous, probing gaze, and by certain images —trees, a hanging figure, a branch, fingertips, a briefcase—that resurface like apparitions.

As a scholar of Native American literature and law, Beth Piatote focuses on the endangerment of Indigenous languages. As an activist, she moves against the current of English-language colonization, working to rescue and revitalize the language of her people. Language, she posits, is an expression of land, a means through which we can travel great distances.

distant water brings the reader into the language of our shared home, North America, revealing a sonic world and grammar governed by rivers, kinship, and ancestral knowledge. “In our homes and homelands,” she writes, “we share the language with the plants and animals and waters and rocks and sky.” Inventive and playful, these poems explore the sounds, structure, and wisdom of the Nez Perce language, illuminating its vitality and capacity to organize relationships to time and place. Braiding aural, linguistic, and spiritual ecologies, distant water conveys an understanding that to be in language is to be in place. To be at home.

Please join us at the 23rd Annual Ray Warren Symposium on Race and Ethnic Studies for “Creating Collective Liberation: How to Come Together in Frightening and Isolating Times to Create Real Community and Lasting Change,” a keynote presentation by Ijeoma Oluo.

Ijeoma Oluo is a Seattle-based writer, speaker, and internet yeller whose books include Be a Revolution and the NYT bestseller So You Want to Talk About Race.

No registration is required. ASL interpretation will be provided. Free and open to the public.

After the talk, please join us for a reception and book signing in the Beth Miller Lounge. Books by the keynote speaker will be available for purchase.

Diwali, “the festival of lights,” is a holiday celebrated all across India. In collaboration with the Indian-American community, NWCT is excited to bring the festivities back to The Judy. Create a beautiful rangoli, make a lantern, learn a diya (lamp) dance, and enjoy savory and sweet Indian treats.

Free to attend with a suggested donation of $10 per family.

RSVPs are strongly encouraged.
All ages welcome.

Jeff VanderMeer's internationally bestselling, critically acclaimed Southern Reach series has been translated into over 37 languages. The first novel, Annihilation, won the Nebula and Shirley Jackson awards, and was made into a movie by Alex Garland in 2018. Called "the weird Thoreau" by The New Yorker, VanderMeer’s nonfiction has appeared in Time, The Nation, the Los Angeles Times, and Esquire, among other publications.

A.L. Goldfuss writes speculative fiction which reviewers have called “rich,” “intense,” “complex,” and “rather grim.” Recent work has won the Brave New Weird award and appeared in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. Goldfuss lives in the Pacific Northwest with stacks of tea and carnivorous plants.

The Fall Author Series is co-sponsored by Spoke & Word Books. Special thanks to the Friends of the Ledding Library for providing the funding that makes this program possible.

The 4th Annual MOST Pageant

Saturday, November 7th

Doors 6pm, Show 7pm

Tickets $20 in advance, $25 at the door

The MOST Pageant returns in thanks to our sponsors The Property Weirdos, Outrage Onstage, Demand Drag, Greg Lemix, and more!

9 extraordinary drag and burlesque entertainers will push their artistry to the limits, as they compete for fame and fortune ($500 and bookings and 2 drink tickets!) The contestant who brings the most extreme, bold, extravagant, avant-garde, out of this world, over the top, never before seen, mind blowing package will win the title of The MOST! This year’s contestants were chosen for their exemplification and commitment to mostness in their approaches to fashion, performance and living art. An esteemed panel of judges will be evaluating each contestant on their creativity and presentation to determine who will take the crown. Come ready to cheer and tip your favorite performers!

Who will be The MOST?

Anna Karenema

Baby LeStrange

Boujee Cherry

Harlow Quinzel

HOTTBOXX9000

Max Little

Seven

The Artist Formerly Known As Given

Tomboy

Saturday, November 28 at 11am

Sunday, November 29 at 11am

Sunday, November 29 at 2:30pm (Sensory Friendly Performance)

Saturday, December 5 at 11am & 2:30pm

Sunday, December 6 at 11:00am

Saturday, December 12 at 11am & 2:30pm

Sunday, December 13 at 11am & 2:30pm

Saturday, December 19 at 11am & 2:30pm

Sunday, December 20 at 11am & 2:30pm

Tuesday, December 22 at 11am

Wednesday, December 23 at 11am

Saturday, December 26 at 11am & 2:30pm

Sunday, December 27 at 11am & 2:30pm

Tuesday, December 29 at 11am

Wednesday, December 30 at 11am

Saturday, January 2 at 11am & 2:30pm

Sunday, January 3 at 11am & 2:30pm

Join acclaimed historian Lord Andrew Roberts for a fascinating look at the men who helped build — and ultimately unravel — Napoleon Bonaparte’s empire. In his new book, Napoleon and His Marshals, Roberts brings to life the extraordinary generals who served at Napoleon’s side, from the courageous Ney and flamboyant Murat to the tenacious Masséna, iron-willed Davout, and meticulous Berthier.

In 1804, Napoleon created the Marshalate, the highest military honor of the French Empire, and over the next decade elevated 26 of his most accomplished generals to the rank. Roberts explores their personalities, ambitions, rivalries, and complex relationships with their emperor, revealing how Napoleon’s leadership both inspired fierce loyalty and fueled destructive competition among his marshals. Ultimately, only two of the 26 would ride beside him at Waterloo.

Drawing on years of scholarship on Napoleon and his era, Roberts offers a dramatic and richly detailed portrait of the men whose military brilliance helped create Napoleon’s extraordinary empire — and whose rivalries helped bring it down.

This event is a co-production with The Chartwell Society of Oregon, a chapter of the International Churchill Society.

Join Mary Miller Doyle and friends for a presentation of Wonder Is a Lovely Place to Be: 365 Days of Wit, Wisdom, and Irrepressible Imagination by Brian Doyle and Mary Miller Doyle. Drawing from both beloved and previously unpublished Brian Doyle works, this collection of essays, poems and sketches invites readers to notice holiness woven through ordinary, everyday moments.

Mary Miller Doyle and John and Cindy McPhee will read passages from Wonder is a Lovely Place to Be and retired Lake Oswego Public Library director Bill Baars will host. We'll also be serving apple and marionberry pie, Brian's favorite flavors.

Brian Doyle (1956-2017) was the author of many books, including the novels Mink River and The Plover; The Grail, his account of a year in a pinot noir vineyard in Oregon; and The Wet Engine, a memoir about his infant son’s heart surgery and the young doctor who saved his life. He edited Portland Magazine at the University of Portland.

This program is supported by the Friends of the Lake Oswego Public Library. Participation is free, and no registration is required. Please note, seating is limited due to the size of the space. Seats will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.A livestream will be available.

Lake Oswego Public Library is located at 706 Fourth Street, Lake Oswego. For more information, contact Alicia Yokoyama at 503-534-4228 or [email protected]

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Authors and acclaimed chefs Molly Irani(Service Ready: A Story of Love, Restaurants, and the Power of Hospitality) and Meherwan Irani(No. 1 Best Indian Cookbook in the World) sit down with renowned chefs and coauthors Sara Mardanbigi and Edgar Rico (Nixta Taqueria Presents: From Tacos to Tahdig) to discuss their recent publications and experiences building community through food. Joined by moderator and fellow chef, Farideh Sadeghin (The Hot Dog Cookbook and Cheesy), both pairs move beyond their recipes to share the cultures, upbringings, and people that inspired their successful businesses.

Molly Irani, the visionary cofounder of the James Beard Award–winning restaurant Chai Pani, shares her passion for hospitality and story of building a thriving business that puts people first.

Growing up with parents who owned a restaurant, Molly understood the power of service but also had a keen understanding of the industry’s challenges. When her husband Meherwan wanted to open a restaurant that would serve the Indian street food of his childhood, Molly thought he was nuts. And yet, the couple turned this unlikely dream into a vibrant reality. Chai Pani would eventually win the James Beard Award for Most Outstanding Restaurant in America, and be named one of 50 Favorite Restaurants in America by The New York Times, and one of Southern Living’s 20 Friendliest Places in the South.

In Service Ready, Molly takes readers on their inspiring journey to the heights of culinary and professional success. While she and her husband learned their way into running a restaurant, Molly created a groundbreaking work culture with industry-leading retention rates. They have fostered a loyal team and legions of fans, and have since launched multiple Chai Pani locations, the fast-growing spin-off, Botiwalla, and the popular spice business, Spicewalla.

Molly shares the ten core principles that have shaped their path, offering essential lessons for any industry. She opens up about the challenges and rewards of being business partners with your life partner and shares how she and Meherwan learned to merge their strengths in order to thrive. Her story celebrates the power of female leadership in a traditionally male-dominated field and is a testament to the essential impact these strengths bring to businesses. As she reflects on navigating a recession, a global pandemic, and the devastating floods in Asheville, she explores resilience, innovation, and how to create a strong culture in any workplace.

People of the earth! James Beard Award–winning chef Meherwan Irani is here to tell you that Indian street food is the best food on the planet—and that with more than 100 of his recipes you can have it at home any time you want.

“If you love Indian food, Irani decodes the entire canon for the home cook without oversimplifying or diluting the most delicious of global cuisines.”—Andrew Zimmern

Entering Meherwan Irani’s restaurants feels like walking into a party—and opening his cookbook is no different. With warmth, affection, and a bit of swagger, Irani makes a compelling, delicious case for adding Indian food to your weekly rotation, providing you with clear instruction on how to build layers of flavor and texture, putting beloved favorites like bhel puri, vada pav, kathi rolls, and more within your grasp.

In the No. 1 Best Indian Cookbook in the World, Irani takes you through the depths of this (liberally defined) subgenre of Indian cuisine that’s filled with delicious snacks, flavorful sandwiches, and curries and chutneys galore. He covers classics like pakoras and chaats as well as stews from roadside cantinas and Chinese-Indian stir fries. Through more than 100 recipes, Irani shares his tips for making street food with minimal time and effort, like sweet, bright, and crunchy Corn Bhel and a Mumbai Toastie, which provides one of the best uses you’ll get out of white sandwich bread. From Dhansak, the triple lentil stew his mom used to make, to the golden-crisp Dosa that’s now found itself in the lexicon of street food, these recipes are rooted in childhood memories, travels through India, and deeply conducted research on the cultures that have contributed to Indian cuisine. Essays throughout dig into areas of Indian cuisine that Irani loves to talk about, like why naan isn’t eaten with every single Indian dish and why chai should be made with substandard tea leaves.

With more than 100 recipes for sandwiches, chaats, fried goodies, and more, you’ll quickly see why this is the No. 1 Best Indian Cookbook in the World.

“The future of American food is found at Nixta, where Edgar Rico and Sara Mardanbigi combine Mexican, Persian, and American flavors to create one of the country’s most essential restaurants.”—Brian McGinn, director and executive producer of Chef’s Table

Sara Mardanbigi and Edgar Rico are proud hyphenated Americans: Iranian and Mexican, respectively. It’s their superpower and what they’ve built their award-winning restaurant Nixta Taqueria on. Pulling from their rich culinary heritages, they’ve done what first-genners do best—created delightful twists on Mexican, Iranian, and American classics. In Nixta Taqueria Presents: From Tacos to Tahdig, they sling tacos and tostadas, alongside platters of golden, fluffy rice; rich stewed meats; and so, so, so many herbs.

Nixta Taqueria Presents: From Tacos to Tahdig takes you through recipes from Edgar’s childhood in Visalia, California, with family dishes like Tortas de Milanesa de Pollo and Chicharrones en Salsa Verde. Then it’s Sara’s turn, sharing recipes from the Ozarks in Arkansas and family trips to Iran for Maman’s Fish with Kuku Sabzi and Ash Reshteh. Lastly, they bring it all together, showing the full-force beauty and surprising connection between the two cuisines with recipes like Smashburgers Al Pastor and Saffron Tres Leches.

More recipes include:

• Nixta Taqueria’s legendary Duck Carnitas Tacos
• Barbacoa Empanadas
• Fesenjoon
• Beet “Tartare” Tostada
• And their famous cross-cultural recipe for rice pudding, Sholeh Zard

With over 100 recipes and stunning photography, Nixta Taqueria Presents: From Tacos to Tahdig is a celebration of where Edgar and Sara have come from and where they are now. Come along for the ride!

As the trailblazers of progressive Irish dance, Trinity Irish Dance Company has spent 35 years redefining the art form through the vision of Founding Artistic Director Mark Howard. This family-friendly program, featuring live music from the company’s own folk-rock band, draws from new and classic Trinity repertoire. Highlights will include the Portland/Northwest premieres of “Pasture Bedtime, Bleating Hearts,” a whimsical work by Portland’s own Ashley Roland and Jamey Hampton of BodyVox; “Séseacht,” choreographed by renowned tap dancer Michelle Dorrance in collaboration with the company; and “The Sash,” choreographed by Mark Howard, Chelsea Hoy, and Stephanie Martinez. Trinity has sold out stages across Europe, Asia, and North America—a tradition kept restlessly alive through their distinct artistry.

Join the Columbia Writers Series for a reading and conversation with the novelist, journalist, and editor Ed Park. Park is the author of the novels Same Bed Different Dreams and Personal Days, and the short story collection An Oral History of Atlantis (2025). He has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the PEN Hemingway Award, and other honors, and has won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and Asian Pacific American Award for Literature. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The Atlantic, Harper’s, McSweeney’s, and many other places. He is a founding editor of The Believer and was executive editor at Penguin Press. He teaches creative writing at Princeton.

Authors Julia Cooke (Starry and Restless) and Lance Richardson (True Nature) sit down to discuss their new biographies.Both works explore the lives of trailblazing journalists and activists. Moderated by journalist Charley Locke.

The page-turning story of three women reporters and the way they changed the world, work, and journalism.

She hid on a Red Cross boat to reach Omaha Beach on D-Day. She walked the abandoned streets of Hong Kong to take food to her daughter’s father, a prisoner of war. She fought off the advances of overzealous Yugoslavian diplomats, found overlooked details of world history in a dentist’s kitchen in Sarajevo. She traveled alone to Mexico. She traveled alone to Congo. She traveled alone to the American South. She married Hemingway. She married a Chinese poet-playboy-publisher, then married a British war hero. She fell in love with H. G. Wells. She gave birth and raised a child on her own. She landed on the front page of the newspaper. She wrote for the great magazines of her time—Vogue, The New Yorker, Harper’s Bazaar. She wrote a play. She wrote a memoir. She wrote a genre-breaking travel narrative. She wrote bestsellers. She wrote and wrote and wrote. She changed the very way we think about writing and the way journalists craft stories—which sources are viable, which details are important—and the way women move and work in the world.

She was Martha Gellhorn. She was Emily “Mickey” Hahn. She was Rebecca West. Each woman was starry-eyed for success, for adventure, and helped ensure that other starry and restless women could make unforgettable lives for themselves. They fought for their lives and their work. They were praised and criticized for it all.

In language as lively and nimble, in passages as intimate and adventurous, and with conviction as fierce and indefatigable as her subjects’ own, Julia Cooke’s Starry and Restless plays out the stories of three women across three decades and five continents. Martha, Mickey, Rebecca—journalists, authors, mothers, lovers, friends. These women didn’t just bear witness to the great changes of the twentieth century; their curiosity, grit, ambition, and stories changed the world.

The firstbiography of Peter Matthiessen, the novelist, naturalist, and Zen roshi, whose trailblazing work championed Native American rights and helped usher in the modern environmental movement, by award-winning writer Lance Richardson.

“A stunning, formidable achievement by a brilliant biographer. Lance Richardson takes his readers on a wild ride with Peter Matthiessen.” —Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning co-author of American Prometheus

“A fair-minded, grippingly paced, and tremendously readable narrative.” —Pico Iyer, Air Mail

Peter Matthiessen (1927-2014), a towering figure of twentieth-century American letters, achieved so much during his lifetime, in so many different areas, that people have struggled to pin him down. While ambivalent about his WASP privilege—as a teenager he demanded that his name be removed from the New York Social Register—he attended Yale and cut his teeth in postwar Paris, co-founding The Paris Review as he worked undercover for the CIA. But then, after a rebellious stint as a Long Island fisherman, he escaped into a series of wild expeditions: floating through the Amazon to recover a prehistorical fossil; embedding with a tribe in Netherlands New Guinea; swimming with sharks off the coast of Australia. His novels, inspired by his travels, were unclassifiable meditations about Caymanian turtle hunters and frontier outlaws in the Florida Everglades. Meanwhile, his nonfiction became legendary: nature books like Wildlife in America—“key parts of the canon of emergent environmental writing,” says Bill McKibben—as well as advocacy journalism supporting Cesar Chavez, Leonard Peltier, and Native American land claims.

Underlying all Matthiessen’s disparate pursuits was the same existential search—to find a cure for “deep restlessness.” This search was most profoundly articulated in The Snow Leopard, his famous account of a 250-mile wildlife survey across the Himalayas. In True Nature, Lance Richardson reconstructs the full scope of a spiritual quest that ultimately led Matthiessen, even as he inflicted great pain on his family, to the highest ranks of Zen. Drawing on rich primary sources and hundreds of interviews, Richardson depicts Matthiessen’s life with page-turning immediacy, while also illuminating how the writer’s uncanny gifts enabled him to sense connections between ecological decline, racism, and labor exploitation—to express, eloquently and presciently, that “in a damaged human habitat, all problems merge.”

Technology has always shaped the way we’ve stayed informed, expressed ourselves, and stayed connected as communities. What lessons do earlier technologies, like print, hold for us today in the age of AI and digital overload? And why, despite the speed and convenience of newer technologies, is print more popular than ever?

At the end of the talk, audiences will get the chance to try printing on a portable press.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Geoffrey Turnovsky is professor of French at the University of Washington. His teaching and research focus on the cultural history of early modern France and Europe, and the history of print, books, authorship, and reading. He is the author of Reading Typographically: Immersed in Print in Early Modern France.

Geoffrey lives in Seattle.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator color=”turquoise” border_width=”2″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1793313188911{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Reservations are now open!

Admission is FREE, but reservations are required due to limited seating.[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”RESERVE A SEAT” color=”warning” size=”lg” css=”” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fthehistorictrust.rezdy.com%2F781920%2Fpermanent-ink-why-we-still-love-print-in-the-digital-age%3F_gl%3D1*zutbgg*_gcl_au*MTA5ODE3MTY3MS4xNzkwMjg5MTQzLjY2NDI0MTc5MS4xNzkwMjg5MTQ2LjE3OTAyODkxOTkuODQzMTY1ODM2LjE3OTAyODkxNDYuMTc5MDI4OTE5OQ..*_ga*MTM2NDc5Mzk1NS4xNzczODQ4NTkw*_ga_J7SXS0R0D6*czE3OTAzNTA1OTIkbzEyNSRnMSR0MTc5MDM3NTAyMSRqMzckbDAkaDY0Njc2MjQ1MQ..”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”10px”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator color=”turquoise” border_width=”2″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1791842995682{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]The Historic Trust Fall Speakers Series is Presented by University Village

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A talk by Glynnis Fawkes.

How does a cartoonist go about adapting a work of history, specifically Eric H. Cline’s 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed? In this talk Fawkes will describe the process of interpreting Cline’s text in comics, an exercise during which she repeatedly asked herself how she might tell this story visually. Through page compositions and dramatizations in which historical figures (such as Ramses III) speak, she imagined characters for whom we have no record offering commentary and opinions. To guide the narrative, she introduced two new young characters, Pel (of the Sea Peoples) and Shesha, (an Egyptian scribe) who ask the central question of the book: Why after three prosperous centuries did the civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age suddenly come to an end?

Glynnis Fawkes is the co-author with Eric H Cline and illustrator of 1177 BC: A Graphic History of the Year Civilization Collapsed (Princeton University Press). She is also the author-illustrator of Charlotte Brontë before Jane Eyre (Little, Brown)and Persephone’s Garden (Secret Acres), among other books, and her comics have appeared on the website of The New Yorker. She has worked as an archaeological illustrator around the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean and teaches at the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont.

Sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America and Reed's department of Greek, Latin, and Ancient Mediterranean Studies. Free and open to the public.

Alexis Nikole Nelson, best known to millions of fans as Black Forager, invites you on an adventure to discover the delicious and wild foods hiding in plain sight. Alexis captivates people with her joyful enthusiasm and deep knowledge of foraging and inspires them to explore the bounty of their own backyards, parks, and trails, and now she does the same in her eagerly awaited first book.

Happy Snacking, Don’t Die! is a one-of-a-kind collection of recipes and foraging wisdom that teaches you how to turn common plants, flowers, and fungi into yummy, plant-based meals. This unique work is almost like two books in one—foraging plant guide and vegan cookbook—organized by season to guide you through a year of appetizing discoveries. In spring, you’ll learn to pickle Magnolia flowers and turn Japanese Knotweed into a refreshing granita. Summer is for frying up Milkweed Buds, making Juneberry Hand Pies, and crafting Rosewater Baklava. When fall arrives, you’ll be making savory mushroom dishes (a.k.a. chicken of the woods) like Maitake steak and bacon. And in winter, cozy up with Pine Shortbread Cookies and Oyster Mushroom Chowdah.

A call to courage and connection from prize-winning poet and champion of the arts and humanities Elizabeth Alexander. Interviewed by Mitchell S. Jackson. n this deeply personal book, Elizabeth Alexander gives us profound and galvanizing lessons from culture and life to move through challenging times. In close readings of visionary and beloved poets and writers—Muriel Rukeyser, Gwendolyn Brooks, Audre Lorde, James Baldwin, and June Jordan, among others—Dr. Alexander meditates on how words and values can sustain and inspire, interweaving her voice with revelatory works of art by some of our most extraordinary visual artists, richly reproduced in the book’s pages.

Her stories of connection—as a daughter, wife, widow, and mother of two sons; reflecting at midlife on her younger days as an aspiring dancer; as a poet at President Obama’s inauguration on the dais alongside her father, a civil rights pioneer; urging radical welcome in our families, communities, and country—engage and move us. Her reflections on the public project of acknowledging historical truths, a focus of her leadership at the Mellon Foundation, model courageous action.

Throughout the book, Alexander poses questions, encouraging readers to recognize the abundant resources we carry within or can access: language, history, art, community, family, our bodies, our stories, and love itself. In luminous and powerful prose, Signals Across Vast Distances calls us to imagine possibilities, take courage, and—in Alexander’s closing words—lead with love.

The Literary Arts Bookstore is pleased to welcome Amanda Uhle to celebrate her memoir, Destroy This House.

About the book:

For fans of The Glass Castle and The Liars’ Club, a tender, heartbreaking, and hilarious memoir written with “unwavering affection” (ELLE) chronicling the challenges of growing up with a desperately scheming father, a mother plagued by an acute hoarding disorder, and parenting parents while seeking independence.

The Long family’s love was fierce, their lifestyle bizarre, and their deceptions countless. Once her parents were gone, Amanda Uhle realized she was closer to them than anyone else, yet she found herself utterly confounded by the lives they had led.

Amanda’s striving fashion designer mother and her charismatic wheeler-dealer father wove a complex life together that spanned ten different homes across five states over forty perplexing years. Throughout her childhood, as her mother’s hoarding disorder flourished and her father’s schemes crumbled, contradictions abounded. They bartered for dental surgery and drove their massive Lincoln Town Car to the food bank. When financial ruin struck, they abandoned their repossessed mansion for humble parish housing, and Amanda’s father became a preacher. They swung between being filthy rich and dirt poor, devious and virtuous, lonely and loved, fake and real.

In this “iconic, only-in-America fable of desperate Midwestern dreamers” (Dave Eggers, bestselling author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius), Amanda sets out to document her parents’ unbelievable exploits and her own hard-won escape into independence. With humor and tenderness, Uhle has crafted a heartfelt and utterly unique memoir, capturing the raucousness, pain, joy, and ultimately, the boundless love that exists between all parents and children.

Celebrate the release of A Thousand Flames, the debut poetry collection by Corey S. Pressman. Corey S. Pressman's debut collection, A Thousand Flames, offers poems of secular devotion in which a bird feeder can stand as the axis mundi and the bees have a god of their own. Across twelve sections, they travel from a Rockland County childhood to a hilltop in the fog, and as far back as the rooftops of Neolithic Çatalhöyük. Each poem asks you to slow down and stay a little longer than expected.

"Corey Pressman is a magical human - magical art, magical writing. His finely made poems are bells of vision and clarity to help us 'stay the same changing.'" - Naomi Shihab Nye

In Kara LaReau’s novel Licorice, Kitty the cat is adopted from Mount Charles Animal Shelter and brought to her new home. While Max’s house is certainly better than the shelter, a lingering presence haunts her new home. In this novel, our feline protagonist shares her experience facing the looming character of the old family cat. Like La’Reau, Rosanne Parry writes from a nonhuman perspective. In A Raven of the Rainforest, Parry writes about Westerly the raven and the prophecy that binds her to leadership, bravery, and hopefully glory. Both novels explore the pressure stand up to the reputation thrust upon them and overcoming the fear of fitting in. Moderated by Emily Chenoweth.

About Licorice:

A young and frightened kitten is brought starry-eyed into a new household. A boy named Max is trying desperately to get over the loss of his former beloved pet. But ghosts don’t always enjoy being forgotten. Sometimes they have to make their presence known.

Both spine-chilling and heartwarming, funny and charming, Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor winning author Kara LaReau has written a story about fitting in, standing out, overcoming fear, and finding a place called home.

In her cage at the Mount Charles Animal Shelter, Kitty has no other choice but to be the captive audience of the opinionated Bunny Van Hopper. But it’s better than the woods. Kitty can still remember the rain that came and swept everything… everyone… away. Here, at least she has food and company, even if Bunny’s words scare her. And then Max appears at the shelter. Max has adopted all sorts of pets over the years. Rumor has it that he treats all of his pets with care and kindness. And of all the animals at the shelter, he actually chooses her—a scrawny and scared kitten. Kitty is going to be home at last. But she can’t seem to get Bunny’s words out of her head as Max takes her away in her carrier…

“You’re going to regret this! I just know it!” Bunny Van Hopper cries. And perhaps Bunny is right…

There is a scent lingering in the house on 5 Manderley Lane. The scent rises from every chair leg, every carpet fiber, every throw pillow, even inside the bathtub. Everything smells like Licorice. It is the strongest upstairs in Max’s room, almost overpowering. If the smell isn’t enough, Duchess, the family’s old parrot, won’t let Kitty forget that she is a replacement. And soon, Kitty finds herself trapped in the long shadow of the cat that came before her. But is it just a shadow? Or is there something really there on the other side of it…haunting her…

About A Raven of the Rainforest:

A stand-alone addition to the New York Times and Indie bestselling Voice of the Wilderness Novels by Rosanne Parry. Westerly the raven fears she won’t survive the prophecy she was born to fulfill in this enthralling animal survival story about destiny, leadership, and bravery.

On Westerly the raven’s otherwise ink-black tail, one bright white feather stands out. Westerly stands out, too. She isn’t like her brother and sister—she’s different. Everyone knows it, including the roost’s storykeeper, who proclaims that Westerly alone is destined to save her fellow ravens from a terrible fate. Questioning her destiny, isolated from her family, and full of doubt, Westerly takes to the sky, vowing never to return. But when a once-in-a-lifetime volcanic eruption finds her, she has no choice but to flee in the direction of home.

A Raven of the Rainforest is a stand-alone companion to Rosanne Parry’s bestselling Voice of the Wilderness novels, A Wolf Called Wander, A Whale of the Wild, A Horse Named Sky, and A Wolf Called Fire. Set in the temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, A Raven of the Rainforest tells a gripping animal survival story about family, courage, faith, leadership, and hope. Illustrated in black-and-white throughout and impeccably researched, A Raven of the Rainforest is an excellent read-aloud for parents and teachers.

Oregon Humanities and Constellation Reading Series are teaming up to ask Portland writers the question: What’s the book that made you say, Books are for me?

The idea comes from the Works Cited section of Oregon Humanities magazine, where authors reflect on the foundational texts that shaped their lives. On Wednesday, November 4, we’re bringing that idea to the new PALS (Portland Arts & Literary Society) Building for an evening of literary show-and-tell.

We'll hear from Aleksandr Chernousov, Lydia Kiesling, Tim Lane, Jae Nichelle, Christopher Rose, and Eric Tran about the books that shaped them, and they'll also share passages from their work. Then we’ll open the mic to you.

Bring the book that started your literary origin story! It could be a children’s book, a comic, a classic—all books count. During our lightning round open mic, you’ll have 60 seconds to share your book and why it matters. If you’d rather just listen, that’s welcome too, just pull up a seat and enjoy the evening.

Up Up Books will be open especially for the event, and the readers’ books will be for sale.

Come celebrate the reading life with us! This event is part of the Portland Book Festival's Cover to Cover series.