Arts & Media❯Books❯Author Talks

The BACKFENCE Unhinged podcast records their first ever live show with incredible guests Mitchell S. Jackson and Nicole Hardy sharing delightfully unhinged stories. Hosted by Andrew Dicson and Frayn Masters, and presented by Portland Mercury and...

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...

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 Drawing from both beloved and previously unpublished Brian Doyle...

Overview 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! Free First Thursday + Museum pop-ups 4:30 – 6 p.m. — 4:30-6:00pm — Free, pre-show, pop-up performances will take place throughout the Museum’s galleries. Performers are poet and rapper Dessa, bestselling...

The first book in the best-selling fantasy series full of magic, wonder, and danger from Colin Meloy, lead singer of the highly celebrated band the Decemberists, and Carson Ellis, the award-winning illustrator. Soon to be a major motion picture...

SOLD OUT Author Talk & Film Screening with Jane Schoenbrun and SenLinYu at Hollywood Theatre Parallel Worlds Bookshop and the Hollywood Theatre present a special author conversation with Jane Schoenbrun and SenLinYu, celebrating the release of...

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...

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...

Robert Wachter, M.D. Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and widely respected futurist and thought leader With discussion moderated by OHSU President Shereef Elnahal, M.D., M.B.A. Robert Wachter is one of the world’s foremost minds pioneering the future of healthcare, appearing on Modern Healthcare magazine’s list of the 50 most influential physician-executives in the U.S. more than a dozen times. His new book, A Giant Leap: How AI is...

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. Join us 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.