Arts & Media❯Readings❯Poetry

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.

Celebrate Día de los Muertos at M&M Marketplace with two days of culture, music, food, and family fun. Join us on Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1 from 2 PM to 7 PM for a free community celebration in Hillsboro.

Enjoy live music, traditional altars, Calenda, Calaveritas Literarias, a Concurso de Catrinas, food, shopping, and family entertainment. Bring your family and friends as we come together to honor loved ones and celebrate Día de los Muertos traditions.

Dates: Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1
Time: 2 PM to 7 PM
Location: M&M Marketplace, 346 SW Walnut St., Hillsboro, OR 97123
Admission: Free

¡Acompáñanos con toda la familia para celebrar nuestras tradiciones, recordar a nuestros seres queridos y disfrutar un fin de semana especial en comunidad!

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.

Started in 1999 and organized by writer Willa Schneberg, this annual event features readings by prominent Oregon Jewish poets and writers. The writers in the 2026 program span a range of genres, including fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and essays. Each author will share selections from their work.

We are delighted to welcome Gavin Van Horn, editor of the new anthology Sensoria: Attending to the Wonder and Vitality of Nature to Broadway Books. He will be joined by poet Brittney Corrigan, one of the contributors to the anthology.

A stunning gathering of creative nonfiction, research, and poetry, Sensoria transports readers into compelling stories and ethical reflections that stretch the limits of the moral imagination, calling attention to the wondrous ways in which humans and other-than-human beings experience and perceive the world. By exploring the sensorium among all forms of life endowed with different kinds of consciousness and communicative abilities, this volume highlights ecologically and socially diverse ways of touching the world with mind, and touching mind with the world.

Hands on 3D printing orientation covering basic printer use and file creations.

Age 10+. Children under 12 must attend with an adult.

#Collaboratory

Tina Chang reads from her new poetry collection Lion at Portland Art Museum in the Native American Art gallery (Level 2, Room 215), paired with Sara Siestreem, fastened to the rock (blood, sweat, and tears).

In Lion, Tina Chang mines personal and collective memory to explore safety and danger, visibility and invisibility as an Asian American woman. Throughout the collection, Chang responds to multi-hyphenate women artists, including Haena Yoo, Hồng-An Trương, Astria Suparak, and a collective whose work paid tribute to the life of Christina Yuna Lee, a young woman who was killed during the height of anti-Asian hate crimes. Responding to art across various media—text, illustration, painting, video, and sculpture—Lion sparks cross-disciplinary dialogue on Asian American perspectives, surveillance, and the myth of the model minority.

As the aftermath of the pandemic is examined, so too are the structures of bias, racism, and violence that continue. The collection’s title explores the word’s cultural history, composite Chinese iconography, and lion-centered explorations of strength and mastery. Lion traverses the closeness and distance between the racialized self the world views and the perceived self who endures and survives.

“An urgent exploration of Asian American identity from a poet with a ‘fearless imagination.’”–Tracy K. Smith, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

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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Acoustic Village Open Mic w/ Richard Colombo live at The Artichoke, $5 (plus $2.62 service fee) cover at the door (doors open at 6:30 pm). No one is turned away for lack of funds. Join the Acoustic Village Open Mic! Share your talent and connect with music lovers for a cozy night of acoustic magic. Hosted by the fabulous Richard Colombo Come on down to Artichoke Music and join us for one of Portland’s most welcoming Open Mics — in the best listening room in town! Expect a heartfelt evening of community, music, poetry, and stories. Play an original song, a favorite cover, or share a poem — all are welcome! Please keep performances to 5 minutes so everyone has a chance to shine. Sign up by writing your name on a slip of paper next to the basket on the bar. Come share your voice, listen, and connect with the Artichoke family. Hope to see you there!

Live Wire teams up with the Portland Art Museum during First Thursday and the Portland Book Festival. From 4:30 to 6 p.m., complimentary pop-up performances roam the museum galleries, no ticket needed. At 7 p.m., host Luke Burbank and announcer Elena Passarello lead a seated, ticketed taping with poet and rapper Dessa, children’s author Mac Barnett, Pulitzer Prize finalist Ed Park, and Portland comedian Mx. Dahlia Belle. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.. Portland Book Festival passholders get 10% off.

Sacred Sheep is an annual event celebrating our maker’s community. With a focus on local artisans, organizers Ritual Dyes aim to create an inclusive, community-minded space for fiber enthusiasts. Sacred Sheep is held in November in Portland, Oregon and is comprised of a marketplace for maker vendors, meet-ups, food, classes and more.

Told entirely by two performers, a poet and a musician, Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare’s An Iliad remixes Homer’s tale, bridging the ancient with the contemporary. In turns humorous and tender, violent and harrowing, An Iliad is a vital examination of the human compulsion towards war, a passionate interrogation of the toll war has on our humanity, and a testament to the power and potential of storytelling.

Oregon Jewish Voices 2026 November 5, 2026 Admission: $10 general admission, $5 for members with code on back of membership card Location: OJMCHE Auditorium Share × " class="share-btn"> Share on Facebook &text=Oregon Jewish Voices 2026" class="share-btn"> Share on Twitter Email Thursday, November 5 | 7pm start time, doors open at 6:30pm Started in 1999 and organized by writer Willa Schneberg, this annual event features readings by prominent Oregon Jewish poets and writers. The writers in the 2026 program span a range of genres, including fiction, poetry, playwriting, and nonfiction. Each author will share selections from their work. About the Speakers Ayelet Amittay is a poet and psychiatric nurse practitioner in Eugene, Oregon. Her first book, The Eating Knife , is an extended Midrash on the Akedah—the binding of Isaac. It was published by Fernwood Press in 2025. Her chapbook, Therapy Room , won second place in the 2024 3-Day International Chapbook Contest. Ayelet’s poems appear in Gulf Coast , Michigan Quarterly Review , Rattle , Critica Press , Tupelo Quarterly , Pleiades , and others. She received fellowships from the Yiddish Book Center and the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing . Find her at www.ayeletpoet.com or on Instagram @ayeletpoet. Rachel Attias is a writer, educator, and editor based in Portland. Her writing has appeared in n+1 , Porter House Review , X-R-A-Y, and more, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best Small Fictions. She holds an MFA from Oregon State University, and teaches writing at Portland Community College and around the Pacific Northwest. She is also part of Art/Lab’s 2026 Fellowship Cohort, which empowers Portland-area Jewish artists and culture bearers. Her writing is concerned with present and ancestral relationships, our changing natural world, memory, time, and everyday absurdity. Find Rachel at www.rachelattias.com . Daniel Isaiah Elder Daniel Isaiah Elder writes fiction and nonfiction. He was awarded a 2026 Susan Kamil Emerging Writers Prize and received a Lambda Literary Emerging LGBTQ Writer fellowship, as well as an Art/Lab fellowship for Jewish writers. He works as a bookseller at a small independent bookstore, and at Lidia Yuknavitch’s alternative workshop organization, Corporeal Writing. His essays and fiction have appeared in The Rumpus, Catapult, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Witch Craft Magazine, and many more. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his partner and their blended family

Join Ruby in the Maker Lab for DINOvember projects. All attendees need to have a signed waiver on file to enter the Maker Lab.

Create an edible sugar skull, or calavera de azúcar, a confection molded from sugar paste and decorated for the Mexican celebration for the Day of the Dead (Día de los muertos). Learn about the history and significance of sugar skulls while decorating your own pre-made calaverita to keep or honor a loved one!

Quantities are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. For children ages 5 and up with adult supervision.

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

Join Urban Art Network for a special holiday edition of First Thursday inside Portland’s iconic McMenamins Crystal Ballroom! For two festive nights, we’re bringing together an incredible lineup of local artists, makers, and small businesses for a one-of-a-kind indoor holiday market.

Shop handmade goods and unique gifts, grab a cocktail, and spend the evening supporting Portland’s creative community, all while exploring one of the city’s most iconic venues.

Whether you’re getting a head start on holiday shopping, looking for something uniquely Portland, or just want a fun night out, Crafts & Cocktails is the perfect way to kick off the holiday season!

Book Bar is a five-day pop-up bar, café and cultural clubhouse in the heart of downtown Portland during Portland Book Festival week. Stop in for drinks, food, conversation and a rotating lineup of literary-inspired performances, pop-ups and unexpected happenings.

On Wednesday night, 45th Parallel Universe presents a celebration of Allen Ginsberg, featuring live readings of Howl and other works accompanied by live jazz.

The evening brings together voices from Portland’s literary, music, theater and radio communities for a tribute to one of the most influential figures in American poetry, and to Howl, which Ginsberg first read publicly in Portland while studying at Reed College.

Featured participants include Gregory Scholl, Robert McBride, Fred Child, Alexis Hamilton and additional special guests.

Use a Glowforge laser cutter to engrave and cut designs out of acrylic or wood, with assistance from staff and volunteers. No experience needed! A selection of laser-safe materials will be available for you to use.

Space is limited and registration is required. Registration opens November 24.

Children in grades 5 and under must be accompanied by an attentive teen or adult.

Join us for Transformations: Wood / Metal / Stone / Sundry, from Raven Chronicles Press's celebrates the discovery of, and connection with, found objects that hide within landscapes of urban decay and nature. Objects that, when revealed, stand as testaments to time, place, and the transformative effects of nature and the elements. Editor Scott Martin, local poets dan raphael and Allison Green, plus other readers.

Lovett Deconstruction and Salvage Shop's annual makers market — Made and Found — is almost here. This year features 30+ local vendors committed to sustainable practices, specializing in secondhand, new heirlooms, and upcycled goods.

Vendor highlights include Kohai Ceramics, Vitrelux Glassworks, Vibrant Valley Farm, Buji Butter, Chatley Tea, Attic Journals, and many more local makers, including clothing designers, floral artists, candle makers, jewelry artists, wood turners, upcycled knitwear magicians, and more. It's an awe-inspiring collection of local people making great gifts.

Made and Found takes place at Lovett Deconstruction's HQ—an incredible space filled with found objects, reclaimed lumber, architectural salvage, art, and an awe-inspiring collection of collections.

Made and Found is family-friendly and free to attend.

Join us for a Poetry Open Mic! Read original work, share your favorite poem, or sit back and enjoy a night of poetry.

Readers must be 13 or older, but all ages are welcome to listen. Content must be suitable for families (i.e. no profanity, sexual content, etc.).

Sign-up starts 30 minutes before the event outside the Columbia Room. Each reader will have a 5-minute time slot, and are welcome to read multiple poems as long as they fit into the time limit.

Explore science, technology, engineering, and math through hands-on activities. From building and designing to experimenting and exploring—there’s something for every curious mind.

For ages 5–12

First Thursdays moves inside for Crafts and Cocktails at the Crystal Ballroom. Sip, shop, and celebrate Portland's creative community with 75+ artists and makers, delicious McMenamins cocktails, and an unforgettable two nights of music and art.

Expect local art, holiday shopping, music, cocktails and all the festive vibes

It's the perfect way to support local makers and get your holiday shopping done early while enjoying a fun night in one of Portland's most iconic venues. Come raise a glass, find something special, and support local art.

Join us for a poetry reading from Householding with Tom Blood, Shannon Baird, and Brian Hebb.

Tom Blood is the author of the sky position which was awarded the Oregon Book Award for Poetry. Published the raccoon, dot dot, the act, if ever then always, exp, and exp3. He also performs as the lead vocalist in the bands rob walmart, Tom Blood and Jordan Dykstra and Dream Center. Tom is Published in journals in NY, SF, Portland, London, Seattle and elsewhere. He believes the only purpose in life is to communicate love.

Shannon Baird is a Portland native, real estate broker, and award-winning designer whose work reflects a longstanding appreciation for architecture, art, and the character of place. With more than 24 years in real estate and as the founder of SBaird Design, she brings a distinctive perspective to the relationship between people, homes, and the stories they hold.

Shannon conceived the idea for this collection of poetry, originally written to accompany actual real estate listings. What began as an unconventional approach to presenting homes evolved into a book celebrating the character, atmosphere, and individuality of the places we inhabit.

Working closely with book designer Fredrik Averin, Shannon guided the creative development and design of the publication. The collection features poems primarily by Tom Blood, with additional contributions from Shannon Baird and Brian Hebb. Charlotte Moore wrote the foreword and afterword, and Rory Sparks produced the foil-stamped covers.

The book reflects an appreciation for the ways poetry can reveal something beyond the physical details of a property—offering a more personal evocative perspective on the meaning of home, a subject of perennial longing.

Brian Hebb is a failed capitalist, former journalist and chronic penman for hire, furnishing other people’s ad copy and speeches with his favorite daydreams. For these sins, and others less relevant, he is at work on his first novel, The Last Days of Fake Bears, and a short story collection, Target Audience. He lives with his wife in Portland, Oregon where fleeting glimpses of their dead pets are most persistent.

Monthly on every first Tuesday

We want your BOLD stories!

Come to our monthly open mic to share your latest work in progress or previously published piece. We welcome short stories, personal essays, poetry, slam, and other spoken word art forms.

10% off for performers!

BOLD is a safe place. We strive to uplift stories by and about people from underrepresented and diverse communities. We do not tolerate hate speech of any kind.

See you there!

This is our last meeting of 2026! Because our meeting this month falls the week of Thanksgiving, we'll do a casual and fun potluck in person with some sort of writing game (to be determined).

Please bring some food to share. The library will provide the game.

We’re celebrating three wonderful years at Mountain Timber Market, and you’re invited to the party!

Join us for a festive day filled with local shopping, live music, giveaways, good food, and plenty of reasons to celebrate.

Shop our Pop-Up Market featuring local vendors and makers
Enjoy live music throughout the celebration
Giveaways!
Grab a bite from your favorite Market vendors
Soak up the riverfront views and enjoy a day at the Market
Three years of food, friends, local businesses, and memories wouldn’t be possible without you. Come celebrate, shop small, and help us make our third anniversary one to remember!

We can’t wait to celebrate with you!

A public reading at the Harney County Library featuring Oregon Poet Laureate Ellen Waterston.

A monthly, prompt-driven freewriting gathering welcomes writers of every genre and experience level. Guided by author and poet Jone Rush MacCulloch, the session starts with a creative prompt, offers focused time to write, then invites anyone who wishes to share their work. It is a friendly space to connect with other writers, approach the page with curiosity, and see where inspiration leads. Jone is the author of Tilt, a novel in verse, and facilitates writing salons and events online and at Cup of Tea.

Join us for a reading and celebration of Paul Maziar’s Junebug. The evening with feature musical guests Kelli Schaefer and Drew Grow.

When asked for eight words to describe Junebug, Maziar channeled Agent Cooper: “Everyday, once a day, give yourself a present.” But did he mean the present? Either way, Junebug is a gift.

Junebug situates Paul Maziar’s latest acts of listening and attending, transmission and transcription. He’s built a modular space suggestive of both the theatre and the gallery, performance and (inter)play. The aphoristic title sequence hones sharp accessibilities — we find words available to us, for our limbs and limbics to hold, hurrumph, to slap our knees and share. A mysterious dramatis personae pervades Junebug’s expanse across the mental maps Maziar graphs as he organizes streets of words and questions what their design might reference. We encounter, among others, Toulouse-Lautrec, Agnes Martin, Eva Hesse, Jack Whitten, Colette, Robert Walser. Who are all these characters in Maziar’s parade? Maybe there’s some insight in the final serial sequence, “Hives,” which states that “The real thing is inside of what everything appears as.” The real in Junebug asks us to admire the distance between the surface and the subject. We already have the right tools.

Charles North: From short poems to prose poems to the wonderful fragments collected in its title poem, Paul Maziar’s writing revels in imaginative discontinuity. Junebug is smart, witty, surprising—and inspiring—throughout.

Merrill Gilfillan: These works step up in the name of Poetry and its heartwood, its ever-salvational “What’s on the river today?”

Tetra Balestri: Maziar manages to resurrect a conversation started sometime in the early to mid-20th century that cuts through the present-day pandemonium with polish and swagger. Junebug is a pair of pants worth trying on.

Simone Kearney: Reading Paul Maziar’s Junebug, I feel the tightrope walker’s high-wire balance between the forces of levity and gravity, the contexts of interior and exterior, the concocted and the perceived, thought and overheard speech. These poems make me wonder how it is that we move through the world, which is also a moving-through language.

I’m reminded that language bears a strange mystery. It’s always received and always being made at the same time; it’s a material we inherit and get to play with. In Maziar’s work, overheard phrases and sayings arrive solidified, brick-like things. The language resembles the fragments of familiar tunes — an echo, or memory of one — appearing as the freshest, strangest thing newly imagined.

I feel the intimacy and elusiveness of unspoken thought in the poems: words not yet uttered, still inside the mind. This makes me feel the dynamics of inside and outside that are part of the human drama. Am I looking at something the poet is looking at, or am I inside his head? Maziar lets us inhabit uncertainty. This is living language just being breathed, catapulted from lips, cemented into freshly-thought speech.

Junebug lets me delight in the way language can tend to trip over itself: “I’d rather stimulate than simulate”; “a certain vigor (or vinegar?).” Decontextualized, speech is absurd, funny, strangely moving: “I’m not going anywhere until I see a horse.”

What emerges is a tour de force composed of song, slogan, slip of the tongue, reverie, note, advertisement, fragment, nonsense, musing, hiccup, rupture, tidbit, epiphany. “The only faith he had was in the confusion of his experiences,” Maziar writes, suggesting that one thing we can do amid such confusion is continue to place words onto the page — in relation to ourselves, to others, to images, and to other words. And those words keep coming to meet us: flat, full, flowing, tired, zippy, and ready for more.

Kelli Schaefer's latest record, Even Still, could be the soundtrack to a modern gothic, a playlist for a trudge through a muddy forest or the accompaniment to a subconscious mantra. She demonstrates deftness in refusing to confine herself to a single genre. Schaefer excavates her past while planting herself deeper into the avant-garde, offering a fresh take on the age-old singer-songwriter trope, delivering haunting melodies over swirling woodwinds, piano, classical guitar, and upright bass.

The Pacific Northest's beloved troubadour, musician/artist Drew Grow (Slang, Modern Kin, Pastor's Wives) is back with new songs and a new stripped down method. Spotted playing solo shows around Portland this summer, he is out on his own, debuting new music and packing a wall of little guitar amps. It's new digs for the artist. Drew's solo approach, raw and exposed, is even more striking than the bands of his past. His powerful voice still ringing through as ever, magnetic and arching over the solo guitar and twisted old amps. The sound is momentous and vulnerable, seeming to come from a deeper place. What have you brought us?

A $10 ticket supports our musical guests, Kelli Schaefer and Drew Grow.

Hands on 3D printing orientation covering basic printer use and file creations.

Age 10+. Children under 12 must attend with an adult.

#Collaboratory

Drop-In and learn about 3D printing file design, troubleshoot challenges, and ensure successful prints. Age 10+ children under 12 must attend with an adult.

Start shopping for those loved ones on your list and support local artisans at the three-day Vancouver Holiday Market on Nov. 27-29 located at the Hilton Vancouver WA. Featuring more than 120 talented local makers from across the region, you’ll find unique handmade gifts and one-of-a-kind PNW inspired treasures. With crafting stations, a photo booth, and live music and performances throughout the day, the market is fun for all ages. On Friday evening, make a night of it with the Community Tree Lighting in Esther Short Park, right across the street from the holiday market. On Saturday, stroll over to the Downtown Vancouver Farmers Market to enjoy local food and seasonal treats.

Dates & Hours: November 27th – November 29th, 2026

• Friday: 3:00 pm – 8:00 pm

• Saturday: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

• Sunday: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

• Free Admission

Location: Hilton Vancouver Washington (301 W 6th St, Vancouver, WA 98660)

https://vancouverfarmersmarket.org/vancouver-holiday-market/

Readings from Transformations: Wood/Metal/Stone/Sundry (Raven Chronicles, 2026). Transformations celebrates the discovery of, and connection with, found objects that hide within landscapes of urban decay and nature. Objects that, when revealed, stand as testaments to time, place, and the transformative effects of nature and the elements. Readers include Dan Raphael, Allison Green, Nora Martin, and Scott Martin.

Welcome to our makerspace, DAM (Design And Make)! During Open Lab hours, the makerspace is open for all ages. Drop in to explore and use any equipment available. A staff member is stationed in the space to answer questions and assist when needed. Note: A signed waiver is required annually: https://www.beavertonlibrary.o...

Join us for the Mountain Writers Series readingswith:
Gerald Costanzo & Michele Glazer

Gerald Costanzo’s Badlands: First Poems, was published by Copper Canyon Press in 1973, and in 1974, In the Aviary, won the Devins Award. Other of his poetry collections include Nobody Lives on Arthur Godfrey Boulevard (BOA, 1992), The Laps of the Bridesmaids (Bits Press, 1992), and most recently, Regular Haunts (Nebraska, 2018). Founder of the Carnegie Mellon University Press (1972), Costanzo served as Director of the Press, also teaching writing and literature courses at Carnegie Mellon University, until he retired in 2024. Costanzo has edited numerous anthologies, among them Three Rivers, Ten Years: An Anthology of Poems from Three Rivers Poetry Journal, and American Poetry: The Next Generation. He has received two N.E.A. Creative Writing Fellowships as well as two Pushcart Prizes for his poetry. He divides his time between Mt. Lebanon, PA and a home on the Oregon Coast.

Michele Glazer is the author of four books of poetry, most recently, fretwork (Iowa, 2021). Others include On Tact, & the Made Up World (Iowa, 2010); Aggregate of Disturbances (Iowa Poetry Prize, 2004); and It Is Hard to Look at What We Came to Think We’d Come to See (Pittsburgh, 1997; AWP Award). She has published poems in The New Yorker, Boston Review, and Lo-Ball, among others. Glazer was the founding director of the MFA Creative Writing program at Portland State University and has been a visiting professor at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and at the University of Montana as the Richard Hugo Chair in Poetry. She lives in Portland.

Chatter PDX is a performing arts series in Portland inspired by the success of the innovative Chatter series in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which has captivated audiences for over 15 years. Chatter PDX brings a unique blend of music, spoken word, coffee, and reflection to Portland's vibrant cultural landscape. Chatter performances take place weekly and offer audiences the opportunity to hear a wide variety of classical chamber music and spoken word, performed by local artists. Coffee and mingling with the audience and performers before and after the show are an essential part of the Chatter PDX experience.

Each week, join a unique program of music and poetry.

Learn about how a 3D printer works and go home with a small 3D printed object! You'll choose from a short list of pre-selected model options, follow the facilitator in using software to set up your print, and then send your object to the printer. All materials will be provided.

Space is limited and registration is required. Registration opens November 12.

Monday Mic Night is an open mic event. Bring whatever you’d like to share—music, poetry, a soliloquy, a painting, even a magic trick. All ages and talent levels are welcome. Non-performing audience members are welcome too.

This event is free, all ages, and open to the public.

Date: Monday, November 9
Time: 7-9pm (Signups start at 6:30pm)
Location: Sherwood Center for the Arts, Maera Boughey Theatre
22689 SW Pine Street, Sherwood OR 97140

More information at our website: Monday Mic Night | Sherwood Center for the Arts

We are excited to host Acre Knife, a small team of bladesmiths crafting kitchen and outdoor knives in the St. Johns neighborhood!

They will demonstrate their new line of everyday hand-finished culinary knives and let shoppers try them for themselves.

For years, a group of accomplished bladesmiths had devoted themselves to making exceptional knives. They had apprenticed, studied traditional techniques, experimented with materials, and developed their own methods. But they also knew how difficult it could be to build a life around that kind of work.

In 2023, Dane Tomseth set out to change that by creating a place where skilled makers could do serious work, earn a living, and keep getting better. That place became Acre Forge, a working production facility in North Portland’s St. Johns neighborhood where experienced makers share equipment, techniques, ideas, and a daily practice.

Their collective experience spans traditional Japanese techniques, modern design, metallurgy, ergonomics, culinary experience, woodworking, and machining. That shared foundation and the different paths that brought them to it is what shapes Acre’s knife lines: Macrum and Signature.

In collaboration with Big Mood Books, we're honored to host the chapbook launch for Adesina Brown!

Join us for a poetry reading presented by Spare Room, featuring Ariel Resnikoff and Ivan Sokolov.

Ariel Resnikoff's recent works include Raisin in Every Bite (Furniture Press, 2022), A Paradise of Hearing (The Swan, 2021), and Unnatural Bird Migrator (The Operating System, 2020) which was awarded an Anne and Robert Cowan Writers Prize. His newest poetry collection, Poems with Friends and Ghosts, is forthcoming from Chax Press in 2027. With Pierre Joris, he is also the co-editor of In Between, Keep Moving: A Pierre Joris Reader (Contra Mundum 2026). Ariel is a translator of Yiddish, Hebrew and Spanish poetry and prose, and his own writing has been translated into German, French, Russian, and Mandarin, among other languages. In 2025 he was a visiting writer and translator in China at Central China University in Wuhan and the University of Fudan in Shanghai. Ariel lives in El Cerrito, California – the little hill – with his partner, the artist Rivka Weinstock and their kiddo. With E. Tracy Grinnell, he co-directs Litmus Press and Ether Sea Projects.

Ivan Sokolov is a poet, translator and critic from St. Petersburg, Russia, currently based in Portland. Author of five books of poetry in Russian, he also translates the international avant-garde, from Gertrude Stein to Paul Celan. His Russian version of Ron Silliman's "You" and a translation of Richard Foreman's "Samuel II" were recently published. Sokolov's translations from contemporary Russian writing are available in World Literature Today and the Back Room. His own work has been featured in a Deep Vellum anthology Verses on the Vanguard.

The Cover to Cover programis an eclectic mix of fun events organized by community partners across the metro area that expands Portland Book Festival. This additional programming is aimed at going beyond the scope of a traditional reading or author panel. Past events have included a mock burial, tea ceremonies and poetry karaoke.

Grab a friend, and make space on your bookshelf for PBF Cover to Cover, taking place in bars, coffee shops, restaurants, venues, parks, and more spaces throughout Portland metro.

Space is limited; every participant must be signed up in advance to reserve a spot.

Join us at the Creative Learning Room to learn a new skill, and meet friendly people. The program will focus exclusively on an introduction to 3D printing with our Prusa printers. As a result, other equipment will not be available for public use during this time.