Music❯Rock

Join us for an intimate evening featuring a pre-show discussion and Q&A with Soccer Mommy and special Guest Interviewer, followed by a local opener and solo performance by Soccer Mommy. This event is hosted by Papertrees Creative, in partnership with Literary Arts and the Portland Book Festival 2026.

Soccer Mommy

Sophie Allison has always written candidly about her life, making Soccer Mommy one of indie rock’s most interesting and beloved artists of the last decade. Allison has used Soccer Mommy’s songs as a vehicle to sort through the thoughts and encounters that inevitably come with the reality of growing up. After all, Soccer Mommy began as a bedroom-to-Bandcamp exercise with teenage Allison posting her plaintive songs as demos. Over the years, though, she has often enhanced that sound, using the endless production possibilities, newly at her fingertips, to outstrip singer-songwriter stereotypes. The records would start with songwriting’s kernels of truth, and she would then imagine all the unexpected shapes they could take. Every Soccer Mommy record has felt like a surprise.On Soccer Mommy’s fourth album, the tender but resolute Evergreen, Allison is again writing about her life. But that life’s different these days: Since making her previous album, 2022’s Sometimes, Forever, Allison experienced a profound and also very personal loss. New songs emerged from that change, unflinching and sometimes even funny reflections on what she was feeling. (Speaking of funny, this is a Soccer Mommy album, so there’s an ode to Allison’s purple-haired wife in the game Stardew Valley, too.) These songs were, once again, Allison’s way to sort through life, to ground herself. She wanted them to sound that way, too, to feel as true to the demos—raw and relatable, unvarnished and honest—as possible. The songwriting would again lead where the production would follow. Nothing overindulgent, everything real.

Join an intimate evening featuring a pre-show discussion and Q&A with Soccer Mommy and special Guest Interviewer, followed by a local opener and solo performance by Soccer Mommy. This event is hosted by Papertrees Creative, in partnership with Literary Arts and the Portland Book Festival 2026.

Sophie Allison has always written candidly about her life, making Soccer Mommy one of indie rock’s most interesting and beloved artists of the last decade. Allison has used Soccer Mommy’s songs as a vehicle to sort through the thoughts and encounters that inevitably come with the reality of growing up. After all, Soccer Mommy began as a bedroom-to-Bandcamp exercise with teenage Allison posting her plaintive songs as demos. Over the years, though, she has often enhanced that sound, using the endless production possibilities, newly at her fingertips, to outstrip singer-songwriter stereotypes. The records would start with songwriting’s kernels of truth, and she would then imagine all the unexpected shapes they could take. Every Soccer Mommy record has felt like a surprise.

On Soccer Mommy’s fourth album, the tender but resolute Evergreen, Allison is again writing about her life. But that life’s different these days: Since making her previous album, 2022’s Sometimes, Forever, Allison experienced a profound and also very personal loss. New songs emerged from that change, unflinching and sometimes even funny reflections on what she was feeling. (Speaking of funny, this is a Soccer Mommy album, so there’s an ode to Allison’s purple-haired wife in the game Stardew Valley, too.) These songs were, once again, Allison’s way to sort through life, to ground herself. She wanted them to sound that way, too, to feel as true to the demos—raw and relatable, unvarnished and honest—as possible. The songwriting would again lead where the production would follow. Nothing overindulgent, everything real.

21+ · <p><strong><em>UMBRAE NOCTIS​ 2026 - WEEKEND PASS</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>onsale Sept 1- Sept 30</em></strong></p><p><em>single day passes will be available Oct 2</em></p><p></p><p><strong><em>FRIDAY NIGHT HEADLINER:</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>*MOSCATO SKY</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>FRIDAY NIGHT FEATURE:</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>*ASTERIA ATOMBOMB</em></strong></p><p></p><p><strong><em>SATURDAY NIGHT HEADLINER:</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>*THROB ZOMBIE</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>SATURDAY NIGHT FEATURE:</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>*HALO AS HELL</em></strong></p><p><br>We will gather in the glorious confines of The Coffin Crypt to witness a spectacular showcase of resplendently decadent performance art by creatures from all walks of life.</p><p>You will find gloriously ghoulish drag and burlesque performances that will transfix your senses all weekend, all set to the feelings and sounds of darkwave, post-punk, goth, deathrock and punk. Artists from all walks of life and from all parts of the world will gather to share their beauty with you with performances that will leave you breathless.</p><p></p><p>- Friday and Saturday, November 13 & 14 at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://thecoffinclubpdx.com/"><u>The Coffin</u></a> (421 SE Grand Ave) - performances from 8pm-11pm each night (doors at 7), with after party and dancing til 2 AM.<strong><em>​</em></strong></p><p></p><p>- Sunday, November 15 we will hold a Dark Market at THE COFFIN<strong><em>​</em></strong></p><p></p><p>- Saturday & Sunday you will have the opportunity to take <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.umbraenoctisfestival.com/workshops"><u>workshops </u></a>with our special guests, including our headliner Throb Zombie!</p>

21 & Over | $15 Advance, $20 Day of Show | Slicker is a 7-piece country rock band, playing the best country hits while taking you on a musical tour through the decades and genres. Slicker delivers a rock concert-style performance, and brings an energetic party vibe that gets people knocking chairs over to get to the dance floor.

This night of kick-your-heels-up country music begins with a FREE line dance lesson from the Dance Your Boots Off crew.

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Reserved Seating Available

If you want to rage out and turn this season into an eventful alternative bonanza, here's your opportunity to see the most fantastic act in the circuit. Smashing Pumpkins brings a top-rated showdown across the US this fall as they serve a brand new trek. This time, a new album brings different vibes, and Smashing Pumpkins is slated to promote this incredible work. Smashing Pumpkins brings The Rats In A Cage Tour to this city, and they're ready to conquer Moda Center at the Rose Quarter with their viral hits, including "1979," "Tonight Tonight," and the Grammy-winning "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"!

Inspired by Crater Lake National Park, Michael Gordon’s Natural History weaves Native and symphonic music in this paean to the natural landscape. Plus, hear works by two of classical music’s most intrepid pioneers: Stravinsky’s experimental musical essay on wind and brass sounds, Symphonies of Wind Instruments,and Beethoven’s vivacious and dramatic Symphony No. 1. Oregonian Grace Miedziak enhances the program with a new work that celebrates the Pacific Northwest.

• Norman Huynh Conductor
• Steiger Butte Drum and Singers Native American ensemble
• Members of Portland State University Chamber Choir Ethan Sperry, Conductor
• Oregon Symphony

• STRAVINSKY Symphonies of Wind Instruments
• Michael GORDON Natural History
• Grace MIEDZIAK Cascadence (Rizzo-Cummings Emerging Composer Fellow at the Oregon Symphony, Oregon Symphony commission)
• BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21

This concert is part of Classical Series A, and is eligible for the Choose Your Own Series (Portland only). Concert length is approximately 1 hour 33 minutes, with one intermission.

This pre-concert talk takes place one hour before the Sunday matinee performance.

SUN, NOV 1, 1PM: Conductor Norman Huynh and Rizzo-Cummings Emerging Composer Fellow Grace Miedziak with All Classical Radio host Warren Black.

Climate change, especially in recent years, has escalated not only into a global environmental crisis but also into a highly intensified challenge in a time of political divides—often leaving one feeling overwhelmed and powerless. How can better conversations help move individuals, communities, and the planet toward collective solutions?

Called “one of the nation’s most effective communicators on climate change” by The New York Times, Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy, has an uncanny ability to navigate all sides of the conversation on climate. With a singular balance of scientific rigor and storytelling, patience and empathy, and an abiding adherence to her faith, Hayhoe is often able to reach audiences that other climate scientists have not been able to reach — demonstrating that by finding shared values, we can better connect our unique identities to collective action.

WorldOregon welcomes Katharine Hayhoe back to Portland for this rich conversation exploring how to incorporate climate change into both our public decisions and private conversations at a moment of urgency when climate action and environmental policy are at a crossroads.

Dr. Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist whose work bridges climate science, risks, and resilience. As Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy (TNC), she directs the organization’s global scientific strategy and leads a global community of more than 1,000 TNC scientists and science staff whose work underpins every aspect of TNC’s mission: from conserving lands and waters to developing scalable, science-based solutions to the biodiversity and climate crises.

Featuring special guest Gary Hershberger (Mike Nelson) in person!

Joins us for the complete Twin Peaks series on the big screen for the first time in history! We continue our year-long celebration of the greatest TV show of all time The Missing Pieces. Rarely shown in theaters, this feature film presents deleted scenes from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me assembled together as an untold portion of the story’s prequel. Following a Q&A, we’ll then begin The Return with episodes “My Log Has a Message for You” and “The Stars Turn and a Time Presents Itself.”

Gary Hershberger will be signing autographs and taking photos with fans for an additional fee at the event.

• Thursday, November 5
• The Heathman Lodge | 7801 NE Greenwood Dr., Vancouver
• Doors Open: 6:00 p.m. | Program Begins: 6:30 p.m.

A Tuareg singer/songwriter and guitarist who is known for his innovative and intense playing style, Mdou Moctar rose from a small village in Niger to earn viral success among West Africa's cell phone-trading network. An appearance on an American compilation in 2010 led to international recognition and further exploratory releases on the Sahel Sounds label. After starring in a Tuareg-language homage to Purple Rain, Moctar's sound continued to evolve as he pushed his musical boundaries as a multi-instrumentalist on 2017's Sousoume Tamachek. Subsequent albums like Ilana: The Creator (2019) and Afrique Victime (2021) found him infusing his African influences with wild electric psychedelia and full-blast rock and roll to widespread acclaim. 2024's scintillating Funeral for Justice saw Moctar take a stronger political stance on the injustices faced by Niger and the Tuareg people. A reimagined, all-acoustic version of the album was released in early 2025 as Tears of Injustice.

Lewis & Clark College Department of Music and Portland State University’s School of Music and Theater present an afternoon with Grammy Award-winning soprano Audrey Luna on Wednesday, November 4, 2026 from 3pm to 6pm in Evans Auditorium.

In this stunning and compulsively readable memoir, the Oscar-winning star of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, The Goonies, and Everything Everywhere All at Once, Ke Huy Quan, tells the story of his journey from Vietnamese refugee to 80s child star to the most inspiring comeback in Hollywood history. Interviewed by OPB’s Dave Miller. Ke Huy Quan’s Hollywood adventure began when he was twelve years old, a mere five years after his family escaped Communist Northern Vietnam and settled down to a relatively peaceful life in L.A.’s Chinatown. After attending an open call audition on a whim, he was unexpectedly swept up in the wild world of filmmaking: learning to swim from Harrison Ford on the set of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, receiving trucks full of toys from Steven Spielberg and George Lucas for his birthday, meeting Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker, and making lifelong friends on the set of The Goonies.

A star of two of the most beloved movies of the ‘80s, there appeared to be no limit to Ke’s rise. But just a few years later, the roles had dried up and it seemed like Hollywood no longer had a place for him. He eventually left acting to work odd jobs behind the scenes for directors like Wong Kar Wai. His confidence was badly shaken, but his love of performing never abated. It wasn’t until decades later, when he was 49 years old, that he stepped back in front of the camera to star in a strange little indie film called Everything Everywhere All at Once, which surprised everyone with its incredible box-office and awards season success. To call Ke’s Oscar-winning performance a triumphant return would be an understatement.

In this moving, inspirational memoir, Ke paints a vivid self-portrait, telling both heart-wrenching and funny stories of his early rise, slow fall from the spotlight, the resilience that kept him going through his darkest times, and his eventual resurrection on one of the biggest stages in Hollywood. Never Say Die is the story of Ke’s extraordinary life, a love letter to the movies and people that shaped him, and a powerful testament to never giving up on your dreams.

Church of Art's collaborative neurographics is a mindfulness-based creative activity that provides therapeutic relaxation through intuitive mark-making on a grand scale. For this mindfulness-based collaborative art activity, Church of Art will cover a long row of tables with a roll of paper and acrylic paint pens in a variety of sizes and colors. Participants will move freely around the table, filling the paper with sweeping, colorful doodles to the sounds of calming music. The giant scale allows for whole-arm movements, which signal brains to move out of fight-or-flight mode and into a state of mental relaxation and improved focus. The collaborative aspect of this workshop teaches one to let go of perfection and expectation through shared creative exploration, while working large encourages greater freedom of expression.

Neurographic art is a relatively new form of focused, intentional mark-making that uses curved, bold lines, vibrant colors and calming patterns. Physician and neurographics practitioner Ruben Halperin, M.D., will be the guide, co-facilitating this workshop with artist and Church of Art founder, Erika Halperin.

Immerse yourself in this beneficial form of meditative doodling and experience the mood-boosting effect of creativity coupled with community gathering.

Using paper and acrylic markers. All materials and supplies are provided by the studio.

Tickets Include:

• 2 hours of guided creative exploration in a supportive, friendly environment with all supplies included.
• Light snacks and non-alcoholic beverages are included.
• That wonderful feeling of joy and connectedness that comes from a few hours of in-person artistic play with other adults.

Would you like to experience the finest expression of Scotch whisky produced today? Would you like to expand your knowledge of Scotch and the many styles and flavours that make up quality whisky? Do you love smoky whisky?!

Join The Scotch Malt Whisky Society for a rare single malt Scotch whisky tasting experience at The Scotch Lodge! Attendees will be among the first to taste six (6) unique single malts from our upcoming November Peated Outturn in a seated, guided tasting format designed to expand your knowledge and appreciation for Scotch whisky.

Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society is the world’s largest whisky club of whisky lovers. More than just a club, the Society is known for offering the finest expression of Scotch whisky produced today. It acquires exceptional whisky casks from distilleries across Scotland and beyond. Each cask is then bottled and offered exclusively to its community of members through the Society’s online shop smwsa.com.

While Society whisky is available for purchase by members only, this event is open to anyone eager to taste and learn in the company of fellow whisky lovers. Members enjoy a reduced price for admission and all attendees who order tickets before 2pm PT on October 15th will get the early bird special pricing.

Slàinte Mhath!

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.

Embark on a spooky voyage aboard the Explorer Jetboat to the famous Spirit of Halloweentown in St. Helens. Skip the hassle of driving, with the dock less than a block from the festivities. Along the way, a guide will share chilling tales of St. Helens and Portland's seedy past. Once ashore, you'll have about 4 hours to explore, including access to the paid attractions. Whether you're a fan of the iconic Disney movie “Halloweentown" or seeking Halloween family fun, this cruise has something for everyone.

In a darkening musical landscape where viral fads and AI-generated fakery share chart-space with the self-absorbed products of the nation’s stage schools, Buzzcocks shine out as a gleaming beacon of hope.
A constant, ever-evolving presence over the last 45 years of pop culture, the band’s legendary status will be set in stone — literally — with their inclusion in the Music Walk Of Fame in September, joining an illustrious roll call including David Bowie, The Who, Madness and Amy Winehouse.
The band’s never-better live shows, meanwhile, are electrifying reminders of rock music’s power to inspire, educate and inform. All delivered with an energy and conviction of a band half their age.
“It’s my lifeblood,” says Steve Diggle — 68 years young — of a non-stop touring schedule which over the summer will see them play to thousands of fans across Europe and the UK.
“I’ve still got the fire in my belly. Some musicians get bored of being on the road, but I’m institutionalised. I’ve done 50-odd years of staying in hotels. It’s what I signed up for. Ever since I saw Bob Dylan in the back of a black taxi in (D.A. Pennebaker’s 1967 documentary) Don’t Look Back, I always wanted to live this kind of life — being interviewed in the back of a black taxi on the way to the studio.”

While most of their punk peers are content to traverse the globe in jukebox-style revue shows, Buzzcocks continue to move with the times, attracting new fans wherever they go. A case in point being the huge all-ages crowd the band pulled at the Iggy Pop-headlined Dog Day Afternoon in July.
“There’s not a lot of intellectual or emotional thinking in music these days,” observes Steve. “People are being controlled. They’ll watch a video of someone falling over a banana skin and think they’re being entertained. They don’t realise the beauty of words, and the power of music. I’d like to think young kids who come to see us feel the same excitement I got from Little Richard and Chuck Berry. It goes back to the punk thing. It was about attitude and a way of thinking. We had the questions, but we didn’t have the answers. But the questions are the important thing.”

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.

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.

Plini brings the An Unnameable Desire North American Tour to Revolution Hall in Portland, joined by Night Verses and Portraits. The Australian instrumental progressive guitarist, composer, and producer is known worldwide for fluid playing, cinematic writing, and a boundary-blurring take on modern instrumental music. His third full-length, An Unnameable Desire, explores heavier and more experimental ideas while keeping the spacious, melodic touch at the heart of his work, and the set mixes new material with favorites from across his catalog. Night Verses, the Fullerton trio of Aric Improta, Nick DePirro, and Reilly Herrera, is recognized for high-intensity performances and inventive songwriting. Early releases like Out Of The Sky introduced a fusion of prog, alt metal, post rock, and ambient electronic elements, and the instrumental album From The Gallery Of Sleep earned wide acclaim. Their latest, Every Sound Has a Color in the Valley of Night, extends that trajectory, bolstered by millions of streams and consistent praise. Portraits rounds out the bill with progressive instrumental sounds. The project features Joshua De LaVictoria and Joseph Anidjar, known online for virtuosic guitar work and endorsements from Abasi Concepts, Iconic Guitars, and Neural DSP. Based between Southern California and Montreal, they wrote, produced, and recorded their debut album BuyHigh over 2021 and 2022, released it in July, and have since drawn attention for distinctive aesthetics and composition. This event is open to all ages.

After many years celebrating the music of Big Star via the collective known as Big Star’s Third, Jody Stephens (the last surviving member of the original Big Star lineup) had an idea.

“I truly loved touring the world and performing Big Star’s Third with a core group, a variety of special guests, and a chamber orchestra playing the beautiful orchestrations created by Carl Marsh and Chris Stamey. But when the idea of celebrating the 50th anniversary of #1 Record came up, it was time to pare the production down to a five-piece rock band. So I called a few close and like-spirited musical friends.”

Enter some of the legendary group’s biggest fans, who have long been associated with Big Star and related projects. The band now includes Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Jon Auer (The Posies), Pat Sansone (Wilco), Chris Stamey (The dB's) and Stephens. Dubbing themselves the Big Star Quintet, it’s a lineup that is both personal and close in spirit to #1 Record and Radio City.

For over two decades, Railroad Earth has captivated audiences with gleefully unpredictable live shows and eloquent and elevated studio output. The group introduced its signature sound on 2001’s The Black Bear Sessions. Between selling out hallowed venues such as Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, CO, they’ve been responsible for launching signature festivals Hangtown Music Festival in Placerville, CA and Hillberry: The Harvest Moon Festival in Eureka Springs, AR. Sought after by legends, the John Denver Estate tapped them to put lyrics penned by the late John Denver to music on the 2019 vinyl EP, Railroad Earth: The John Denver Letters. Beyond tallying tens of millions of streams, the collective has earned widespread critical acclaim from David Fricke of Rolling Stone, American Songwriter, Glide Magazine, and NPR, who assured, “Well-versed in rambling around, as you might expect from a band named after a Jack Kerouac poem, the New Jersey-built jam-grass engine Railroad Earth has let no moss grow under its rustic wheels.”

Join Erath and The Malarkey for a special evening that brings together two Oregon Originals. Hosted at chef Brian Malarkey’s downtown Portland restaurant, this winemaker dinner pairs seasonal cuisine with Erath wines for a one-night-only experience celebrating Oregon's flavors and spirit.

Throughout the evening, guests will enjoy a multi-course menu created by The Malarkey culinary team, thoughtfully paired with Erath wines selected to highlight the flavors, stories, and sense of place that define Oregon. Along the way, you’ll hear from Erath’s Head Winemaker Leah Adint and discover how a shared passion for hospitality, craftsmanship, and creativity continues to inspire both brands.

With limited seating, this is a rare opportunity to gather around the table for an unforgettable evening of food, wine, and Oregon tradition.

Sign up for the poster session here!

The 2026 Pauling Medal will be presented to Professor Wooley at the 2026 Pauling Medal Symposium on November 7, 2026, at Portland State University in Portland, OR, in recognition of her pioneering studies.

Information about the symposium is posted at the Pauling Medal web page. The symposium includes lectures by eminent scientists and the awardee, a student poster session, a reception, and an evening banquet with presentation of the Pauling Medal to Professor Wooley.

The symposium is free and open to the public. The Awards Dinner is open to the public but requires advance purchase of a banquet ticket. Please visit the Pauling Medal web page for event details and banquet tickets.

Schedule:

• 11:00am - 1:00pm: Poster Set-up Time
• 1:00 - 5:30pm: Symposium in Hoffman Hall
  Symposium speakers
  • Prof. Geoff Coates, Cornell University
  • Prof. Craig Hawker, University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Prof. Doug Keszler (emeritus), Oregon State University
  • Pauling Awardee, Prof. Karen Wooley, Texas A&M University
• 5:30 - 7:00pm: Reception and poster session in SRTC lobby
• 7:00 - 10:00pm: Banquet and award lecture in Hoffman Hall

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.

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.

Founded in 2004, Federale has released seven cinematic records inspired by obscure spaghetti westerns, folk-based murder ballads, '60s and '70s European soundtracks, and stylishly dramatic vocalists such as Lee Hazelwood and Nick Cave. Federale's music has appeared in films, including A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, The Bad Batch, and The Lego Movie, while the band has toured extensively throughout North America and Europe.

Federale's newest album Love & Other Lies (2026) teems with a dark sentimentality and a pronounced gloomy sensibility drawing from British new wave, post-punk, goth, and 1960s rock n 'roll. Strains of The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Sisters of Mercy, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Tears for Fears, and even The Beatles abound. Here, lead singer and primary songwriter Collin Hegna's emotive baritone is swathed in period-perfect Prophet-5 synthesizers and glistening counter-melody guitar lines, and supported by intricate but lyrical basslines and coldly mechanical drums.

Love & Other Lies picks up where Federale's previous album, Reverb & Seduction, left off. That album was a radical departure from the band's previous releases which featured mostly instrumentals. "There are a lot more similarities than you think," Hegna says of the group's seemingly two distinct aesthetic periods. "When we were referencing the obscure influences, we liked the drama and darkness. Those elements are in new wave, goth, and post-punk. I just grabbed another couple of colors from the Crayon box."

Holiday Dan (drums) and Rayko Stanislav (piano) started a cacophony of curious clanging helter skelter sounds in 2017. Using a 100 year old upright Meister piano which has travelled across the west and a rickety Pearl drum set they were joined by equally dysfunctional horns: a thrift store tuba (Tubano), knock off Indian valve trombone (Tom Bone) and street find trumpet (Roly). Together they make (mostly) wordless sound eruptions that have only best been described as "if Danny Elfman and Eliot Smith had a baby and if fell down a spiral staircase in New Orleans"

Come try and describe the ear twisting music yourself! See ya on the asphalt!

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.

The Portland Grief House invites you to join The Lost Table, a welcoming space to gather in community, remember those we’ve lost, and share in the traditions that help us keep them close. Bring a dish, pull up a chair, and make a place at the table for the dead. Grief can be hard to understand, and sometimes what we need most is community, ritual, conversation, and food.

Together, we’ll explore how different cultures and traditions call to, honor, and make offerings to those who have died. In the spirit of Día de Muertos, we’ll create a shared space where the living and the dead can gather around the same table.

We’ll begin with a creative activity led by Mario Mesquita, inviting us to reflect on memory, food, and our relationships with those we’ve lost. Participants will be introduced to the ritual elements that will carry us through the evening.

Laura Green will lead a community conversation about intercultural traditions of Día de Muertos and other ways communities call to and remember their dead. Participants will have an opportunity to share stories, traditions, and memories, and to dedicate an offering to someone they have lost.

Bea Yeh will introduce the tradition of Hungry Ghost and lead us in making an offering to the dead. We’ll set places at our table for those who are no longer with us and share food as an act of remembrance and connection.

Our community offerings and tributes will be gathered at Ximena Morales’s altar, creating a shared space of remembrance that connects the different traditions and offerings brought into the room.

Throughout the evening, we’ll create something together through words, offerings, and remembrance. We’ll dedicate a community poem to the dead and close our gathering with a collective ritual of words, sound, and stillness.

Please bring:

• A dish to share, plus any serving utensils it needs. Consider bringing something that reminds you of a loved one or connects you to a family or cultural tradition.
• Please label your food with a card identifying any allergens or dietary considerations.
• Your own dinnerware (plate, bowl, utensils, napkin).
• A beverage for yourself, if you’d like something other than water.
• A photograph, name, or other small tribute to a loved one for the community altar, if you’d like.
• Please do not bring chips, salsa, or guacamole—Milagro will provide these.

The Portland Grief House is honored to continue this tradition, originally started by Side Yard Farm. El Centro Milagro is excited to partner with Portland Grief House to create a space for English- and Spanish-speaking community members to gather, remember, share traditions, and honor the dead together.

Schedule
4:00–4:30 PM — Opening Ritual & Activity
4:30–5:45 PM — Community Conversation & Offerings
5:45 PM — Dedication & Closing

Estimated Running Time: 3 hours
Age Recommendation: Ages 10+

King Buffalo, a heavy psych trio featuring vocalist and guitarist Sean McVay, bassist Dan Reynolds, and drummer Scott Donaldson, shares the bill with L.A. Witch. The Los Angeles trio of Sade Sanchez, Irita Pai, and Ellie English blends reverb-draped rock with a sound that ranges across broader sonic territory on its latest album, DOGGOD, while exploring existential and cosmic themes. This is an all-ages event.

Smashing Pumpkins perform live at the Moda Center at the Rose Quarter in Portland, Oregon.

Choreographer Lai Hung-Chung makes dances of striking beauty and intention. “Birdy,” his captivating signature work for Hung Dance, moves between suspense and explosive energy, between the weight of tradition and the pull toward something new. Hung Dance blends traditional Chinese arts, including tai chi, Peking Opera, and classical Chinese music, with contemporary dance technique and driving electronic music, creating work that is poetic and rhythmic at once. What audiences see on stage is a world in constant transformation, where bodies bend and resist, images linger, and the tension between holding on and letting go becomes the dance itself.

TAIPEI CITY, TAIWAN

Birdy

“…a dreamy sensibility with astonishing athleticism in culturally sensitive modern dance performance.” —Charlie Smith, Pancouver

Sponsored by George & Nancy Thorn. White Bird’s Uncaged Series Sponsor: Ronni Lacroute

The Friday and Saturday performances will have pre-show talks. Come early to hear from the dancers from 6:15–6:45 PM. No ticket needed.

Join us November 3rd for the Hung Dance Lecture Demonstration, FREE with RSVP here .

JOSEPH is the Oregon-bred sister trio of Natalie, Allie, and Meegan Closner, known for
their powerful harmonies, emotionally honest songwriting, and genre-blurring blend of
indie pop, folk, and rock. Since releasing their breakout debut I’m Alone, No
You’re Not in 2016—which featured their hit single “White Flag” and landed them
on The Tonight Show, TODAY, and the Billboard charts—the band has steadily built a
devoted following through gripping live performances, national tours, and appearances
at major festivals including Coachella, Glastonbury, and Bonnaroo.

Over the years, JOSEPH has released a string of critically acclaimed records
including Good Luck, Kid (2019) and The Sun (2023), praised for their rich vocal
arrangements andsoul-baring lyricism. Their most recent release Closer to Happy (2026)
marks their boldest and most personal work to date. Co-produced with Luke Niccoli (Carly
Rae Jepsen, Miya Folick), the project explores themes of grief, self-trust, and radical selfacceptance.
Whether through triumphant anthems like “I Believe In Myself” or gut-punch
ballads like “Bye and Bye,” JOSEPH continues to turn lived experience into songs that
resonate far beyond the surface.

Make life a little easier on our Oregon winter birds with some crafty edible artistry for all ages.

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.

Join Dr. Mas Subramanian, the inventor of YInMn Blue—the first new blue pigment discovered in more than 200 years—for a fascinating lecture on the science, history, and future of color. Dr. Subramanian will share the story behind this accidental discovery and explore the role of pigments in art, design, technology, and everyday life, offering a unique perspective at the intersection of scientific innovation and creative practice.

This is a virtual program held via Zoom Webinar. The webinar will also be screened inside the new building for the Jordan Schnitzer School for Art + Art History + Design on 1981 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97201. Attendees can also join remotely.

The Literary Arts Bookstore is pleased to welcome Kimberly Blaeser to celebrate her latest book Red Ants. Blaeser will be joined in conversation by Christopher Diaz.

About the book:

Sunday, November 1st, 2026 8:00PM Roseland Theater All Ages General Admission Floor | 21 & Over Reserved Seating Balcony No refunds or exchanges. Tickets are non-transferable. Will Call name changes not permitted. Domestic Bliss Tour VIP Package...

Join an afternoon with Grammy Award-winning soprano Audrey Luna. Audrey will give a masterclass with L&C and PSU students and present a lecture titled "The Business of Singing."

🎂 Turn the party up! Book 3+ tickets with up to 30% off now, get an extra 20% off your next purchase!

⭐ Candlelight concerts bring the magic of a live, multi-sensory musical experience to awe-inspiring locations like never seen before in Portland. Get your tickets now to discover the music of Coldplay & Imagine Dragons at The Old Church Concert Hall under the gentle glow of candlelight.

This is a tribute concert experience. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the artist, their estate, or official representatives.

Concerts:

Friday, September 4 at 8:45pm

Saturday, November 21 at 6:30pm & 8:45pm

Sunday December 27 at 8:45pm

Saturday, January 23, 2027 at 6:30pm

Saturday, February 20, 2027 at 6:30pm

General Info
📍 Venue: The Old Church Concert Hall
📅 Dates and times: select your dates/times directly in the ticket selector
⏳ Duration: 60 minutes. Doors open 45 minutes before the show. No entry once it starts.
👤 Age requirement: 8 years old or older. Anyone under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult
♿ Accessibility: this venue is ADA compliant
❓ View the FAQs for this event here
🪑 Seating is assigned on a first come first served basis in each zone
🕯️ If you would like to book a private concert or buy regular tickets for a large group (+30 people), click here
🎻 Check out all the Candlelight concerts in Portland
🎁 To treat your friends and family to a Candlelight gift card, click here

Tentative Program

• Coldplay – Clocks
• Imagine Dragons – Radioactive
• Coldplay – Adventure of a Lifetime
• Coldplay – Fix You
• Imagine Dragons – Eyes Closed
• Imagine Dragons – Thunder
• Coldplay – The Scientist
• Coldplay – feelslikeimfallinginlove
• Imagine Dragons – Follow You
• Imagine Dragons – Bad Liar
• Imagine Dragons – Believer
• Coldplay – Sky Full of Stars
• Coldplay – Viva la Vida
• Coldplay – My Universe

Performers

• String Quartet – Listeso – Portland

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.

Eight-time Grammy-winner Beck has traveled light years from his emergence as a reluctant generational spokesperson when “Loser” exploded from a rejected 1992 demo into a ubiquitous 1994 smash. In the decades since, Beck's singular career has seen him utilize all manners and eras of music, blurring boundaries and blazing a path into the future while simultaneously foraging through the past.

Surfacing just as the mainstream and alternative rock intersected, no small thanks to his 1994 debut Mellow Gold, Beck quickly confounded expectations with subsequent releases including the lo-fi folk of One Foot in the Grave. But the album that first cemented Beck’s place in the pantheon was 1996’s multi-platinum Best Alternative Grammy winner Odelay. Odelay remains a key cultural touchstone from the indelible hooks of "Devil's Haircut” and “The New Pollution" to the irresistible call and response of the Grammy-winning "Where It's At.”

From the world-tripping atmospherics of 1998's Mutations (Beck's second album to win the Best Alternative Grammy) and the fluorescent funk of 1999's Midnite Vultures through the somber reflections of 2002's Sea Change, 2005's platinum tour de force Guero, 2006's sprawling The Information, 2008's acclaimed Danger Mouse-produced Modern Guilt, no Beck record would ever sound like its predecessor.

That pattern would be upended in sublime sonic fashion with the 2014 release of Morning Phase. A companion piece of sorts to his 2002 masterpiece Sea Change, Morning Phase conjured the staggering downtempo impact of that record through the lens of an infectious optimism. The chorus of critical acclaim for Morning Phase was instant and unanimous, as Beck rolled into 2015 taking the Album of the Year top honor at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, as well as the prize for Best Rock Album. Morning Phase also won in the Best Engineered Album (Non-Classical) category.

True to his chameleonic nature, Beck followed up Morning Phase’s subdued beauty with Colors, an intoxicating rainbow of auditory tricks and treats that went on to win Best Alternative Music Album (Beck’s third) and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical (the second Beck album to do so) at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2019. That same year, Beck would offer a first glimpse into his 14th studio album Hyperspace with the stunning surprise single “Saw Lightning”—written and produced by Beck and Pharrell Williams, who would be credited as co-writer and co-producer on seven of Hyperspace’s 11 tracks.

Beck has spent much of the last few years dazzling live audiences with a grab bag of engaging performances ranging from a handful of freeform one-off shows, to 2023’s massive Summer Odyssey tour with co-headliners Phoenix. Summer Odyssey played to packed houses from the Kia Forum in L.A. to Madison Square Garden and beyond, and was followed by a historic full concert performance with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra—which inspired a series of orchestral performances at the likes of New York’s Carnegie Hall and London’s Royal Albert Hall. The past few years have seen Beck embark on limited runs of orchestral dates featuring musicians who played on milestones including Mutations, Sea Change and Morning Phase accompanied by native orchestras in each city, delivering uniformly unforgettable evenings of unique symphonic arrangements of classics and deep cuts from his towering catalog and beyond.

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.

Join Dr. Mas Subramanian, the inventor of YInMn Blue—the first new blue pigment discovered in more than 200 years—for a fascinating lecture on the science, history, and future of color. Dr. Subramanian will share the story behind this accidental discovery and explore the role of pigments in art, design, technology, and everyday life, offering a unique perspective at the intersection of scientific innovation and creative practice.

This lecture is now a virutal event.

This program is offered as part of the programming for Anish Kapoor: Dissolving Margins, From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation. This exhibition will be on view at the JSMA at PSU through December 5, 2026.

Join Israeli-American storyteller and public historian Yuval Malchi for a look at the lesser-known Americans who helped shape and defend the State of Israel. Through personal stories of nurses, social workers, intelligence operatives, and military leaders, Malchi explores the contributions of figures such as Rose Kaplan, David “Mickey” Marcus, Al Schwimmer, and Hank Greenspun, and their lasting impact on the relationship between the United States and Israel. In partnership with Jewish Federation of Greater Portland.

*The talk is geared toward adults, but welcoming participants ages 13 and up. *

MUST RSVP.

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.”