Downtown

Authors Priyanka Mattoo (How to Be Less Useful) and Emily Nemens (Clutch) sit down to discuss their latest books that explore the pleasures and challenges of midlife. Whether in the fictional world of Clutch, or the personal stories in How to Be Less Useful, both authors question our professional prioritiesand the joy that really matters most. Moderated by author Maris Kreizman.

A delightful book about reclaiming pleasure in mid-life—a potent mix of self-help and memoir, from one of today’s wittiest, wisest voices.

“I have done everything right, and I have missed everything.”

When did our lives become entirely about efficiency and optimization? Especially as office workers, as parents, as consumers, as exercisers and healthy eaters. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all be less useful?

With self-deprecating humor, devastating insight, and bracing honesty, Priyanka Mattoo shares her own journey toward being a less useful human, to investigate why pleasure gets back-burnered in American culture.

Think about what we choose to systematically cut out or overlook as we mature: Solo travel. Dessert. Sweaty dancing. “Pointless” hangs with friends. And then there are the activities that used to be fun and have somehow lost their luster, usually in the decade between 30 and 40: Cooking (ruined by exhaustion). Bad tv (the algorithm). Other humans (bandwidth). Eating at restaurants (Instagram).

Mattoo takes on the zeitgeist, delivering invaluable, laugh-out-loud entertaining life lessons without an ounce of preachiness or pressure. She looks at where pleasure begins, what it serves, how we learn to repress it—in families, in friendships and romantic relationships, in jobs. And she shows us a way back: to identify and accept the things that give us pleasure, then to welcome them into our lives. What if, instead of being useful, we could all learn how to be happier, lighter, more present, more engaged? How to Be Less Useful is refreshing, funny, sparklingly astute, unignorable–a book for the current moment.

A close-knit group of women navigate mid-life’s biggest challenges—marriage, career, addiction—in what Lynn Steger Strong calls a “sharp, funny, utterly engrossing” novel.

“White Lotus with more sincerity and heart.” —Los Angeles Times

Named a Best Book by The New York Times Book Review, People, Los Angeles Times, Alta Journal, Bustle, and more

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.

Portland Piano International presents Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki, a Deutsche Grammophon artist, in “a whole dancing world,” a recital of dances from across Europe and the Americas. The program includes Martinů’s Three Czech Dances, Szymanowski’s Four Polish Dances, Schubert’s 16 German Dances, Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances, Ginastera’s Danzas argentinas, waltzes by Chopin and Brahms, Piazzolla’s Libertango, Falla’s “Ritual Fire Dance,” and Chopin’s “Heroic” Polonaise.

A free pre-concert lecture with Bill Crane and Amelia De Vaal begins at 3:15 p.m.

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.”

Join an evening of conversation, laughter, and stories of the human spirit featuring The Omnibus Project with John Roderick and a special guest. Presented by Papertrees Creative in partnership with the 2026 Portland Book Festival and Literary Arts. This event will be recorded. The Omnibus Project is a podcast founded in 2017 by Ken Jennings and John Roderick as a repository for the lesser-known stories of our collected human experience that, in the event of a cataclysm, may not survive to be retold. It is an effort to save our own Library of Alexandria to disk, a project to preserve not just what made us great but what made us human.

The show has diligently researched and compiled the knowledge around the knowledge, building a compendium not of obvious and commonly cited data—the Roman Empire and World War II are widely reported elsewhere—but of the esoteric and sublime wonders that might otherwise be lost.

John Roderick is a Seattle-based musician, writer, and podcaster celebrated for his sharp wit and distinctive voice. Beyond co-creating The Omnibus Project, he also co-hosts Roderick on the Line. His essays have appeared in Rolling Stone, Esquire, and Seattle Weekly, and he has published a book of short prose, Electric Aphorisms. Best known as the frontman of The Long Winters, Roderick will return with a highly anticipated new album soon.

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

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

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

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

Join The Literary Arts Bookstore & Cafe for an evening of Hollywood nostalgia and holiday classics!

We’re thrilled to host local author Matt Mikalatos to celebrate his latest, Finding Wonderful: Hopeful Lessons from Jimmy Stewart and It’s a Wonderful Life.

About the book:

It’s a Wonderful Life impacted the lives of many, but no one got more from it than star Jimmy Stewart, who credited the film with giving his life new purpose post-World War II service. Learn the lessons on faith, community, kindness, and more from Stewart and the iconic film with this inspiring gift book.

Beloved star and one of Hollywood’s greatest actors, Stewart achieved fame, fortune, and acclaim—but found that none of it guaranteed happiness. Leaving it all behind to serve as a combat pilot in World War II, he returned home changed by loss and searching for meaning. But while filming the perennial Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life, Stewart learned how to heal and live with gratitude and grace with the help of friends, faith, and purpose. Drawing on his life and words, as well as iconic moments from It’s a Wonderful Life, this book explores how the actor who embodied decency on screen lived it off-screen, too.

Endorsed by the Stewart estate and featuring little-seen photos throughout, Finding Wonderful is a heartfelt series of essays that capture the virtues and values of a man who discovered that the secret to a wonderful life has nothing to do with fame—and everything to do with love, service, and simple goodness.

Mikis Theodorakis, one of Greece's most treasured and prolific composers, was widely known for film scores, such as the iconic "Zorba the Greek". This concert pays tribute to Theodorakis prolific body of work, including some of his lesser-known pieces and compositions that highlight Theodorakis' role as a symbol of resistance.

Whether your taste runs to folk or classical music, this concert has something for you. The Kombos Collective (including artists from San Francisco, Washington, DC and local Portland artists) will perform a range of Theodorakis' most beloved songs — pieces as historically significant as they are musically beautiful. This includes "Ballad of Mauthausen," set to the poetry of Holocaust survivor Iakovos Kambanellis, and widely regarded as one of the most beautiful songs ever written about the Holocaust. In addition to live music, attendees will learn about the enduring cultural significance of Theodorakis' music.

This program is organized by the Hellenic-American Cultural Center & Museum, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of Greece and Greek Americans in the Pacific Northwest.

Thinking about your next steps in education? Join us for an evening at the College of Education to see what’s possible.

You’ll get to chat with our faculty, meet current students, and ask the real questions about our programs, financial aid, and what it’s actually like to study here. Whether you’re just starting to explore options or ready to make a move, consider this your space to get clear on your goals—and plant a few seeds for your future.

We’ll have light refreshments and plenty of good conversation. Hope to see you there!

RSVP Today!

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

About the book:

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

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

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

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

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.

Join Professor Dr. Schreiber and the Skeleton Key Odditorium for an historical magic experience unlike any other. Beyond Belief: Magic & Mysteries with The Historical Conjurer

Since the earliest days of the ancient ancestors, conjurers have illuminated the strange, the mysterious and the unexplained for all to see. Now, Professor Dr. Schreiber, the Historical Conjurer, will lead you on a journey through the past centuries of magic. You'll see parlor magic from a bygone era just as it was enjoyed by the elite audiences of antiquity. You will enjoy the tales of old times and smile and laugh together and experience this history of magic.

Guests are encouraged to dress in their best old-fashioned attire or whatever makes you feel comfortable. Very limited tickets are available for this exclusive event.

This performance will be followed by a brief question-and-answer time to discuss magic and history.

Join us in Portland on November 16—two weeks after election day—for a conversation about trust, elections, and our political systems and culture with Paul Gronke, director of the Elections & Voting Information Center at Reed College, and Susheela Jayapal, a former Multnomah County Commissioner and current fellow with the North Star Civic Foundation.

Polling of voters in the US shows that confidence in elections and political institutions has fallen over the past two years. In this onstage conversation, moderated by Adam Davis, we'll dig into the factors that affect the public's faith in our democracy and how that declining trust shapes how we vote and how we govern ourselves.

The conversation will take place at The Old Church in Portland (1422 SW 11th Ave.) at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, November 16, 2026. The event is part of our 2026–27 Consider This series, What Do We Trust?

Paul Gronke is the founding director of the Elections & Voting Information Center (EVIC), an emeritus professor of political science at Reed College, and a senior fellow at the Center for Public Service. Gronke is a nationally known scholar of American politics, elections, and research methods. Under his leadership, EVIC has become a national center of excellence for policy research and publicly engaged scholarship into election administration, election reform, and electoral integrity. A major focus of Gronke's current research is the Local Election Official (LEO) Survey, which EVIC has been undertaking since 2018. Gronke received a PhD in Political Science from the University of Michigan and has been a member of the faculty of Reed College since 2000. In his spare time, he is an avid gardener, cook, and he likes to ski, hike, and experience the great outdoors.

Susheela Jayapal is a lawyer and community advocate whose leadership has spanned the public and private sectors. Born in India, she grew up in India, Indonesia, and Singapore and came to the US at the age of sixteen to attend college. As a lawyer, she was a litigator in private practice and served as general counsel of Adidas America, Inc. She has served on the boards of directors of a wide range of nonprofit organizations; and served for five years on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, representing North and Northeast Portland. As a Commissioner, Susheela’s priorities included homelessness, community safety, and public health, all with a focus on racial, social, and economic justice. She currently consults on and leads projects focused on building a truly participatory and equitable democracy.

Tickets are $15 and available from The Old Church.

To ensure that everyone who wants to attend is able to, a limited number of tickets are available for free. To get free tickets, use the code CONSIDERTHIS100.

Can't make it in person? Tune in from anywhere! The conversation will be streamed live, for free, on our YouTube channel, and will remain available for viewing after the program.

• The space: This event will be held indoors at The Old Church in downtown Portland.
• Parking: Metered street parking is available around the venue. It is free after 7:00 p.m. There are disabled person parking spaces two blocks away, on SW Mill St. between 10th Ave. and Park Ave. There is a paid parking lot next to the venue on 10th Avenue that costs $4 per hour, and a garage three blocks away at Portland State University that costs $2.50 per hour: PSU Parking Lot #3 on SW 12th Ave. between Market and Montgomery.
• Food and drink: Light concessions are available at the venue. Outside food and drink is not allowed.
• Lighting: The venue is well-lit inside. Lights will be dimmed during the program.
• Video and Sound: The program will be amplified. There will be no loud music.
• Mobility access: There is an accessible entrance next to the main entrance on SW Clay St. There is designated seating for patrons with mobility devices, other assistance requirements, and their companions. Seating consists primarily of church-style pews and some high-back chairs without arm supports. All of TOC’s restrooms, including accessible restrooms, are located below the main level and are reached either by two sets of stairs or by elevator.
• Questions: You can read more about accessibility at The Old Church here. With further questions, email [email protected].

Consider This is made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Oregon Cultural Trust.

Science fiction authors Becky Chambers (As You Wake, Break the Shell) and Portia Elan (Homebound) sit down to discuss their recent novels and the question at the center of both stories; what is one willing to sacrifice for the sake of human connection? Spanning across time and space, Chambers and Elan present independently adventurous novels about invention and survival and the driving force of it all; humanity. Moderated by producer and writer, Aaron Scott.

We are thrilled to announce the next installment of our Cocktail Class series, exploring warming, Fall-spiced libations! Guests will have the chance to take a step behind the bar and learn how to make two modern classics as we review technique, recipes, and more.

The cocktails will remain a mystery until the day of the event – but guests can expect drinks rich in fall flavors, fit for an evening by the fire. Tickets include a welcome beverage, 2 self made cocktails, and light hors d’oeuvres.Whether you’re a seasoned home bartender or you’re just getting started, this is the perfect class to mixing elevated cocktails at home.

We hope to see you there!

TICKETS AVAILABLE SEPTEMBER 29

Drawing on nearly two decades of collective learning with Tribal communities across Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Manipur, and Meghalaya, Dr. Harshit Sosan Lakra shares experiences of housing, cultural landscapes, community aspirations, and environmental stewardship. Through stories of co-designing homes, reimagining community spaces, sustaining cultural memories, and connecting communities with classrooms, the talk engages how communities, researchers, students, and planners learn and act together. These collective experiences highlight relationships of respect, care, and reciprocity, offering insights into community engagement, collaborative planning, and culturally grounded approaches to shaping our shared futures.

Join community artist, teacher, and storyteller Drea Robideau to learn Native Games and explore the healing power of play!

Made possible by The Library Foundation through support from The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Fund.

Journalism isn’t only for journalists. The practice involves skills that are useful to any and all writers across genres and levels of experience. At its core, reporting is the process of asking questions and seeking answers, which is something all writers do in one form or another. In addition to interviews, research is a valuable tool for any writer to deepen and expand their understanding of a chosen subject and fact-checking can heighten the rigor and truth of any work, even the most fantastical fiction.

As part of their training, journalists learn how to distill a story down to its core components, make it legible to a wide audience, and structure information to maximize impact. These are skills and practices that all writers can benefit from. Whether there’s a journalist character in your novel, a historical component to your memoir, a narrative aspect to your academic work, or a poem that provides a glimpse into an unknown world, this class will provide a basic understanding of journalism that any writer can apply to any project.

Course outcomes:
● Writers are introduced to the fundamentals of reporting, research, writing, editing and fact-checking
● Writers explore how to incorporate these skills into their writing practice
● Writers gain confidence applying these skills in their own projects, outside of the classroom

Class schedule:
Week 1: The Journalist Mindset—Week 1 provides an overarching introduction to the key concepts of journalism and how it can be applied to any writing project. Concepts include the “5 Ws + H” and newsworthiness.

Week 2: Reporting and Research—Students will learn interview techniques; discuss other ways to access information, like court documents, public records and archives; and review best practices for research, like relying on primary source documents and vetting journal articles.

Week 3: Writing & Structure—How to write and structure a basic news story, with a discussion of how those core principles (like the inverted pyramid) can apply to any writing project. It will also address how to approach writing a feature story, which requires using information to build scenes and character development.

Week 4: Ethics & Accuracy—How to fact-check and why it matters. Students will learn what goes into fact-checking and how to ensure that the information they have gathered is accurate. They will also learn core ethical principles of journalism, such as objectivity, independence, as well as how to handle attribution (on vs off the record) and how to handle sources requesting anonymity or who are not telling the truth.

Week 5: Organization and Pitching. In this session, students will get tips on how to keep all their reporting notes and material organized to help streamline the writing, editing and fact-checking process. The class will also cover the basics and best practices of pitching so students feel empowered to send their ideas out into the world.

Week 6: Workshop. The final class will be dedicated to discussing each student’s ideas and providing collective guidance and feedback. Whether it’s a question about a story’s angle or a full-fledged pitch, this session will be a forum for everyone to take their journalistic aspirations to the next level, incorporating what they’ve learned over the past five weeks.

Access Program
We want our writing classes and seminars to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present obstacles for some people. Our Access Program offers writing class and seminar tuitions at a reduced rate. Most writing classes have at least one access spot available.

Please apply here for access rate tuition. Contact Susan Moore at [email protected] if you have questions.

Liaison position
Every in-person class and seminar at Literary Arts has one liaison position. Liaisons perform specific duties for each class meeting. If you are a liaison for a class or seminar, the full amount of your tuition is covered by Literary Arts.

Apply here for the liaison position.

Tour entrance is at the Box Office on SW 14th and entry may not be guaranteed after 10am.

Join us as we explore the rich history of the Crystal Ballroom, including police raids, visits by silent screen idols and Beat poets, psychedelic light shows, R&B and rock legends, dancing throughout the decades and narrow escapes from ruin.

This tour may require standing for long periods of time and is mostly accessible via elevator. One stop on the tour, the balcony, can be seen but not accessed, except by stairs.

Passport holders: This tour is eligible for the Crystal Ballroom and Lola’s Room location stamps and the Attend a History Sponsored Event experience stamp.

For private group tours, contact [email protected]

In rating Small Things Like These 41st on its list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century, the New York Times said: “Not a word is wasted in Keegan’s small, burnished gem of a novel, a sort of Dickensian miniature….”

This is an important novella in the vein of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, but with an ending that packs a different punch. At its center is a man torn between family, community, church, and one young woman in a terrible predicament. He must make a choice, and Keegan’s exquisite, concise writing reveals that agonizing choice. It’s a perfect story to ponder and discuss: What would you choose in his situation?

Keegan’s other work, “Foster,” is a long short story with a big impact. No word is wasted as Keegan tells the story of a young girl sent to live with another family when her own mother is fraught with problems of her own. Again, in the New York Times’s glowing review they say: “Keegan makes us complicit in what her characters want, setting us up for utter heartbreak when they don’t get it.”

Foster’s is already considered canonical and is taught as a required text for Comparative Literature in the curriculum for Ireland’s secondary schools.

Join us in this two-week exploration of these incredible short works by an Irish writer of spare prose and mmense talent.

Access Program
We want our writing classes and seminars to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present obstacles for some people. Our Access Program offers writing class and seminar tuitions at a reduced rate. Most writing classes have at least one access spot available.

Please apply here for access rate tuition. Contact Susan Moore at [email protected] if you have questions.

Liaison position
Every in-person class and seminar at Literary Arts has one liaison position. Liaisons perform specific duties for each class meeting. If you are a liaison for a class or seminar, the full amount of your tuition is covered by Literary Arts.

Apply here for the liaison position.

Authors Willy Vlautin (The Left and the Lucky) and Valeria Luiselli (Beginning Middle End) sit down to discuss their new novels and the intergenerational relationships at the center of their stories. Each story presents adult characters struggling through uncertain circumstances, but who find purpose, levity, and perspective in the children that rely on them. Moderated by Matthew Trueherz.

Facilitated by Nicky Nicholson-Klingerman

The Poetic Justice Workshop explores poetry that addresses cultural, communal, or global traumas challenges. Covering works ranging from Langston Hughes to Taylor Byas, this is an opportunity to learn how to express yourself to inspire – or hold accountable – your community.

Portland Book Festival youth writing workshops are recommended for ages 14+. Workshops are free to attend but require a festival wristband (free for youth) and registration in advance. Please register by purchasing a free ticket below.

What the Duck is back! Join Politics and Global Affairs faculty Jack Miller and Bruce Gilley for an informal conversation about politics and current events (hello, mid-term election!). Bring your questions, concerns and lunch. We will provide snacks and coffee.

This conversation will be held November 5 from 12:40 - 1:30pm in URBN's 7th Floor Library.

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

TICKETS INCLUDE
a welcome cocktail, four pour flight, & light hors d’oeuvres

THE FLIGHT
to be announced

We are pleased to announce the next installment of our Meet Your Maker series, welcoming Mark Stell, Founder of Bird Creek Distillery for a special guided tasting. Guests will be guided through a curated selection of four Bird Creek whiskey expressions, each showcasing the distillery’s dedication to craft, quality, and innovation.

This exclusive event offers a unique opportunity to hear directly from the founder about Bird Creek’s philosophy and approach, while exploring the distinct character of each whiskey. Whether a long-time enthusiast or new to the category, attendees will gain valuable insight into the artistry of American whiskey-making from one of its most passionate voices.

This will be an intimate event, hosted in the Library’s Tasting Room for just 6 guests per seating. Tickets will go fast – we hope to see you there!

TWO SEATINGS
5:00 – 6:30 PM
7:00 – 8:30 PM

TICKETS AVAILABLE OCTOBER 15

Join a lively game of chess and put your skills to the test. Whether you’re brand new or a seasoned player, there’s a spot for you. Instructor Victor will be on hand to guide beginners, while experienced players can jump right in and enjoy the challenge. Amplified holiday jazz from KMHD will play in the background to enhance the experience.

Special Dickens Carolers performances on Dec. 6th and 13th at 2 p.m.

World-famous pinot noir, crisp chardonnays, and sweet rieslings are just a taste of the dozens of wines that Oregon has to offer. On this adventure through the rolling hills of the Willamette Valley, you'll visit three carefully selected vineyards, wineries, and tasting rooms. Guests will enjoy tasting flights and experience a behind-the-scenes look at viticulture.

Become familiar with the tools to create eye-catching presentations and impress potential employers with design capabilities. Students will be introduced to the basics of presentation creation and the tools within Microsoft PowerPoint to enhance the appeal of their visual aids. This course will allow students to experiment with the different aspects of presentation design and advise them on the principles of visual information enhancement.

When the nation and culture you grew up in and love have been taken over by a war-waging fascist dictatorship, how do you come to understand the nature and causes of what has happened? Perhaps you can do this only after you fled for your life. How then would you look at the ruins left inside yourself? This was the situation faced by one of the most sophisticated and profound thinkers of the twentieth century, Theodor Adorno (1903–1969), when he found himself living in Los Angeles during World War II after escaping from Nazi Germany.

In this Delve we will study Adorno’s Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged Life—the amazing book he wrote between 1944 and 1949 to explore his feelings about the calamitous situation of a world facing despotism. We will read the entire book and focus on selected essays. The book is made up of 153 very short essays, ranging from 1-3 pages. The essays focus his philosophical genius on deeply observed and subtle aspects of ourselves that contribute to or resist the ways in which we are socialized that result in alienation, loss of will and agency, and unfulfillment. He explores consumer culture, the arts, and politics along with his recollections of the rise of fascism. Each essay is a deep and intricate knot of feelings and ideas, presented by a contemplative, perseverant, unblinking thinker of the highest order Although written in grief, Adorno always seeks hope by confronting, with maximum honesty and penetration, the deep roots of the problems human society faces. Minima Moralia is a monument to the sensitive study of culture and our psyches amidst disaster trauma. Adorno’s brilliant and strong style make this book a pleasure to think with. In this Delve we will read the entire book and focus on selected entries.

Text:
Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged Life<, Theodor Adorno, translator E. F. N. Jephcott (Verso)

Access Program
We want our writing classes and seminars to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present obstacles for some people. Our Access Program offers writing class and seminar tuitions at a reduced rate. Most writing classes have at least one access spot available.

Please apply here for access rate tuition. Contact Susan Moore at [email protected] if you have questions.

Liaison position
Every in-person class and seminar at Literary Arts has one liaison position. Liaisons perform specific duties for each class meeting. If you are a liaison for a class or seminar, the full amount of your tuition is covered by Literary Arts.

Apply here for the liaison position.

Join Cheri Arthur, an Ambassador for American Wild Horse Conservation. Learn about Velma Johnstone, the first woman advocate for wild horses and burros, and the history of Oregon's wilds horses. You'll hear about the challenges of land management and access, and learn ways to get involved if you are interested.

Let’s meet downtown and walk around and look at public art and see some of Portland’s heritage trees. We will meet at Stumptown Coffee to begin the walk, g

The Literary Arts Bookstore is pleased to welcome author Rebecca Handler to celebrate her new novel, In the Round. Handler will be joined in conversation by Selina Fillinger.

About the book:

Have you ever been dead certain that you’re being observed, that maybe your very existence is predicated on how others see you? A few minutes after she’s become convinced she’s the victim of a home invasion, In the Round’s brilliant and intimate narrator plunges us into a feminist Kafkaesque literary mystery that unfolds over the course of one weird—and dare we say, dramatic—night in San Francisco. Nothing is missing from her family’s home, but everything feels wrong. So begins a sleepless night of questioning, and a novel packed with the kind of astonishing twists that leave readers wondering: Is all the world a stage, after all? Over the course of the evening, theatrical elements creep in: a cast list, a prop list, an intermission.

At once an avant-garde thriller, a meditation on motherhood and mortality, a full-throated endorsement of gut-level intuition, and a tribute to the rapture of live theater in a post-pandemic world, In the Round is a lively, inventive, and completely singular story.

Take a journey through the heart of downtown Portland, Oregon, with our tastiest tour. This guided adventure will lead you through historic streets and vibrant public squares, including the cultural district, the South Park blocks, Director Park, and Pioneer Courthouse Square. We will traverse approximately 1.5 miles of Portland’s lively downtown. Visit two coffee shops, four donut shops, and a chocolate shop, and your knowledgeable guide will provide commentary about Portland along the way.

Visit iconic local shops and emerging gems, each offering its own specialty. Sample delicious treats along the way, from the rich, aromatic flavors of expertly brewed, locally roasted coffee, fresh, artisan-made doughnuts and gourmet chocolates. Experience some classic flavors, as well as inventive twists.

All treats are included in the price. Come hungry, come curious, and leave full of appreciation for Portland’s sweet side. Peak Tours is licensed and insured, local and family-owned, reliable and knowledgeable and would love to show you around.

Facilitated by Katie Cusumano

In this workshop, we’ll practice creating lively, compelling characters who are drawn from real life, on the page. First, we’ll focus on writing about other people — and then, we’ll turn to ourselves, learning how to use our feelings and point of view to craft a great narrator for memoirs and personal essays.

Portland Book Festival youth writing workshops are recommended for ages 14+. Workshops are free to attend but require a festival wristband (free for youth) and registration in advance. Please register by purchasing a free ticket below.

Facilitated by Déy Rivers

Wanna play in alternate worlds? It’s challenging but glorious here! Join us for an Intro to Spec-Fic. Learn what is considered Speculative Fiction. Get ideas down using artwork as inspiration to explore spec-fic lines of thinking: “What if..”, “If only…” and “If this goes on…” Walk away with writing to possibly expand or refine later.

Portland Book Festival youth writing workshops are recommended for ages 14+. Workshops are free to attend but require a festival wristband (free for youth) and registration in advance. Please register by purchasing a free ticket below.

Learn how to make four adorable furoshiki bags using silken scarves. All materials provided so you can take home your own gorgeous bag.

Glamour House: Furoshiki Bag-Making Class is an in-person, women-centric event for the general public. Inspired by glamour and sisterhood, this casual, fun class invites you to learn how to make four adorable Furoshiki bags. All materials and light refreshments are provided for this fun class.

THE FLIGHT
Yamazaki 12 Year
Mars Tsunuki Peated
Nikka Coffey Grain
Hibiki Harmony
Nikka From the Barrel
Fukano

Join us for the next installation of our Study Hall series: Japanese Whisky — an approachable, flavor-packed guided tasting. Guests will taste through a novice-level flight, exploring distillation traditions that date back to the early 1920’s. Tickets include a Toki Highball, six pour flight, light hors d’oeuvres, and gratuity.

Led by MWL Spirit Curator & Education Manager Brett Adams, this experience is perfect for those new to Japanese Whisky, or those looking to build a better foundation. Sip, learn, and walk away with a deeper understanding of single malt, coffey grain, aging, and flavor profiles. Whether you’re just getting started or want to refine your palate, this Study Hall is your ticket to sipping with confidence.

TWO SEATINGS
1st seating 5:30 – 7:00
2nd seating 7:30 – 9:00

TICKETS AVAILABLE OCTOBER 6

Are you ready to impress your friends and family with the perfect sushi rolls?

Learn the tips and tricks from a professional sushi chef in this highly interactive and hands-on class. You will learn to prepare the perfect sushi rice, select the fresh ingredients properly, and the art of rolling. This casual and easy to follow class will surely engage all your senses! All participants will make three variations - Spicy Tuna, California Roll and Chef's "catch of the day" Roll.

All you need to bring to this class is your curiosity and appetite! You can be confident this class will be an absolute delight whether the occasion is for a family activity, team building event, or surprising your partner on a romantic date night. BYOB is not allowed. Drinks are available for purchase at our venue partner bar.

Any dietary restrictions:

Dairy free

Egg free

Nut free

Guest requirement

The nature of our classes are set up so that booking parties will work together during class, sharing both ingredients and equipment. Please arrive 15 minutes early to allow time for parking and check in. BYOB is not allowed. Drinks are available for purchase at our venue partner bar. Please do not contact The Hotel directly with questions. If assistance is needed please contact CocuSocial at [email protected] To ensure the safety and enriching experience of all participants, we require children aged 14 to 17 be accompanied by a parent or guardian during our cooking classes. Classes are intended for adults 21+.

* *You will receive a confirmation email from [email protected]. If you don't receive it after 24 hours after your booking, please contact us at [email protected]

Free ESL classes. The level of the series is determined at the first class. No registration required. For more information, call 503.577.9984.

Browse more English learning classes. Hosted by Goodwill Industries of the Columbia Willamette.

Join us at The Literary Arts Bookstore & Cafe to hand-sew decorative plush to celebrate animals! Sew felt fish, cats, foxes, frogs, and more! ✨ Bring a friend! Make a friend! Grab a beverage, browse the books, and gather round to hand-sew some adorable little friends!

Traceable templates & embroidery stitch printouts provided. Self-guided & beginner-friendly. A SCRAP educator will be ready to assist newer sewists with hand-sewing basics!

This is a ticketed event. Drop-ins welcome. Get tickets here.

Aprendan a hacer crepas de manera sencilla, con ideas de varios rellenos dulces y saladas. Se dará una demostración de crepa dulce.

Watch a demonstration and learn how to make fresh French crepes with sweet filling.

The Library is pleased to announce the return of our wreath making event, complete with festive drinks and hors d’oeuvres to kick off the holiday season. A collaborative event with Jennifer Wilcoxon of FloraWood Curatorial Florals, guests will receive one on one instruction on how to assemble their very own wreath. FloraWood is known for their stunning floral arrangements and seasonal handmade wreaths, using high grade greenery, florals, and shrubs sure to last the season!

Tickets include materials and instruction to make your own wreath, a welcome beverage, one seasonal cocktail, hors d’oeuvres, and gratuity. We hope to see you there!

TICKETS AVAILABLE OCTOBER 20th

In rating Small Things Like These 41st on its list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century, the New York Times said: “Not a word is wasted in Keegan’s small, burnished gem of a novel, a sort of Dickensian miniature….”

This is an important novella in the vein of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, but with an ending that packs a different punch. At its center is a man torn between family, community, church, and one young woman in a terrible predicament. He must make a choice, and Keegan’s exquisite, concise writing reveals that agonizing choice. It’s a perfect story to ponder and discuss: What would you choose in his situation?

Keegan’s other work, “Foster,” is a long short story with a big impact. No word is wasted as Keegan tells the story of a young girl sent to live with another family when her own mother is fraught with problems of her own. Again, in the New York Times’s glowing review they say: “Keegan makes us complicit in what her characters want, setting us up for utter heartbreak when they don’t get it.”

Foster’s is already considered canonical and is taught as a required text for Comparative Literature in the curriculum for Ireland’s secondary schools.

Join us in this two-week exploration of these incredible short works by an Irish writer of spare prose and mmense talent.

Access Program
We want our writing classes and seminars to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present obstacles for some people. Our Access Program offers writing class and seminar tuitions at a reduced rate. Most writing classes have at least one access spot available.

Please apply here for access rate tuition. Contact Susan Moore at [email protected] if you have questions.

Liaison position
Every in-person class and seminar at Literary Arts has one liaison position. Liaisons perform specific duties for each class meeting. If you are a liaison for a class or seminar, the full amount of your tuition is covered by Literary Arts.

Apply here for the liaison position.

Join a conversation, two weeks after Election Day, about trust, elections, and the political systems and culture with Paul Gronke, director of the Elections and Voting Information Center at Reed College, and Susheela Jayapal, a former Multnomah County Commissioner and current fellow with the North Star Civic Foundation.

Polling of voters in the US shows that confidence in elections and political institutions has fallen over the past two years. In this onstage conversation, moderated by Adam Davis, dig into the factors that affect the public's faith in democracy and how that declining trust shapes how people vote and govern themselves.

The event is part of the 2026–27 Consider This series, What Do We Trust?

Follow the path of an ancient riverbed, carved by the last ice age, past the Bridge of the Gods, and explore the Windsurfing Capital of the World. In the afternoon, traverse Oregon’s fertile fruit valley on the way to the alpine top of a volcano, which boasts the title of the world’s 2nd most summited mountain. Come along on this whirlwind journey to experience a selection of Oregon’s wonders.

Discover the flavor-packed world of dumplings! These juicy and plump morsels filled with hearty ingredients such as ground meat, vegetables and classic seasoning such as soy sauce and sesame oil wrapped in fun shapes and folds will bring such joy as soon as you take a big bite. This class is hands-on, yet casual and easy going, making it a perfect occasion for a romantic date night or a fun outing with your family and friends!

Master the basics of dumpling wrapping in various different shapes. You will get a chance to work with high-quality store-bought dumpling wrappers and also learn valuable knife skills and learn how to create your own option of fillings from scratch. You will learn to make 2 different fillings, a meat-based mixture as well as a vegetable option.

No experience is required! We provide all the equipment and ingredients, which are easy to find at local markets if you do not already have them in your home kitchen. Our events are casual and meant to be fun and instructive, not hardcore. This class is designed to be just as fun for the cooking enthusiast who wants to be a part of every step as it is for the first-timer who is happier observing and assisting (or taste testing).

Please arrive 15 min early to check in and settle in. Outside drinks are not allowed

To ensure the safety and enriching experience of all participants, we require children aged 14 to 17 be accompanied by a parent or guardian during our cooking classes. Classes are intended for adults 21+.

Any dietary restrictions:

• Egg free

**You will receive a confirmation email from [email protected]. If you don't receive it 24 hours after your booking, please contact us at [email protected].

Tweens and teens in 6th, 7th and 8th grade are invited to talk about graphic novels, craft and eat snacks! All supplies provided and it’s FREE! A limited number of books are available for pick up at the library.

Jumpstart your morning with a vast variety of coffee and doughnuts across 4-5 mouthwatering stops where each bite and sip was crafted right here in Portland. Along the way, immerse yourself in quirky history while exploring Downtown Portland.

Highlights:

• Enjoy 3 different types of coffee and plenty of doughnuts at 4-5 different locally-run cafés.
• Devour several different flavors of classic doughnuts from a tiny doughnut shop nestled in Downtown Portland.
• Explore downtown Portland's quirky and well-preserved historic streets.
• Learn the technique of brewing the perfect cup of coffee from a barista.
• All coffee, doughnuts, and local guides are included in the price.

Pre-booking is required.

We can help you with technology!

Meet one-on-one with a friendly, knowledgeable Tech Helper who will help you find answers to questions about mobile devices, websites, getting started with tech, and more.

Appointments are on a first come, first served basis.

With the Willamette River down the center and the Columbia River above, Portland is often more enthusiastically known by its nicknames such as “Bridgetown,” “Stumptown,” and “City of Roses.” Nestled at the base of a volcano and wrapped by old-growth forests, this city boasts a landscape beyond a basic urban environment. We will immerse you in the town’s history and discover how the once little-known fishing village has now become a popular international destination. Come see the wonderful city that Wildwood Adventures calls home and get a taste of the charm that Portland offers to its explorers.