Literopolis: A Weekly Look at Portland Literary Events, August 24-30

Monday, August 24, 2015

Emily Goldman, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons (cropped)

Starting off this week with a bang, Felicia Day, actress, creator of the hit web series The Guild, founder of the YouTube channel Geek and Sundry, and all-around geek icon, will be at Powell's at Cedar Hills signing copies of her memoir You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) about finding success in Hollywood by embracing the Internet as a versatile platform to create the kind of media she loves best. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., 6pm, FREE

As for the rest of the week...

MONDAY
Adam Johnson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Orphan Master’s Son, will be at Powell’s City of Books reading from his new short story collection Fortune Smiles, six stories that pack a powerful punch. 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30pm, FREE

Reading Frenzy will be celebrating the release of the second issue of the memoir magazine Selfish, a project in which women explore what it would be like if they were encouraged to be selfish and create the art they want for their own sakes, with editor Taylor Yates. 3628 N Mississippi Ave., 7pm, FREE

TUESDAY
Kimberly Braun, former nun, minister, and Reiki master, will be at Another Read Through as part of her book tour for her book Love Calls: Insights of a Former Carmelite Nun about her journey towards seeking a connection with the divine. 3932 N Mississippi Ave., 7-8pm, FREE

At Powell’s at Cedar Hills, Jason Hough will be sharing his near-future spy thriller Zero World, in which superspy Peter Caswell is on a mission that will take him through the fabric of space to find the sole person missing from a presumed lost and recently found spaceship in which all the other crewmembers are dead. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., 7pm, FREE

Parnaz Foroutan will be sharing her debut novel The Girl from the the Garden, the story of the tragic downfall of a wealthy family of Persian Jews in early 20th-century Iran, told from the perspective of the family’s sole surviving daughter living in Los Angeles in the present-day, at Powell’s City of Books. 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30pm, FREE

WEDNESDAY
Marilyn Stablein and David Abel, authors and creators of artists’ books, will be sharing their work at Daedalus Books. 2074 NE Flanders St., 7pm, FREE

Shane Kuhn will be at Powell’s at Cedar Hills reading from his new book Hostile Takeover, the sequel to his bestselling debut The Intern’s Handbook in which professional assassin John Lago and his nemesis-turned-wife Alice take over the assassin placement agency, a move that rocks the company and their marriage. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., 7pm, FREE

Mythic artists Brian and Wendy Froud, best known for their work on The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, will be taking audience members back to Faerieland at Powell's City of Books with their newest book Faeries, which mixes both unique and retold stories of individual faeries interspersed with beautiful and enchanting artwork. 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30pm, FREE

THURSDAY
Alissa Quart will be giving a poetry reading at Portland State University from her debut poetry collection Monetized, an exploration of modern-day of an increasingly commodified America and nostalgia for an analog past. Smith Memorial Student Union, PSU Resource Center for Students with Children, Suite 462, 3:30pm, FREE

Annie Bloom’s Books is hosting a reading featuring three authors published by Red Hen Press: Brian Doyle (author of Mink River and several other novels), Tom Janikowski (author of The Crawford County Sketchbook), and Amy Schutzer (author of Spheres of Disturbances). 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, 7-8pm, FREE

Local poets Sue Parman (author of the collection The Carnivorous Gaze), Laurence Overmire (author of the collection Gone Hollywood), and Anderson Duboise will be giving a reading at Another Read Through. 3932 N Mississippi Ave., 7-8pm, FREE

Comedic fantasy author Christopher Moore will be reading from his new book Secondhand Souls, the sequel to A Dirty Job in which ragtag group of misfits band together to figure out who’s stealing the souls of the recently deceased, at Powell’s at Cedar Hills. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., 7pm, FREE

At Powell’s City of Books, Tin House author Jennifer Pashley will be presenting her debut novel The Scamp, in which a woman named Reyelle Reed attempting to put behind her the rural town she hails from and is filled with bad memories is drawn right back in when she decides to shadow a detective as he investigates a series of disappearances of young girls. 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30pm, FREE

SATURDAY
At Powell’s City of Books, Ellen Urbani tackles Hurricane Katrina in her novel Landfall, the story of two teenagers, joined together by the tragedy of the hurricane and the death of one teenager whose sneakers ensure the survival of another. 1005 W Burnside St., 4pm, FREE

Celebrated mystery author Sue Grafton will be at Powell's at Cedar HIlls signing copies of her new novel X, the story of a serial killer and the detective racing against time to build a case against the man she knows is responsible before he kills again. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., 4pm, FREE