Literopolis: A Weekly Look at Portland Literary Events, Feb. 9-15

Monday, February 09, 2015

Emily Goldman, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons (cropped)

Every week it seems that Thursday is the busiest day in Portland’s literary scene. This week, no fewer than five different events will be occurring in bookstores around the city.

Given the plethora of options on this particular day, I wanted to take the opportunity to highlight one of Thursday's events - the Pre-Valentine’s Day Love Poetry Reading at Another Read Through. Three prolific, and highly accomplished local poets – Annie Lighthart, Brittney Corrigan, and A. Molotkov – will be reading love poetry taken from their own oeuvres. 3932 N Mississippi Ave., 7-8pm, FREE

And now, the rest of the week.

Monday starts off with a bang – celebrated novelist Nick Hornby will be at Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills reading from his newest novel Funny Girl about a young woman attempting to break into television in 1960’s London. Joining Hornby in conversation will be Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., 7pm, FREE

Also on Monday, Portland5 in conjunction with The Attic Instittue presents Poets on Broadway, in which nationally renowned poets will read alongside local and regional poets from around Portland and the Pacific Northwest. Today's event will include Andrea Hollander and Kathleen Halme, each of them winners of an Oregon Literary Fellowship. Antoinette Hatfield Hall, 1111 SW Broadway Ave., 8-10pm, FREE.

On Tuesday, local author George Byron Wright, whose work is rooted in specific Oregon landscapes, will be at Broadway Books reading from and discussing his sixth novel In the Wake of Our Misdeed. Inspired by an actual event in Oregon history, While Carson escapes drowning after the SUV carrying himself and his wife Naomi was forced into the Hood Canal, Naomi does not. Following his escape, he decides to create a new identity for himself in order to right the wrongs of his past. 1714 NE Broadway Ave., 7-8pm, FREE

Also on Tuesday, David J. Morris, former Marine infantry officer-turned-author will be at Powell’s City of Books to talk about his book The Evil Hours: A Biography of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which seeks to elucidate the nature of PTSD and how it affects the lives of millions of Amercans. 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30pm, FREE

On Wednesday, comics artist Scott McCloud, sometimes known as the “Aristotle of comics,” will be at Powell’s Books on Cedar Hills presenting his new graphic novel The Sculptor in which a young sculptor makes a deal with the devil to be able to sculpt anything he can imagine, but is left with only 200 days of his life to do so. Scott McCloud will be joined in conversation with Daniel H. Wilson, robotics engineer and author of several books detailing the eventual robot uprising. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., 7pm, FREE

Also on Wednesday at Powell’s City of Books, American film and TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz will be sharing stories behind the making of Wes Anderson’s most recently acclaimed film The Grand Budapest Hotel. He is the author of The Wes Anderson Collection: The Grand Budapest Hotel, which contains a series of in-depth interviews between Seitz and Wes Anderson himself about the film’s origins and production. 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30pm, FREE

On Thursday, Glyph Café presents this month’s featured writer Jen Coleman, author of the poetry collection Psalms for Dogs and Sorcerers. Accompanying Jen Coleman will be artist and writer C.E. Putman. 804 NW Couch St., 5-7pm, FREE

All of the Powell’s locations are going to be hopping this Thursday evening. At Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills, popular and prolific YA author Richelle Mead will be presenting The Ruby Circle, the finale to her bestselling Bloodline series surrounding a an eclectic group of vampires of attending boarding school. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., 7pm, FREE

Next on Thursday at Powell’s Books on Hawthorne, Ann Pancake will be presenting a new collection of 11 novellas and short stories titled Me and My Daddy Listen to Bob Marley featuring characters’ relationships to their West Virginia homes, filtered through poverty, class, and environmental collapse. 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 7:30pm, FREE

Thursday’s last author event at Powell’s City of Books is David Treuer, author of several fiction and nonfiction books exploring the lives of Native American characters, presenting his newest novel Prudence, exploring the intersection between the Ojibwe reservation in Northern Minnesota and the effects of World War Two on both America and European soil. 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30pm, FREE

Photo Credit: iStock (cropped)

On Friday, Vietnam War historian Christian G. Appy will be at Powell’s City of Books with his newest book American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity, exploring the gap between the myths surrounding the war and the realities, and how this relationship has impacted the United States’ politics and culture, and national identity. 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30pm, FREE

On Saturday, Another Read Through will be celebrating Valentine’s Day with a Queer Valentine’s Day reading and Q&A featuring 5 local queer authors writing in the romance and YA genres - Talya Andor, Lori L. Lake, Cait Spivey, Ethan Stone, and Anne Tenino. 3932 N Mississippi Ave., 1:30-3:30pm, FREE

Also on Saturday, it’s that time of month for another session of the League of Extraordinary Writers, a writing workshop for young adults hosted by Roseanne Perry at Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills. This month, author Kari Luna will be leading the workshop and sharing tips and insight on how to make characters come to life. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., 2pm, FREE

Next on Saturday, the IPRC is hosting the release reading for the first issue of the poetry magazine "Banqueted", published by Couch Press and edited by Paul Maziar and Chris Ashby. The even will include readings by authors included in the issue such as Stacey Tran, Sam Lohmann, and others. IPRC, 1001 SE Division St., 7pm, FREE