Portland Bookstores, Beyond Powell’s

Poetry Open Mic and Slam in Portland, Oregon. It is the mission of Slamlandia to provide an open mic and poetry slam that is creative, fun, and welcoming to all literary communities in Portland. They strive towards a safer space for poets to share work, witness others, and participate in the community. 

Don’t miss the most educational, inspirational day of the year in the Rose City as TEDxPortland returns for Year 13. Enjoy a full day featuring 13 captivating speakers and four mind-blowing performances. Each ticket includes an award-winning event book, coffee and tea in the morning, and a delightful happy hour and ice cream in the...

Literary Arts’ Oregon Book Awards program honors the state’s finest accomplishments by Oregon writers who work in genres of poetry, fiction, graphic literature, drama, literary nonfiction, and literature for young readers. This year’s ceremony will be hosted  by Omar El Akkad.

Every May, thousands of visitors flock to the city’s famous UFO Festival, featuring four days of parades, costume contests and expert speakers.

Celebrating its TENTH anniversary, the Vanport Mosaic Festival presents two weeks of memory activism programming to amplify Oregon’s silenced histories through performances, documentary screenings, exhibits, tours, dialogues, and more.  The Festival is headquartered at the Historic Alberta House in NE Portland, with events taking place in various venues throughout the city (PSU, EXPO, Historic Vanport/Delta...

Join a monthly Q&A about all things publishing and books. Join Ali Shaw — co-owner of BOLD Coffee and Books and owner of Indigo: Editing, Design, and More — for an in-person Q&A about the publishing process, the business of writing, and the book world in general. If you have questions about how to start your...

Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing welcomes Hugo, Nebulo and Locus Award-Winning Author Mary-Robinette Kowal to discuss her new release, The Martian Contingency. Kowal returns to Mars in the final installment of her Lady Astronaut series and expertly weaves both science and historical accuracy into this alternate-history adventure. This is a free event with signed copies...

 Recognizing the need for diverse representation in entertainment, Shannon has made it her mission as a storyteller to represent the LGBTQIA+ community through her work. Shannon hosts a weekly video podcast called exes & o's, where she talks about queer relationships and sex with a rotating influential queer guest. While she loves creating her own...

No more procrastination. Bring your work in progress and join other writers for some dedicated time to get your words down.   Every Wednesday 5:30–5:45 Arrive, get comfortable, meet your fellow writers, and chat about your projects 5:45–6:45 Time to shut up and write

The journey of a 1950s good girl to an irreverent, feisty, feminist physician, Inspired and Outraged is the intimate memoir of Alice Rothchild from her adolescence to her mid-40s and the experiences that contributed to her passion and power as a doctor, an activist, and a woman. Compiling stories of her life in verse, Rothchild...

BOLD is excited to host a special Indigo Small Press Month reading with authors Kristen Hall-Geisler, Andrew Shaffer, and Johnny Stallings. The event is the second in a series celebrating the stellar writing of members of the Indigo community. Each featured author will read a selection from their body of work. Kristen Hall-Geisler is an author, editor,...

Join Saturday mornings for children’s storytime. Whether an author is here to read their book or the staff is reading a favorite, the stories featured will spread compassion, awareness, and positivity. Children will get a coloring page or sticker to take home, too. The shop carries juice, snacks, and other items for kids and adults. While...

Join Shoshone-Bannock poet, playwright, performer, and traditional storyteller Ed Edmo in the warm and cozy glass kiosk at the park. Ed shares captivating storytelling and poetry for both kids and adults, bringing Northwest tribal culture to life. As described by Oregon Public Broadcasting, his tales 'breathe life into characters like Nasho, a monster woman, and...

Envision the possibility that the human spirit is an unparalleled treasure. Feel the surrounding love during tribulation and pain. Imagine that regular people are the hope being sought out in despair. Believe that the human spirit is the treasure so desperately needed to forge beauty from evil and to create the future. Kristen’s prose elevates...

The Moth presents the Portland GrandSLAM, a battle of wits and words — fierce, hilarious, heartbreaking and all points between. The ultimate storytelling competition, The Moth GrandSLAM invites winners from the open-mic StorySLAMs back to the stage for the Portland storytelling championship. 

Storytelling With Data: Great Graphs, Bad Logos, and the Ethics of Data Visualization So much data. So much misrepresentation. In our era, understanding the nuances of effective visual storytelling is more crucial than ever. What is the neuroscience of vision? The psychology of perception? How do our brains process visual information? Well-designed graphs can illuminate...

Alton Brown Live: Last Bite, the famed foodist reflects on his decades in food media, presents several of his favorite culinary mega-hacks, sings some of his funny food songs, and in general offers a culinary variety show the likes of which human eyes have never seen.

Reed Zine Fest is the first zine fest organized by the Reed College Library to celebrate independent publishing, DIY and zine making. This one-day festival will feature more than 100+ local community and Reedie zinesters, art and zine workshops, community roundtables and a keynote presentation by local zinester Alex Wrekk. Alex Wrekk moved from Salt...

Come to BOLD's monthly open mic to share your latest work in progress or previously published piece. Welcome short stories, personal essays, poetry, slam, and other spoken word art forms. 10% off for performers. Arrive at 5:00 to sign up and get your beverage. The mic goes on at 5:30. There is a 15-minute time...

Get ready to dive into the depths of cinematic absurdity with the podcast that celebrates the best of the worst: How Did This Get Made. Join the dynamic trio of Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas, and June Diane Raphael as they expertly dissect and hilariously roast some of the most mind-boggling movies ever made.  With a...

Steve Inskeep is a host of NPR’s Morning Edition and its morning news podcast Up First. Since joining Morning Edition in 2004, Inskeep has hosted the program from New Orleans, Detroit, San Francisco, Cairo, and Beijing; investigated Iraqi police in Baghdad; and received a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for “The Price of African Oil”...

The  International Booklover's Burlesque Festival is a weekend event full of the sexiest literary burlesque. Each day will showcase guests of honor and featured authors and, as well as curated performing artists chosen from applications from around the world.  The weekend begins with a celebration at the Gala of Good & Evil Cabaret Opening Night....

It’s no secret that honeybees are smart. They communicate by dancing and procuring nature’s sweetest treat from the nectar of flowers. But there’s something else that bees are perfectly programmed for, swarming. One of their most important biological functions, swarms are often feared and misunderstood by outsiders. Join urban beekeeper Mandy Shaw for an inside...

Are you frustrated with slugs and snails eating your garden plants? Maybe a little intrigued by them? Dr Rory Mc Donnell, a world expert on these creatures, has been fascinated by slugs and snails since he was a child growing up in Ireland. Through this lecture, Dr. McDonnell will provide information on the biology of...

Emily Wilson is a classicist, translator, professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and the author of the bestselling translations of Homer’s The Odyssey and The Iliad (winner of the 2024 Audie Award for Best Literary Fiction and Classics). In addition to Wilson’s translated works, her other books include The Greatest Empire: A...

Stephanie Hsu joins the Tomorrow Theater for one night only to chat about her life and work.  Stephanie Hsu starred in the Academy Award-winning Best Picture Everything Everywhere All at Once, for which she received the Independent Spirit Award for Best Breakthrough Performance and nominations for Best Supporting Actress for the Academy Award, Critics’ Choice Award, and the Screen...

Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life One of humanity’s oldest beliefs is that our world is alive. Though once ridiculed by some scientists, the idea of Earth as a vast, interconnected living system has gained acceptance in recent decades. We, and all living things, are more than inhabitants of Earth — we are...

Verselandia! is the annual high school poetry slam presented by Literary Arts. It is the Grand Slam for the winners from individual school slams hosted by public high schools. High school poets compete for five great prizes. Celebrate Portland’s youth poets during Literary Arts’ annual Verselandia! Youth Poetry Slam Championship. Cheer on students from Portland and...

In the spirit of her bestselling book, Hope in the Dark, Rebecca Solnit explores how actions can shape the future and the liberatory possibilities of embracing uncertainty. Beginning with an essay about a three-hundred-year-old violin and what it can say about forests, abundance, and climate and ending with an essay about ice in seven long...

Oregon Origins Project, in partnership with Stelo, presents an epic new musical work and art exhibition depicting the dramatic events of Oregon’s geologic history. Join an artistic exploration of the state’s geologic origin stories, including Columbia River basalt flows, Basin and Range earthquakes, Cascade volcanoes, Missoula floods, and much more. A companion art exhibition will...

Sleep and Snuggling: The Key to Social Connection. Babies sleep more per day during the first two years than at any other point in life. Scientists agree that this is a period of rapid change in the brain and body — but the mystery remains: what function does sleep serve us so early in life? One...

The Silken Thread: Five Insects and Their Impacts on Human History A moth, a flea, a mosquito… Insects are seldom mentioned in history texts, yet they significantly shaped human history. For example: Silkworms (moths) have been farmed to produce silk for millennia, and the Silk Road created a history of empires and cultural exchanges of...