Literopolis: A Weekly Look at Portland Literary Events, April 27-May 3

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Monday, April 27, 2015

Emily Goldman, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Watch out for this weekend - Saturday May 2, 2015 marks the inaugural Independent Bookstore Day, a celebration of independent bookstores across the country, the booksellers who work there, and the books they sell. Several of Portland’s bookstores will be participating, including Annie Bloom’s Books, Another Read Through, Broadway Books, Green Bean Books, and Powell’s Books. These bookstores will be offering a plethora of way to celebrate the day, including discounts, sales of special literary gifts, a chance to meet with the members of a new local publisher and get to learn about the publishing process, and (of course), food. Be sure to check out their websites for each bookstore’s individual announcement.

MONDAY
Hot on the heels of last week’s reading with Christian Hageseth from his book Big Weed, Powell’s on Hawthorne will be hosting Bruce Barcott, author of Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America. In his book, Barcott offers an analysis of the shifting changes in attitude towards marijuana: political, cultural, social, and financial and a glimpse into the future at what impact legalization might have on social and cultural interactions and values. 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 7:30pm, FREE

International human rights activist Lisa Shannon will be at Powell’s City of Books reading from personal account titled Mama Koko and the Hundred Gunmen about her travels with her friend Francisca Thelen to the latter’s childhood home in the Congo in the midst of Joseph Kony’s brutal attacks and murders in Dungu, where Thelan’s family still live. This book collects stories told by Francisca’s family members and their neighbors contrast Francisca’s memories of a peaceful childhood and a violent present, as well as Shannon’s own challenges to recognize her limitations as an activist as she tries to bring about meaningful change. 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30pm, FREE

TUESDAY
At Powell’s at Cedar Hills, James Bradley will be reading from his new historical account of Asian-American relations in The China Mirage, a book that rewrites the story of the ties between the United States and China. Starting with the 19th century, Bradley explores United States’ involvement in the opium trade, the missionary movement, and U.S. continued involvement in Chinese politics up to World War II. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., 7pm, FREE

The history and effect of opium will also be the topic of discussion at Powell’s City of Books where Sam Quinones will be presenting his book Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic. His book tells two interconnected tales: one of the spread of black tar heroine, the cheapest, most addictive kind, across the United States to cities who had previously never had a heroin epidemic and fueled by Mexican cartels, and another of Big Parma’s development of the high-end miracle drug Oxycontin, an equally addictive drug that roped users into purchasing cheaper black tar heroin in order to satisfy their addiction. 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30pm, FREE

WEDNESDAY
Greg Iles will be at Powell’s at Cedar Hills reading from The Bone Tree, the sequel to his bestselling thriller Natchez Burning about Southern prosecutor Penn Cage, his war with the KKK sect The Double Eagles, his race to find and save his father from a false murder charge, and Cage’s wife’s investigation into a series of civil rights murders that could bring down The Double Eagles for good. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., 7pm, FREE

At Powell's City of Books, Lisa Genova, author of the of the best-selling novel Still Allice about living with Alzheimer's disease, will be reading from her new novel Inside the O’Briens about 44-year-old police officer Joe O’Brien who receives a diagnosis of Huntington’s disease, a fatal neurodegenerative disease that has no cure and that Joe had a 50% chance of passing on to his four children. The members of the O’Brien family struggle to confront the reality of Huntington’s in Joe’s life and the dread of uncertainty whether his children have inherited it and do they want to know if they have. 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30pm, FREE

THURSDAY
Another Read Through is hosting a poetry reading featuring poets published by Airlie Press, a nonprofit publishing collective dedicated to publishing contemporary poetry by poets from the Pacific Northwest. Reading will be Karen McPherson, author of the collection Skein of Light; Tim Shaner, author of the collection Picture X; and 2015 Oregon Book Award Finalist Dawn Diez Willis for her poetry collection Still Life Judas and Lightening. 3932 N Mississippi Ave., 7-8pm, FREE

At Powell’s at Cedar Hills, YA authors Maggie Stiefvater and Jackson Pearce will be presenting their fruits of their collaborative effort: the first book in a series of children’s books titled Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures about a young girl named Pip Bartlett spending the summer with her Aunt Emma at the Cloverton Clinic for Magical Creatures. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., 7pm, FREE

Author Paul Tobin and illustrator Colleen Coover will be at Powell’s on Hawthorne presenting Volume Two of the printed collection of their digital series Bandette, the adventures of a Parisian teenage superthief, published by Dark Horse. 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 7:30pm, FREE

Novelist Ryan Gattis will be at Powell’s City of Books reading his book All Involved, a novelization of the murder of Rodney King and the riots following the acquittal of the three white L.A. police offers responsible for his death using seventeen interconnected first-person narratives to recreate South Central L.A. before, during, and after the trial. 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30pm, FREE

FRIDAY
The one and only David Sedaris, humorist and comedian extraordinaire, not to mention author of numerous humor essay collections such as Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, When You are Engulfed in Flames, and Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, will be in Portland and speaking at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. You can click HERE to purchase tickets. 1037 SW Broadway Ave., 8pm, $45-$62. 

Reporter, editor-at-large, and a deputy director at the Council on Foreign Relations Gayle Tzemach Lemmon will be at Powell’s at Cedar Hills presenting Ashley’s War, the biography of CST-2, a unit of hand-picked female American military personnel who, despite being officially banned from combat, were then “attached” to different teams, fighting and taking part in special ops missions alongside men while performing cultural outreach. Her biography specifically focuses on 1st Lieutenant Ashley White, the first Cultural Support Team member killed in action and the first honored alongside the Army Rangers on the Army Special Operations Memorial Wall of Honor. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., 7pm, FREE

Powell’s City of Books will be hosting 2015 Caldecott Honor and Printz Award-winning illustrator Jillian Tamaki, who will be presenting the printed collection of her four-year-old webcomic Supermutant Magic Acadamy, the story of a prep school for mutants and witches and its paranormal pupils dealing with typical teenage tribulations. 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30pm, FREE

SATURDAY
Reading Frenzy will be celebrating the opening of the group art show Feminist Bookstore, which will display original, custom-made dust jackets for classic feminist works, contributed by several female artists from around the country. The show, curated by artists Jennifer Armbrust and Michelle Blade, will be run through the entirety of May. Be sure to check out Reading Frenzy’s website for a full list of all participating artists. 3628 N Mississippi Ave., 6pm, FREE

If you weren’t able to see them on Thursday, Maggie Stiefvater and Jackson Pearce will also be at A Children’s Place reading from Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures. 1423 NE Fremont St., 2pm, FREE

At Powell’s at Cedar Hills, co-authors Jeff Jensen and Jonathan Case will be presenting their book Before Tomorrowland, written as a prequel novel to the upcoming Disney film Tomorrowland. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., 4pm, FREE

SUNDAY
At Powell’s City of Books, novelist Anne Fadiman will be presenting a collection of essays and stories all written by promising writer, actress, and playwright Marina Keegan who died in a car crash in 2012, just five days after graduating summa cum laude in Yale. Fadiman will be reading from the collection, titled The Opposite of Loneliness after Keegan’s online essay that went viral after her death, and discussing the relationship she had with Marina as her writing teacher. 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30pm, FREE

As a continuation of the opening celebration for the Feminist Bookstore exhibit on Friday, Reading Frenzy invites everyone to come to the bookstore bringing their favorite book of feminist writing and create a custom book jacket of their own using the provided art supplies. All covers will be scanned and archived online and participants will have the option to donate both book and cover to be a part of the touring Feminist Bookstore exhibition. 3628 N Mississippi Ave., 1pm, FREE

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