Literopolis: A Weekly Look at Portland Literary Events, June 8-14

Monday, June 08, 2015

Emily Goldman, GoLocalPDX Contributor

You know what’s almost here? Summer. You know what I’m almost done with? Finals.

This week is a good week for poetry, with seven poets sharing their work across five different events, two of them release parties for new collections. Also reading this week are two National Book Award finalists: Paolo Bacigalupi and Jim Shepard.

MONDAY
Annie Bloom’s Books will be hosting Kirsten and Christopher Shockey, author of the cookbook Fermented Vegetables, complete with recipes on how to create meals out of highly nutritious fermented food items. 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, 7-8pm, FREE

At Powell’s City of Books, Portland Monthly co-executive editor Zach Dundas will be sharing his love of Sherlock Holmes with his new book The Great Detective, essentially a biography of the character of Sherlock Holmes, the original canon, and the evolution of his stories over the past century, as well as the transformation of Holmes into a beloved archetype who continues to delight and inspire fans in his numerous iterations. 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30pm, FREE

Charles Dubow will be reading at Powell’s on Hawthorne from his novel Girl in the Moonlight, a novel spanning several decades about the tempestuous affair between a shy man named Wylie Rose and the wild, irrepressible woman named Cesca whose beauty and spirit captivate Wylie all throughout his childhood and adult years. 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 7:30pm, FREE

TUESDAY
The food theme continues at Annie Bloom’s Books this week with Mandy Levy and her self-help diet book titled Calorie Counting, which presents dieting and calorie counting with healthy sense of humor. 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, 7-8pm, FREE

Literary Arts will be hosting two authors: Brian Komei Dempster, who will be reading from his debut poetry collection Topaz about a Japanese-American family’s separation and imprisonment during World War II, and Janice P. Nimura, author of Daughters of the Samurai, a cross-cultural history of five Japanese daughters of samurai who travelled to San Francisco in the 1870s on behalf of the Japanese government in order to learn American ways. 925 SW Washington St., 7-9pm, FREE

Mother-daughter author duo Kristen and P.C. Cast, author of the NYT bestselling House of Night series of vampire fiction, will be at Powell’s at Cedar Hills presenting Amber Smoke, the first book in a new series about a parallel universe where the souls of the damned are caged and the two people who team up to hunt them when someone opens the cage and unleashes the souls onto our world. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., 7pm, FREE

Why is Paris considered to be the most romantic city in the world? David Downie attempts to answer that question at Powell’s City of Books with his book A Passion For Paris. Downie’s examination covers two centuries’ worth of history, geography, architecture, literature, famous figures, all the while exploring just what exactly gives Paris, and not another city, it’s romantic reputation. This event is sponsored by Alliance Francaise de Portland. 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30pm, FREE

WEDNESDAY
At Powell’s at Cedar Hills, Paolo Bacigalupi will be presenting his newest book, a near-future, all-too-relevant thriller titled The Water Knife in which the American Southwest is decimated by drought and three woman—a “water knife” and a broker of the most valuable resource in the region, a journalist, and young migrant—find themselves in Phoenix searching for water while finding themselves trapped in a dirty conspiracy far more dangerous than any of them imagined. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., 7pm, FREE

Powell’s City of Books will be hosting Chris Hedges, author of The Wages of Rebellion. He will be discussing the cycle of revolution and what social and psychological factors contribute to uprisings and rebellions using examples across the globe and throughout history 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30pm, FREE

THURSDAY
Local author Mollie Hunt will be at Another Read Through presenting from her Crazy Cat Lady series of cozy mysteries about a middle-aged cat lady in southeast Portland who gets involved in solving crimes. Joining Mollie will be her cat Tinkerbelle. 3932 N Mississippi Ave., 7-8pm, FREE

Three poets—Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Wendy Chin-Tanner, and Ashley Toliver—will be reading from their respective bodies of work at Literary Arts. In addition, Wendy Chin-Tanner will be interviewing Rachel Griffiths. 925 SW Washington St., 7pm, FREE

At Powell’s on Hawthorne, Margaret Grundstein will be presenting from her memoir Naked in the Woods: My Unexpected Years in a Hippie Commune, the story of Grundstein’s decision to abandon her graduate degree at Yale and live alongside her husband in a remote commune in Oregon in the early seventies. 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 7:30pm, FREE

Powell’s City of Books will be hosting novelist Polly Dugan, author of The Sweetheart Deal, the story of the sudden fruition of a pact made between two best friends that if Leo dies, Garrett has to marry his wife Audrey and the unexpected close relationship Garrett and Audrey develop in the aftermath, either in spite of or because of the pact. 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30pm, FREE

FRIDAY
The IPRC will be hosting the release party for the translated version of The Cold, written by Bolivian author Jaime Saenz who was one of the first Latin American authors to explore bisexuality. The event will include readings by Jen Coleman, Lindsay Allison Ruoff, and a discussion with the book’s translator Kit Schluter about the work and thought processes involved in translating Jaime Saenz’s work. 1001 SE Division St., 7pm, FREE

Historian H.W. Brands will be presenting an exhaustive biography of Ronald Reagan, also known as the 40th president of the United States, titled Reagan: The Life at Powell’s at Cedar Hills. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., 7pm, FREE

At Powell’s City of Books, Jim Shepard will be reading from his new novel The Book of Aron, the story of a young boy whose family is imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto who smuggles items into the ghetto to keep them alive and is later placed under the care of Janusz Korczak, a famous advocate of children’s rights before the war and now the director of the ghetto orphanage. 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30pm, FREE

SATURDAY
Another Read Through is hosting a panel of local children’s authors featuring Kyle Hart, April Bullard, and Nicky Byma, who will each be reading from their respective books: The Mustache That Cured World Hunger, The Sock Thief, and The Letter. 3932 N Mississippi Ave., 1:30-3pm, FREE

Submission One, a brand-new reading series featuring blind, online submissions in Portland, will be having its inaugural event at Mother Foucault’s Bookshop. Featuring authors Elaine Kahn and David Shafer (author of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot), the event will also double as a book release party for Kahn’s poetry collection Women in Public. 523 SE Morrison St., 7pm, FREE

The IPRC will be hosting its second book release party of the week with the poetry collection Often Go Awry by Brian Ellis, published by the local University of Hell press. There will also be readings by Mindy Nettifee, A.M. O’Malley, Carrie Seitzinger, Jenna Marie Fletcher, Leah Noble Davidson, and Robyn Bateman. 1001 SE Division St., 7pm, FREE

SUNDAY
Closing out the week will be Joanna Klink at Powell’s on Hawthorne, presenting her new poetry collection Excerpts from a Secret Prophecy about seeking connection and a sense of self in the midst of isolation. Joining her in conversation will be poet and PSU MFA professor Michele Glazer. 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 4pm, FREE