Literopolis: A Weekly Round-up of Portland Literary Events, Dec. 8-14

Monday, December 08, 2014

Emily Goldman, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Photo Credit: iStock (cropped)

This week's literary round-up is brought to you by Powell's Books. With a grand total of eleven readings, book discussions, and writing workshops, nearly every literary event this week is occuring at one of Powell's various locations, most of which are listed below. However if your'e not feeling up to the City of Books or a trip to Beaverton, do not fret - this week still holds a couple additional events taking place elsewhere, including two anthology releases hosted by two of Portland's writing organizations

On Monday, Shelly Oria will be at Powell’s City of Books reading from her debut short story collection New York 1, Tel Aviv 0. Joining the event will be Pauls Toutonghi, author of Evel Knieval Days, who will be engaging Oria in conversation about her writing. 1005 W. Burnside St., 7:30 pm, FREE

Powell’s Science Fiction Book Group will be meeting at the Cedar Hills location on Tuesday to discuss this month’s title The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., 7pm, FREE.

Also on Tuesday, the Writers in the Schools (WITS), a writing program aimed at public high school students, will be celebrating the publication of their annual anthology of exemplary student work at Powell’s City of Books. Language Made of Trees showcases poetry, prose, drama, and comics written by Portland’s high school students in 2013-2014. 1005 W. Burnside St., 7:30 pm, FREE.

The writing group Write Around Portland will also be holding a reading on Wednesday to celebrate the release of their 46th anthology titled Mile Marker. The anthology contains pieces written by the writing group’s fall workshops for people with disabilities, in recovery, and many others. First United Methodist church in Collins Hall, 1838 SW Jefferson St., 6:30 – 8:30 pm, FREE.

Also on Wednesday at Powells Cedar Hills, the store’s booksellers will be hosting the first of two planned events titled "Let's Talk Books" in which they will discuss with attendees some of the best books of the season. There will be a second event the following week on Tuesday at the downtown location. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Crossing Blvd., 7 pm FREE.

Rounding off Wednesday’s events at Powell’s City of Books is Garth Stein reading from his latest novel A Sudden Light, described as being “a multigenerational family saga, a historical novel, a ghost story, and the story of a contemporary family’s struggle to connect wit each other. 1005 W Burnside St., 7:30 pm, FREE.

On Thursday at Powell’s City of Books, Tim Federle, author of Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist, is back with a new set of literary, alcoholic drink recipes in his latest offering Hickory Daiquiri Dock: Cocktails with a Nursery Rhyme Twist. 1005 W. Burnside St., 7:30 pm, FREE

Same place and same time on Friday, Robbie Rogers, professional soccer player for the L.A. Galaxy, presents his autobiography Coming Out to Play detailing his struggles with coming to terms with his sexual orientation both privately and publicly in the midst of his growing, star-studded soccer career. 1005 W. Burnside St., 7:30 FREE

Also on Friday, Glyph Cafe & Art Space presents December’s Featured Writer Reading with A. Molotkov, a poetry and fiction writer, in addition to being a composer, film-maker, and visual artist. The reading will feature musical accompaniment by violinist/violist Eadie Anelli. 804 NW Couch St., 5-7 pm, FREE

Another Read Through will be hosting the bookstore’s most popular event on Saturday, Rapid Fire Reading with NIWA Authors. These authors, all of whom belong to the Northwest Independent Writers Association and write in entirely different genres from one another, have only 5 minutes to impress the audience with a carefully-chosen passage from their books. There will be a Q&A, signing, and a free book raffle from each other following the reading. 3932 N. Mississippi Ave., 1:30 – 3:30, FREE

Also on Saturday, Powell’s at Cedar Hills will be hosting a writing workshop for young adults titled “Everyone Can Make Comics.” Author and illustrator Matthew Holm will be demonstrating how to create original cartoon characters and plan out a an entire graphic novel. 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., 2 pm, FREE

And wrapping up the week on Sunday is Glyph’s weekly poetry slam. 804 NW Couch St., 5-7 pm, $5

Video Banner Credit: iStock (cropped)