LitWatch July: Summer Fishtrap and the Bigfoot Poetry Festival

Authors appearing around the state will talk about the female body and evolution, hikes around Mount Hood and the Columbia River Gorge, and Jack Kerouac's Buddhist years.
The Summer Fishtrap writers’ workshop runs July 7-12 at Wallowa Lake Lodge. Evening events are free and open to the public.

“Day after day, I sweep leaves off the streets and wipe windows. I wonder how much time I’ve wasted outside. They say people’s hands were freed when they learned to walk upright. Why do all the flowers around here bloom from trash?”  Clearing the trash from under the magnolia tree, he thinks to himself: This day, in which sad prayers come spilling out of his hands, is too hot.

Excerpt from Heat Wave by Lee Young-ju, translated from the Korean by Jae Kim

It’s officially summer in the Pacific Northwest, and with the first days of overbearing heat comes a new month of literary events, including Fishtrap’s summer workshop. Summer Fishtrap takes place July 7-12 at Wallowa Lake Lodge in Northeastern Oregon. After a welcome, orientation, and dinner, the opening day kickoff at 7:30 p.m. will feature Fishtrap Executive Director Shannon McNerney and a reading by keynote speaker Beth Piatote, writer, scholar, Indigenous language activist, and author of The Beadworkers: Stories.

Evening events, at 7:30 p.m. nightly, are free and open to the public. They include faculty readings and book signings by Charles Goodrich, JaNay Brown-Wood, and Amy Irvine on July 8, readings by Karen AuvinenJoe Wilkins, and Erica Berry on July 9, readings by Anis Mojgani, Stephanie Elizando Griest, and Nina McConigley on July 10, and a keynote talk by Piatote on “Home,” the week’s theme, on July 11.

Saturday night’s FISHTRAP LIVE: Homegrown Finale is also open to the public (and available by livestream), with tickets $15 per person or $12.50 for Fishtrap members. It will include readings and music by some of “Wallowa County’s best”: Adele Nash, Pam Royes, Rich Wandschneider, and The Bad Penny Pleasuremakers and Jezebel’s Mother.

The Bigfoot Poetry festival takes place July 10-12 in Portland.

The Bigfoot Poetry Festival, initially formerly the Bigfoot Regional Poetry Slam, will showcase poetry July 10-12 at various downtown Portland locations. Sixteen teams will compete over three days in hopes of securing the grand prize. The event will feature poetry open mics, workshops, markets, and more, all open to the public. The top four slam poetry teams will receive prize money. Attendance is free to all events except the July 12 finals, to be held at 7 p.m. at First Congregational United Church of Christ. Tickets to that are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. 

WEEK 1: JULY 1-7

Carolyn Dasher Book Launch: American Sky
Presented by Bold Coffee & Books
7 p.m. Tuesday, July 1
Bold Coffee & Books
1755 S.W. Jefferson St., Portland
Free

Sponsor

Chamber Music NW Summer Festival Portland Oregon

Carolyn Dasher, novelist and author of short stories that have appeared in Sunspot Literary Journal, will read from her debut novel, American Sky, a multi-generational story about America’s World War II WASP program. She will be joined by Joanna Rose, author of A Small Crowd of Strangers.

William L. Sullivan will read July 7 from his hiking guide, “50 Hikes: Mount Hood and the Columbia Gorge.

Author Reading: William L. Sullivan
Presented by Powell’s Books
7 p.m. Monday, July 7
Powell’s City of Books
1005 W. Burnside St., Portland
Free

William L. Sullivan, hiking enthusiast and nature expert, will discuss his newest guide, 50 Hikes: Mount Hood and the Columbia Gorge. In this book, Sullivan welcomes readers to Oregon’s favorite getaways, including the Columbia Gorge’s waterfalls and Mount Hood’s alpine meadows. The variety of hiking and walking adventures includes wildflowers, museums, dog walks, mountain bike paths, backpacking trails, and more.

WEEK 2: JULY 8-14

Charles Shuttleworth Presents The Buddhist Years
Presented by Tsunami Books
5:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 8
Tsunami Books
2585 Willamette St., Eugene
Free

Charles Shuttleworth, editor of The Buddhist Years, the third volume of collected writings of Jack Kerouac, will discuss the book, published in collaboration with Rare Bird Books, Sal Paradise Press, and the Estate of Jack Kerouac. The Buddhist Years contains previously unpublished writings from the prolific Beat Generation author. Shuttleworth has annotated Kerouac’s works to offer an understanding of the writer’s spiritual life and perspective.

Nancy Townsley will read from her newest book on July 8 at Annie Bloom’s Books.

Reading: Nancy Townsley With Suzy Vitello
Presented by Annie Bloom’s Books
7 p.m. Tuesday, July 8
Annie Bloom’s Books
7834 S.W. Capitol Hwy., Portland
Free

Nancy Townsley, journalist, novelist, and essayist, will read from her debut novel, Sunshine Girl. The book tells the story of Eliza Donovan, who learns journalism from her father, leader of a rural Oregon newsroom. When she moves to Alaska, she becomes consumed by a story that leads her to start looking into her own life and uncovering family secrets. Townsley will be joined by Suzy Vitello, author of the young adult Empress Chronicles series.

Sponsor

Chamber Music NW Summer Festival Portland Oregon

WEEK 3: JULY 15-21

Gabriel Urza in Conversation With Willy Vlautin
Presented by Powell’s Books
7 p.m. Wednesday, July 16
Powell’s City of Books
1005 W. Burnside St., Portland
Free

Gabriel Urza will read from his most recent book, The Silver State, a novel about a young mother who is brutally murdered near Reno’s silver mines and the consequences. Urza examines “the deals that get cut in the name of justice,” the murky boundaries between victim and perpetrator, and the cost of a life in the judicial system, offering a narrative of systemic failure and moral ambiguity. Urza will be joined in conversation by Willy Vlautin, author of The Horse and The Night Always Comes.

Poetry Reading: Shilo Niziolek, Courtney LeBlanc, and Sara Quinn Rivara
Presented by Up Up Books
6:30 p.m. Friday, July 18
Up Up Books
1211 S.E. Stark St., Portland
Free

Shilo Niziolek, instructor at Clackamas Community College and editor and co-founder of the literary magazine Scavengers, will be joined in a poetry reading by Courtney LeBlanc, winner of the Jack McCarthy Book Prize. LeBlanc will read from her recent collection, Her Dark Everything. Also reading will be Sara Quinn Rivara, finalist for the 2024 Oregon Book Award in Poetry and author of Little Beast.

Cat Bohannon will discuss “Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution” at Cloud & Leaf Bookstore in Manzanita.

Books After Hours: Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution
Presented by Cloud & Leaf Bookstore
Time TBD Sunday, July 20
Cloud & Leaf Bookstore
447 Laneda Ave., Manzanita
Free

Cat Bohannon, scholar, researcher, and author, will be at the Oregon Coast for a book reading and signing in partnership with the Manzanita Writers Program at the Hoffman Center for the Arts. Bonahhon will discuss her book, Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution, which The New York Times called “a page-turning whistle-stop tour of mammalian development that begins in the Jurassic Era.”

Reading: The Lost and the Found by Kevin Fagan
Presented by Annie Bloom’s Books
7 p.m. Monday, July 21
Annie Bloom’s Books
7834 S.W. Capitol Hwy., Portland
Free

Sponsor

Chamber Music NW Summer Festival Portland Oregon

Kevin Fagan, Pulitzer Prize nominee and award-winning reporter with a three-decade career at the San Francisco Chronicle, will read from his newest book, The Lost and the Found: A True Story of Homelessness, Found Family, and Second Chances. The book, set in San Francisco, considers the homelessness epidemic through a lens of empathy and humanity, telling tragic and triumphant stories of Rita and Tyson, two unhoused people struggling to pull themselves out of homelessness and addiction.

WEEK 4: JULY 22-31

Jamie Hood in Conversation With Lydia Kiesling
Presented by Powell’s Books
7 p.m. Thursday, July 24
Powell’s City of Books
1005 W. Burnside St., Portland
Free

Jamie Hood, poet, critic, and memoirist, will read from her newly released book of personal and literary criticism. Trauma Plot dissects the archetype of the rape survivor, invoking women in art who have filled the role, including Ovid’s Philomela and David Lynch’s Laura Palmer. Hood will be joined in conversation by Lydia Kiesling, author of Mobility.

Portland author Emma Pattee will appear at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 31, at the Clackamas Town Center Barnes & Noble bookstore to talk about "Tilt."
Portland author Emma Pattee will read from her novel, “Tilt,” in Bend.

Reading: Tilt by Emma Pattee
Presented by Roundabout Books & Cafe
5:30 p.m. Friday, July 25
Roundabout Books & Cafe
900 N.W. Mt. Washington Drive, Suite 110, Bend
$5 or book purchase

Emma Pattee, climate journalist and author, will discuss her debut novel, Tilt. Called “a powerful new literary voice” by Vogue, Pattee tells the story of a woman’s journey across a Portland devastated by a huge earthquake. When it hits, a pregnant Annie is crib shopping at IKEA. With no way to reach her husband in the chaos, she must walk through a transformed city and survive the journey.

Daniela Naomi Molnar in Conversation With Alicia Jo Rabins
Presented by Powell’s Books
7 p.m. Monday, July 28
Powell’s City of Books
1005 W. Burnside St., Portland
Free

Daniela Naomi Molnar, Oregon Book Award-winning poet and author of Chorus, will read from her newest release, Protocols: An Erasure. The book takes the world’s most influential antisemitic document, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and flips it on its head, turning it into an erasure poem exploring essential questions of power, history, and language through a Jewish lens — redacting words from the original to replace a hateful text with light, space, and curiosity. Molnar will be joined in conversation by Alicia Jo Rabins, author of Fruit Geode.

Sponsor

Theatre 33 Willamette University Summer Festival Performances Salem Oregon

Jamie Mustard (center) will be in conversation with Corey Drayton July 29 at Powell’s City of Books.

Jamie Mustard in Conversation With Corey Drayton
Presented by Powell’s Books
7 p.m. Tuesday, July 29
Powell’s City of Books
1005 W Burnside St., Portland
Free

Jamie Mustard, author of Hybred: A Graphic Novel and The Invisible Machine, will read from his new book, Child X: A Memoir of Slavery, Poverty, Celebrity, and Scientology. Born into Scientology in the 1970s, Mustard was raised in a strict religious atmosphere where he battled neglect, poverty, and illiteracy. Child X is a dark journey, telling the story of his childhood and adolescence in “the movement,” his escape, and his acclimation to the outside world. The book also places Black American history in the larger context of Mustard’s experience and other world events, celebrating race and the rise from adversity. Mustard will be joined in conversation by creative director and cinematographer Corey Drayton. 

Amy Leona Havin is a Portland-based journalist, poet, and essayist specializing in arts and culture. She covers language arts, dance, and film for Oregon ArtsWatch and serves as a staff writer at The Oregonian/OregonLive. Her writing has appeared in San Diego Poetry Annual, HereIn Arts Journal, Humana Obscura, The Chronicle, and other publications. In 2023, she received the Commerce Award for Publishers in recognition of her contributions to digital media (Condé Nast). Havin has held artist residencies at Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, Archipelago Gallery, and Art/Lab, and was shortlisted for the Bridport International Creative Writing Prize in poetry. With a background in classical ballet, Graham technique, and Gaga Movement Language, she is also the Artistic Director of The Holding Project, a Portland-based contemporary dance company.

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