LitWatch November: Readers, rejoice! Portland Book Festival returns with Ani DiFranco, Richard Powers, and scores more

More than 100 writers and interviewers will talk about books -- fiction, nonfiction, memoir, poetry, graphic novels, and books for children and young readers -- during the Nov. 2 festival.
Book Festival brings more than 100 authors and presenters to the South Park Blocks. Photo courtesy: Literary Arts
Book lovers will be plotting their strategies on Saturday, Nov. 2, when the Portland Book Festival brings more than 100 authors and presenters to the South Park Blocks. Photo courtesy: Literary Arts

Portland Book Festival, presented by Literary Arts with funding from Wells Fargo, returns to Portland’s South Park Blocks and surrounding venues on Saturday, Nov. 2. More than 100 writers, interviewers, and artists will convene to share and discuss works ranging from fiction and children’s books to fantasy, poetry, memoirs, and more. The festival will also feature pop-ups in the Portland Art Museum, food carts, workshops and classes, and on Nov. 1, the Readers Night preview of the exhibitors fair.

HEADLINING AUTHORS

Ani DiFranco, Grammy Award winner and author, will talk about her new children’s book “Show Up and Vote.”

Ani DiFranco and Richard Powers will headline this year’s literary festival, the 10th under the auspices of Literary Arts. DiFranco is a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter who rose to fame in the 1990s with songs such as Little Plastic Castle and Not a Pretty Girl, with work spanning decades and 20 albums. She is also the author of the memoir No Walls and the Recurring Dream, a children’s book The Knowing, and her newest children’s book Show Up and Vote, with art by Rachelle Baker. She will appear in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall at 10 a.m. Saturday with OPB journalist Prakruti Bhatt to discuss the work and the importance of encouraging young people to vote.

Richard Powers, New York Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner, will discuss his new novel, “Playground.”

Powers is a New York Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner for The Overstory, which former President Barack Obama said “changed how I thought about the Earth and our place in it.” His new book, Playground, has been long-listed for the 2024 Booker Prize. He will be joined at noon in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall by Andrew Proctor, executive director of Literary Arts.

Tickets for Difranco and Powers can be purchsed as an add-on, starting at $5, to festival admission wristbands and will be available until seats sell out.

WAIT, THERE’S MORE

Shayla Lawson and Morgan Parker will be in Portland’5 Brunish Theatre to dicusss their newest works.

Shayla Lawson, poet and author of How to Live Free in a Dangerous World, and Morgan Parker, National Book Critics Circle Award winner, poet, and author of the essay collection You Get What You Pay For, will participate in a panel titled “Personal Provocation.” The event will take place at 10:15 a.m. in Portland’5 Brunish Theatre, moderated by Akasha Lawrence Spence, former Oregon State Senator and founder and CEO of the community development firm Fifth Element.

Renée Watson, New York Times bestselling author, bi-coastal New Yorker and Portlander, and author of skin & bones, will be in Portland Art Museum’s Miller Gallery for an event called “Reconciliation.” She and Joe Wilkins, author of The Entire Sky, will discuss intergenerational kinship, family, loss, and healing.

Casey McQuiston, New York Times bestselling romantic-comedy author, will appear at 11:45 a.m in First Congregational United Church of Christ with their new book The Pairing. McQuiston will be joined by Kristen Arnett.

Sponsor

Portland Playhouse Notes From the Field Portland Oregon

That’s the tiniest sample of what’s going on at the festival. Also appearing will be K.O. Kwon, Carson Ellis, Danez Smith, Willy Vlautin, Rachel Kushner, Andrew Child, Mosab Abu Toha, and so many more — go to the Portland Book Festival website for a full listing and to plan your day.

BUT FIRST, COVER TO COVER

Cover to Cover, the festival’s city-wide reading pop-up series, begins Monday, Oct. 28, and runs through Sunday, Nov. 3, at venues including bookstores, galleries, libraries — even a rug store. On Oct. 30, Turn! Turn! Turn! in Northeast Portland will feature Books! Books! Books! with readings by Paul Susi, Lola Milholland, and Jessica E. Johnson. To wrap up the bookish week, Rose City Book Pub will host Voices in Bloom: An Evening with Anthony DiPietro, Sung J. Woo, Anna B. Moore, and Douglas Cole on Sunday, Nov. 2.

EVEN MORE!

Luke Burbank and announcer Elena Passarello will host two author-focused shows as part of Live Wire Radio’s collaboration with the Portland Book Festival.

In collaboration with this year’s Portland Book Festival, Live Wire Radio, the independently produced radio station nonprofit, will hold two author-specific shows hosted by Luke Burbank and announcer Elena Passarello. Following Saturday’s full day of events, fiction author Danzy Senna, New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones, comedian Alex Falcone, and musical duo Johnny Franco & His Real Brother Dom will perform at 7:30 p.m. at Alberta Rose Theatre.

At 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 3, authors Morgan Parker and Rachel Khong will join singer-songwriter Danielia Cotton at The Reser in Beaverton.

HOW TO GET TICKETS

General admission passes to the festival are $18, plus fees, when purchased online and $25 the day of the event. Veterans and youth 17 and under are admitted free. Other tickets and passes range from $5 Arts for All Passes with the presentation of a valid SNAP card, to all-access Umbrella Passes for $70. Visit the ticket link for details and to buy festival passes.

Onto the rest of the month.

WEEK 1: NOV. 1-7

On Election Night, Kim Stafford, a former Oregon poet laureate, will read from “A Proclamation for Peace: Translated for the World.”

Kim Stafford With Allison Defreese
Presented by Broadway Books
6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5
Broadway Books
1714 N.E. Broadway St., Portland
Free

Sponsor

Portland Opera The Shining Newmark Theatre Portland Oregon

On Election Night, Kim Stafford, Oregon’s ninth poet laureate and author of a dozen books of poetry including As the Sky Begins to Change, will read from his new book, A Proclamation for Peace: Translated for the World. He will be joined by co-editor Allison Defreese of the Oregon Society of Translators and Interpreters, who helped get Stafford’s work of poetry celebrating peace translated into more than 50 languages, including Arabic, Hebrew, Russian, Ukrainian, Tibetan, Mandarin, Tamil, Vietnamese, Polish, Yoruba, and Yucatec Maya.

Maple Table Poets
Presented by Broadway Books
6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7
Broadway Books
1714 N.E. Broadway St., Portland
Free

The Maple Table Poets who will be reading from their new works are Barbara Drake, poet, author, and Oregon Book Award finalist; Michael McDowell, educator and poet; Charles Goodrich, poet and avid gardener; and Bill Siverly, educator, poet, and editor.

WEEK 2: NOV. 8-14

Author Reading: Emily Mundy and Mindy Nettifee
Presented by Mother Foucault’s Bookshop
7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8
Mother Foucault’s Bookshop
523 S.E. Morrison St., Portland
Free

Emily Mundy, Seattle-based poet and creator of quarterly performance workshop The Poetry Séance, will read from her debut poetry collection, What Blooms in the Dark. She will be joined by Mindy Nettifee, poet, artist, educator, and somatic trauma therapist. Nettifee has published three poetry collections and will read from her newest release, Open Your Mouth Like a Bell.

Cliff Taylor will be at Cannon Beach Library on Nov. 9 as part of its programming for Native American Heritage Month.

NW Author’s Series Presents Cliff Taylor — Native American Heritage Month
Presented by Cannon Beach Library and NW Author’s Series
2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9
Cannon Beach Library
131 N. Hemlock, Cannon Beach
Free

Cliff Taylor, Ponca storyteller, essayist, and poet, will read at the library as part of Native American Heritage Month. Taylor’s memoir, The Memory Souls, chronicles his heritage, the elders of his community, and the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. The book depicts Taylor’s journey to “shed the bindings of trauma and get his soul back.” He will also read from his newest story collection, Notes of an Indigenous Futurist. Books by the author will be for sale and available for signing at the event.

Sponsor

Portland Playhouse Notes From the Field Portland Oregon

Author Reading: Jaydra Johnson & Diana Oropeza
Presented by Powell’s Books
7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10
Powell’s City of Books
1005 W. Burnside St., Portland
Free

Jaydra Johnson, artist and writer, will read from her new memoir, Low: Notes on Art and Trash, winner of Fonograf Editions’ inaugural essay contest. The book tells the story of an artist accepting and embracing her lineage through essay and paper collage. Johnson will be joined by Diana Oropeza, whose debut, An Incomplete Catalog of Disappearance, is a hybrid collection of flash fiction and creative nonfiction.

Book Talk With Spencer Sunshine and Steve Wasserstrom
Presented by Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education
6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14
Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education
724 N.W. Davis St., Portland
$5 general, free for members

Spencer Sunshine, author of Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism: The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason’s ‘Siege,’ will discuss the role of several culturally important musicians, publishers, and Holocaust deniers in the creation of James Mason’s neo-Nazi terrorism-promoting work Siege and Portland’s place in the greater conversation. Sunshine will be joined by Steve Wasserstom, author, poet, and former professor of Judaic Studies and Humanities at Reed College.

Jon Waterman will be at Roundabout Books & Cafe in Bend to discuss “Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder Amid the Arctic Climate Crisis.

Jon Waterman in Conversation With Graham Zimmerman
Presented by Roundabout Books & Cafe
6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14
Roundabout Books & Cafe
900 N.W. Mt. Washington Drive, Suite 110, Bend
Tickets are $5, or free with book purchase

Jon Waterman, bestselling author, photographer, and park ranger, will read from Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder Amid the Arctic Climate Crisis. Returning to the Arctic with his son after 40 years, Waterman documents the devastating effects of climate change while reconnecting with the beauty that originally drew him there. Through prose full of humor and humility, he suggests that despite the damage, there can be hope in preserving the Arctic and its magical landscape. Waterman will be joined by Graham Zimmerman, Bend alpinist and professional climber.

WEEK 3: NOV. 15-21

Author Reading: Pauls Toutonghi
Presented by Broadway Books
6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20
Broadway Books
1714 N.E. Broadway St., Portland
Free

Sponsor

Seattle Opera The Magic Flute Seattle Washington

Pauls Toutonghi, Pushcart Prize winner, Fulbright grant recipient, and author, will read from his new release, The Refugee Ocean. The son of refugees to the United States, Toutonghi draws on family experience to create a story about two refugees, from Beirut and Syria, who find their lives inextricably linked. Winding through Lebanon, Cuba, Syria, and America, Toutonghi’s work has been called a poignant and layered novel about what it means to be an immigrant.

WEEK 4: NOV. 22-30

Christopher Brown will talk about empty lots with Michelle Nijhuis at Powell’s City of Books on Nov. 22.

Christopher Brown in Conversation With Michelle Nijhuis
Presented by Powell’s Books
7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22
Powell’s City of Books
1005 W. Burnside St., Portland
Free

Christoper Brown, author of A Natural History of Empty Lots, will read from the “genre-defying” work encompassing nonfiction, memoir, and nature writing. The book examines what happens when nature and urban living intersect and draws on Brown’s experience purchasing an empty lot in industrial Austin, Texas, during 2020. Brown will be joined in conversation by Michelle Nijhuis, author of Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction.

Amy Leona Havin is a poet, essayist, and arts journalist based in Portland, Oregon. She writes about language arts, dance, and film for Oregon ArtsWatch and is a staff writer with The Oregonian/OregonLive. Her work has been published in San Diego Poetry Annual, HereIn Arts Journal, Humana Obscura, The Chronicle, and others. She has been an artist-in-residence at Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, Archipelago Gallery, and Art/Lab, and was shortlisted for the Bridport International Creative Writing Prize in poetry. Havin's dance background is rooted in classical ballet, Graham technique, and Gaga Movement language, and she is the Artistic Director of Portland-based dance performance company, The Holding Project.

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