September rain falls on the house.
In the failing light, the old grandmother
sits in the kitchen with the child
beside the Little Marvel Stove,
reading the jokes from the almanac,
laughing and talking to hide her tears.

— Sestina Poem by Elizabeth Bishop

September is always a bittersweet month. Gusts of crisp air start to spill into our summer days and the sunset creeps in sooner. While it’s easy to long for an endless summer, there’s no doubt that autumn in Oregon is one of the most magical times of the year, so let’s embrace it with an abundance of September events including author readings from Satya Doyle Byock, Jennifer Reimer, Lidia Yuknavitch, Wendy Red Star, Leanne Grabel, and others.

From 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, Annie Bloom’s Books presents an in-store reading by poets Jennifer Reimer and Connie Soper. Originally from California, Reimer is a Bend-based writer and assistant professor of American studies and MFA program coordinator at Oregon State University-Cascades. Her knack for embedding lyricism into her work aids in an exploration of nostalgia, wistful memory, and self-discovery. Her newest collection, Keşke (Airlie Press), marries the ancient with the modern to contemplate hunger, water, fluidity, and ruin, while rewriting Homeric myth through a distinctly feminist lens. She will be joined at Annie Bloom’s by Connie Soper, hiker, poet, and author of the nonfiction work Exploring the Oregon Coast Trail, as well as the poetry collection A Story Interrupted (Airlie Press).

Week 1: Sept. 1-7

Author reading: Satya Doyle Byock
Presented by Mother Foucault’s Bookshop
7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3
Mother Foucault’s Bookshop
523 S.E. Morrison St., Portland
Free

Join Jungian psychotherapist Satya Doyle Byock as she reads from her newest book, Quarterlife: The Search for Self in Early Adulthood, a unique take on human development during ages 16 through 26. Byock is founder and director of the Salome Institute of Jungian Studies and will share her thoughts on her work.

Sponsor

Kristin Ohlson in conversation with Lee van der Voo
Presented by Powell’s Books
7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 6
Powell’s City of Books
1005 W. Burnside St., Portland
Free

Kristin Ohlson will discuss Sweet in Tooth and Claw, her follow-up book to The Soil Will Save Us, about the astonishing connections between the world’s ecosystems. From birds and mycelium to microbes, plants, and humans, Ohlson will explain how nature’s connectivity is generous and abundant. Ohlson will be joined by Lee van der Voo, author of As the World Burns.

Week 2: Sept. 8-14

Poetry reading: Jennifer Reimer and Connie Soper
Presented by Annie Bloom’s Books
7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8
Annie Bloom’s Books
7834 S.W. Capitol Hwy, Portland
Free

Bend-based Jennifer A. Reimer, assistant professor of American studies and MFA program coordinator at Oregon State University-Cascades, will read from her book of poems, Keşke. Keşke combines the ancient with the modern in an experimental collection of self-discovery. Reimer will be joined by poet, hiker, and author of Exploring the Oregon Coast Trail, Connie Soper.

Lidia Yuknavitch in conversation with Omar El Akkad
Presented by Broadway Books
6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8
Broadway Books
1714 N.E. Broadway, Portland
Free

Oregon Book Award winner Lidia Yuknavitch will be joined by award-winning author, journalist, and fellow Oregon Book Award recipient Omar El Akkad to discuss Yuknavitch’s newest book, Thrust. The novel, set in 2085, chronicles the life of a girl with special gifts living in an increasingly dangerous police state.

Sponsor

Wendy Red Star in conversation with Will Matsuda
Presented by Powell’s Books
7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 12
Powell’s City of Books
1005 W. Burnside St., Portland
Free

Apsáalooke/Crow artist and photographer Wendy Red Star, whose work “constantly questions the role of the photographer in shaping Indigenous representation,” (Powell’s) will appear at Powell’s Books to discuss her comprehensive monograph, Delegation. She will be joined by writer and photographer Will Matsuda.

Week 3: Sept. 15-21

Matthew Dickman and Richard Tillinghast
Presented by Broadway Books
6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13
Broadway Books
1714 N.E. Broadway, Portland
Free

Portland-based poet and Oregon Book Award winner Matthew Dickman will be joined by poet Richard Tillinghast of Hawaii and Tennessee to discuss Dickman’s newest collection, Husbandry. Written from the points of view of isolation, difficulty, and grief during the early days of the pandemic, Husbandry has been called “a love song from a father to his children” (Broadway Books).

Author event: Voices of Navajo Mothers and Daughters: Portraits of Beauty
Presented by Roundabout Books
6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 15
Roundabout Books
900 N.W. Mount Washington Drive. No. 110, Bend
Free, registration requested

Kathy Eckles Hooker, author of Time Among the Navajo: Traditional Lifeways on the Reservation, and photographer David Young-Wolf have joined forces for Voices of Navajo Mothers and Daughters: Portraits of Beauty. The book reveals a series of intimate generational histories of Navajo women.

Sponsor

Cannon Beach Reads September Book Club
Presented by Cannon Beach Library
7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21
Online, via ZOOM
Free

For those both on and away from the coast, Cannon Beach Library presents the pick for its virtual September book club: So Big by Edna Ferber. Inspired by Antje Paarlberg’s life in South Holland, Illinois, the novel won the 1925 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. This discussion will be led online by Lauren Wilson. Email Joe Bernt at berntj@ohio.edu to join.

Week 4: Sept. 22-30

Poetry reading: Donna Henderson and Charles Goodrich
Presented by Annie Bloom’s Books
7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22
Annie Bloom’s Books
7834 S.W. Capitol Hwy, Portland
Free

Oregon Book Award finalist Donna Henderson will read from her new poetry collection, Send Word, about the tensions among connection, individualism, containment, surrender, compliance, and transgression. She will be joined by Charles Goodrich, author of Watering the Rhubarb.

Three Women Warriors of the Word: Gerry Foote, Leanne Grabel, and Elaine Nussbaum
Presented by Rose City Book Pub
5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25
Rose City Book Pub
1329 N.E. Fremont St., Portland
Free

Join Portland writers Gerry Foote, Leanne Grabel, and Elaine Nussbaum for a lively night of readings. Grabel will read from her newest work, Brontosaurus Illustrated, based on her 2011 Brontosaurus: Memoir of a Sex Life, about surviving rape and kidnapping when she was 19.

Sponsor

Liz Prato in conversation with Aaron Gilbreath
Presented by Broadway Books
6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27
Broadway Books
1714 N.E. Broadway, Portland
Free

Liz Prato will discuss her new collection of essays, Kids in America: A Gen X Reckoning. The book, which considers the struggles of Gen X individuals, examines “a generation deeply affected by terrorism, racial inequality, rape culture, and mental illness, in an era when none of these issues were openly discussed” (Broadway Books). Prato will be joined by Oregon Book Award finalist Aaron Gilbreath.