Books & Talks http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/books-and-talks Let Us Now Praise Famous Dead Readers <div class="inline-image-left inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:35451,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;667&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;1000&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;300&quot;}" data-image-id="35451" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-left"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/2/image/35451/TEMP-Image_4_1.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F2%2Fimage%2F35451%2FTEMP-Image_4_1.jpg&amp;cropify=667x1000%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=300x%3E" alt="" /></a> <div class="inline-image-caption mceNonEditable" style="width: 300px;"> <div>Image: <a class="attribution-link" href="/producers/nomad">Nomad</a></div> </div> </div> </div> <p class="p1">A few years ago, <span style="font-size: 15px;">Abra Ancliffe became fascinated by 19th-century astronomer Maria Mitchell. So fascinated, she began buying copies of books Mitchell once owned.</span></p> <p class="p3">The result: the Personal Libraries Library, headquartered in Ancliffe&rsquo;s Northeast Portland home. Ancliffe, a printmaker, recreates the collections of Mitchell, sculptor Robert Smithson, poet Anne Spencer, novelist Italo Calvino, and short-story master (and, yes, librarian) Jorge Luis Borges.</p> <p class="p3">She lends books to members&mdash;more than 50, who pay about $20 a year&mdash;with two interns&rsquo; help.</p> <p class="p3">The PLL&rsquo;s weathered hardwood floor creaks as Ancliffe surveys her shelves. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll never be completely finished,&rdquo; she says. Besides tracking down relevant books, she handles bookbinding and preservation duties on the collection. Some volumes date back to the 18th century, since Ancliffe attempts to acquire the same editions her subjects owned. &ldquo;If I&rsquo;m really exploring the books of these people,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;then that materiality matters. It changes the reading of the book.&rdquo;</p> Mon, 03 Mar 2014 09:00:00 -0800 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/let-us-now-praise-famous-readers-march-2014 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/let-us-now-praise-famous-readers-march-2014 Binge on Books at These March Literary Events <div class="inline-image-left inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:35453,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;350&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;455&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;300&quot;}" data-image-id="35453" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-left"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/2/image/35453/LW.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F2%2Fimage%2F35453%2FLW.jpg&amp;cropify=350x455%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=300x%3E" alt="" /></a></div> </div> <p><strong><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/live-wire-february-2014">Live Wire!<br /></a></strong></strong><em>Live Wire</em>, Portland&rsquo;s own nationally syndicated radio variety show, celebrates 10 years on air this month with a stellar lineup and three live shows (<a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/articles/live-wires-radio-stars-january-2014">Read our feature</a>&nbsp;about how&nbsp;<em>Live Wire&nbsp;</em>is planning to take over the world):<br /><em style="font-size: 15px;"><a style="font-size: 15px;" href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/live-wire-february-2014" target="_blank">Mar 1, Alberta Rose Theater<br /></a></em><span style="font-size: 15px;">Come see award-winning Marvel comic book writer&nbsp;</span><strong style="font-size: 15px;">Matt Fraction,</strong><span style="font-size: 15px;">&nbsp;author-musicians&nbsp;</span><strong style="font-size: 15px;">Willy Vlautin and Wesly Stace</strong><span style="font-size: 15px;">, co-founder of Throwing Muses and the CASH Music project&nbsp;</span><strong style="font-size: 15px;">Kristin Hersh</strong><span style="font-size: 15px;">, director of the Carter family documentary,&nbsp;</span><em style="font-size: 15px;">The Winding Stream</em><span style="font-size: 15px;">,&nbsp;</span><strong style="font-size: 15px;">Beth Harrington,</strong> and musical guest<strong style="font-size: 15px;"> Albatross</strong><span style="font-size: 15px;">, a new Portland band featuring Ryan Sollee (of Builders and Butchers).<br /></span><em style="font-size: 15px;"><em><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/live-wire-march-2014">Mar 15, Alberta Rose Theater<br /></a></em></em><span style="font-size: 15px;">Comedic renaissance man&nbsp;</span><strong style="font-size: 15px;">Fred Armisen</strong><span style="font-size: 15px;">&nbsp;takes the stage along with award-winning author&nbsp;</span><strong style="font-size: 15px;">Sherman Alexie</strong><span style="font-size: 15px;">, socio-political comedian,</span><strong style="font-size: 15px;">W. Kamau Bell</strong><span style="font-size: 15px;">, and musical guests the gypsy folk band&nbsp;</span><strong style="font-size: 15px;">Run On Sentences.<br /></strong><em style="font-size: 15px;"><em><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/live-wire-march2-2014">Mar 29, Alberta Rose Theater<br /></a></em></em><span style="font-size: 15px;">Join former football player turned author of&nbsp;</span><em style="font-size: 15px;">Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies</em><span style="font-size: 15px;">, </span><strong style="font-size: 15px;">Chris Kluwe</strong><span style="font-size: 15px;">; actress, author, and fomer host of TBS show&nbsp;</span><em style="font-size: 15px;">Dinner and A Movie</em><span style="font-size: 15px;">, </span><strong style="font-size: 15px;">Annabelle Gurwich</strong><span style="font-size: 15px;">; and Seattle&ndash;based rock band </span><strong style="font-size: 15px;">Cumulus</strong><span style="font-size: 15px;">.</span></p> <div class="inline-image-left inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:35363,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;300&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;320&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;300&quot;}" data-image-id="35363" data-include-caption="false" data-layout="inline-image-left"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/2/image/35363/Rad_Dad_Feb_14.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F2%2Fimage%2F35363%2FRad_Dad_Feb_14.jpg&amp;cropify=300x320%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=300x%3E" alt="" /></a></div> </div> <p><strong style="font-size: 15px;"><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/hip-mama-and-rad-dad-re-launch-party-march-2014">Hip Mama and Rad Dad Re&ndash;launch Party<br /></a></strong><em style="font-size: 15px;">Mar 2, Reading Frenzy<br /></em><span style="font-size: 15px;">Join </span><strong style="font-size: 15px;">Tomas Moniz and Ariel Gore</strong><span style="font-size: 15px;"> in the re&ndash;launch of their alternative parenting publications. </span><em style="font-size: 15px;">Hip Mama</em><span style="font-size: 15px;"> is re&ndash;launching with a 20th anniversary issue championing single, urban, and feminist mothers with Gore back at the helm. Winner of Utne&rsquo;s Independent Media Award and edited by Moniz, </span><em style="font-size: 15px;">Rad Dad</em><span style="font-size: 15px;"> touches on issues of fatherhood often overlooked like equality in parenting, the challenges faced by gay and transgender fathers, and the emotions of sperm donation.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="inline-image-right inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:35415,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;248&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;400&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;200&quot;}" data-image-id="35415" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-right"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/2/image/35415/End_of_Eve_Feb_14.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F2%2Fimage%2F35415%2FEnd_of_Eve_Feb_14.jpg&amp;cropify=248x400%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=200x%3E" alt="" /></a></div> </div> <p><strong><em><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/ariel-gore-the-end-of-eve-february-2014"><br />End of Eve&nbsp;</a></em><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/ariel-gore-the-end-of-eve-february-2014">by Ariel Gore</a></strong><em><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/ariel-gore-the-end-of-eve-february-2014"><br /></a></em><em>Mar 3, Powell&rsquo;s City of Books&nbsp;<br /></em>Join Ariel Gore for the launch of her newest book,&nbsp;<em>End of Eve</em>. Having made a name for herself writing about motherhood (see&nbsp;<em>Hip Mama</em>), Gore explores the other side in her poignant memoir about relocating to Santa Fe to care for her difficult mother as she battles cancer.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/loggernaut-reading-series-stretch-february-2014">Loggernaut Reading Series: Stretch</a></strong><br /><em>Mar 5, Ristretto Roasters<br /></em><strong>Justin Hocking</strong> (author of <em>The Great Floodgates of the Wonderworld</em> and director of the Independent Publishing Resource Center), <strong>poet Julie Joosten</strong> (author of <em>Light Light</em>), and <strong>Kelly Luce</strong> (author of <em>Three Scenarios in Which Hana Sasaki Grows a Tail) </em>read in another installment of prose and poetry themed readings.</p> <div class="inline-image-left inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:35447,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;317&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;475&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;200&quot;}" data-image-id="35447" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-left"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/2/image/35447/THe_Enchanted_Feb_14.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F2%2Fimage%2F35447%2FTHe_Enchanted_Feb_14.jpg&amp;cropify=317x475%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=200x%3E" alt="" /></a></div> </div> <p><a title="Rene Denfeld Profile" href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/a-guide-to-portland-spring-arts-march-2014/5" target="_blank"><strong style="font-size: 15px;"><em>The Enchanted</em></strong></a><strong style="font-size: 15px;"><a title="Rene Denfeld Profile" href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/a-guide-to-portland-spring-arts-march-2014/5" target="_blank"> by Rene Denfeld</a><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/the-enchanted-by-rene-denfeld-march-2014"><br /></a></strong><em style="font-size: 15px;">Mar 5, Powell&rsquo;s City of Books&nbsp;<br /></em><span style="font-size: 15px;">Released after a six-publisher bidding war,&nbsp;Portland writer Rene Denfeld&rsquo;s debut novel, </span><em style="font-size: 15px;">The Enchanted,</em><span style="font-size: 15px;">&nbsp;delves into the life of a death-row prisoner who perceives magic all around him in his solitary cell. The author of three nonfictions books, Denfeld works by day as a dealth-penalty investigator, seeking to uncover the &ldquo;why&rdquo; of unspeakable crimes to save convicts from walking the final mile. </span><em style="font-size: 15px;">The Enchanted</em><span style="font-size: 15px;">&nbsp;channels this real-world setting into an unflinching, magical-realist tale&nbsp;of the beauty that still manages to persist even in the darkest places.&nbsp;<strong>Read our profile of Denfeld in our&nbsp;<a title="Rene Denfeld profile" href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/a-guide-to-portland-spring-arts-march-2014/5" target="_blank">Spring Arts Preview</a>.</strong></span></p> <p><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/entertainment-for-people-new-shit-show-february-2014"><strong>Entertainment for People: New Shit Show</strong><br /></a><em>Mar 10, Disjecta<br /></em>The raucous, indie variety show is back with a&nbsp;<em>New Shit Show</em>&nbsp;for 2014<em>&nbsp;</em>featuring never before seen work&nbsp;by a recurrent group of performers the second Monday of every month. The lineup? Some of Portland&rsquo;s most dashing performers: McSweeney&rsquo;s author and filmmaker <strong>Arthur Bradford</strong>, <strong>singer/songwriter Laura Gibso</strong>n, <strong>comedian Amy Miller, Moth StorySLAM host Andrew Dickman, poet Mindy Nettifee, writer Heather Larimer</strong>, and McSweeney&rsquo;s/Hobart contributor and creator of Entertainment for People,&nbsp;<strong>B. Frayn Masters</strong>.&nbsp;</p> <div class="inline-image-right inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:35419,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;429&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;648&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;200&quot;}" data-image-id="35419" data-include-caption="false" data-layout="inline-image-right"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/2/image/35419/Astoria_Peter_Stark_Feb_14.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F2%2Fimage%2F35419%2FAstoria_Peter_Stark_Feb_14.jpg&amp;cropify=429x648%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=200x%3E" alt="" /></a></div> </div> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/astoria-astor-and-jefferson-s-lost-pacific-empire-by-peter-stark-february-2014"><em>Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Jefferson&rsquo;s Lost Pacific Empire</em> by Peter Stark</a>&nbsp;<br /></strong><em>Mar 10, Powell&rsquo;s City of Books<br /></em>When millionaire John Astor sent out two expeditions to explore Astoria in 1810, he envisioned the birth of a global trade empire based at the mouth of the Columbia that would rival the East Coast. Thomas Jefferson shared in these dreams, imagining a separate democracy on this new West Coast frontier. But Peter Stark reveals what complicated these grandiose visions when the travelers themselves faced harrowing conditions and fought for survival in this true adventure tale.</p> <div class="inline-image-left inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:35366,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;635&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;935&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;200&quot;}" data-image-id="35366" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-left"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/2/image/35366/Sotomayor_Feb_14.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F2%2Fimage%2F35366%2FSotomayor_Feb_14.jpg&amp;cropify=635x935%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=200x%3E" alt="" /></a></div> </div> <p><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/everybody-reads-sonia-sotomayor-february-2014"><strong>Everybody Reads: Sonia Sotomayor</strong><br /></a><em>Mar 11; Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall<br /></em>Capping Multnomah County Library&rsquo;s Everybody Reads campaign, the Supreme Court justice reads from her inspiring memoir,&nbsp;<em>My Beloved World, </em>in an evening sponsored by the Multnomah County Library and Library Foundation and presented by Literary Arts.</p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/smallpressapalooza-february-2014">Smallpressapalooza</a></strong><br /><em>Mar 17, Powell&rsquo;s City of Books<br /></em>March is Small Press Month and Powell&rsquo;s own <strong>small press advocate</strong> <strong>Kevin Sampsell</strong> hosts the 7th annual marathon reading festival showcasing small press authors. Come prepared for a literary throw down with this year&rsquo;s lineup: <strong>Ross Robbins, Walidah Imarish, Dena Rash Guzman, Samue Snoek&ndash;Brown, Lisa Ciccarello, Kyle Minor, Matty Byloos, Jeff Alessandrelli, Emily Kendal Frey, Noah Cicero, Melody Owen, and Virginia Paine.&nbsp;</strong></p> <div class="inline-image-right inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:35367,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;220&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;317&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;200&quot;}" data-image-id="35367" data-include-caption="false" data-layout="inline-image-right"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/2/image/35367/Luis_Alberto_Feb_14.png"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F2%2Fimage%2F35367%2FLuis_Alberto_Feb_14.png&amp;cropify=220x317%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=200x%3E" alt="" /></a></div> </div> <p><em><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/27th-oregon-book-awards-ceremony-january-2014">27th Oregon Book Awards Ceremony</a></strong><br />Mar 17, The Gerding Theater at the Armory<br /></em>Hosted by <strong>Pulitzer Prize winning author Luis Urrea</strong> at the stately Gerding Theatre, the 27th Annual Oregon Book Awards honors the state's finest accomplishments by Oregon writers in the genre of poetry, fiction, graphic literature, literary non-fiction, and young reader's literature. With big names going head-to-head, including <strong>sci-fi doyenne Ursula K LeGuin and noir upstart Roger Hobbs</strong>, <strong>international cartoonist stars Craig Thompson and Joe Sacco</strong>, <strong>Portland poets Matthew Dickman and the recent National Book Award&ndash;winner Mary Szybis</strong>t, and more, the awards promise a night of suspense.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Read <a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/culturephile-portland-arts/articles/oregon-book-awards-finalists-announced-january-2014">our coverage of the finalist announcement</a> and for a full list of the nominees.</p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/unchaste-reading-series-february-2014">Unchaste Reading Series</a></strong><br /><em>Mar 18, The Blue Monk<br /></em>Listen to women writers read their minds and share their stories in an evening of honest, funny, and intimate readings in three acts. This installment showcases authors <strong>Cari Luna, Lydia Charlotte, Jenny Drai, Anne Gudger, Mindy Nettifee, Nena Rawdah, Elva Redwood, and Meg Worden</strong>.&nbsp;</p> <div class="inline-image-left inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:35368,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;260&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;399&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;200&quot;}" data-image-id="35368" data-include-caption="false" data-layout="inline-image-left"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/2/image/35368/graphic_the_valley_Feb_15.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F2%2Fimage%2F35368%2Fgraphic_the_valley_Feb_15.jpg&amp;cropify=260x399%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=200x%3E" alt="" /></a></div> </div> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/willy-vlautin-and-peter-brown-hoffmeister-february-2014">Willy Vlautin and Peter Brown Hoffmeister</a></strong><br /><em>Mar 18, Broadway Books<br /></em>Watch as Willy Vlautin and Peter Brown Hoffmeister join forces and read entertaining stories from their new all-American work. Vlautin, the lead singer in alt-country band Richmond Fontaine, releases his fourth book, <em>The Free</em>, in which a young runaway transforms the lives of three down-and-out souls, and Hoffmeister returns to fiction to release an original retelling of the Samson and Delilah story set in Yosemite with <em>Graphic the Valley</em>.</p> <div class="inline-image-right inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:35370,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;207&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;300&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;200&quot;}" data-image-id="35370" data-include-caption="false" data-layout="inline-image-right"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/2/image/35370/Grin_and_Bear_It_Feb_15.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F2%2Fimage%2F35370%2FGrin_and_Bear_It_Feb_15.jpg&amp;cropify=207x300%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=200x%3E" alt="" /></a></div> </div> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/grin-and-bear-it-a-bear-themed-variety-show-february-2014">Grin and Bear It: A Bear&ndash;Themed Variety Show</a></strong><br /><em>Mar 21, Independent Publishing Resource Center<br /></em>Celebrate the release of the audio zine <em>Xtra Tuff #6.75: Report from Uyak Bay </em>with its creators, <strong>Moe Bowstern and Erin Yanke with artwork by Alec Icky Dunn</strong>, and a trio of bear acts&mdash;in film, as improv, and in song&mdash;as well as dancing, singing, fitness tips, and trivia contest. The variety show is hosted by Moe Bowstern and features <strong>filmmaker Vanessa Renwick, improv comedian Brad Fortier, and musician El Demasiado and his One Man Band</strong>.&nbsp;</p> <div class="inline-image-left inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:35371,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;326&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;253&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;200&quot;}" data-image-id="35371" data-include-caption="false" data-layout="inline-image-left"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/2/image/35371/Floyd_Skloot_Feb_14.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F2%2Fimage%2F35371%2FFloyd_Skloot_Feb_14.jpg&amp;cropify=326x253%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=200x%3E" alt="" /></a></div> </div> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/floyd-skloot-february-2014">Floyd Skloot</a></strong><br /><em>Mar 25, Broadway Books<br /></em>Skloot reads from his newest works, <em>Revertigo</em>, a shifting, off&ndash;kilter memoir depicting his debilitating bouts of vertigo, and <em>Close Reading</em>, his 7th full&ndash;length collection of poetry that explores diverse expressions of love.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="mceNonEditable" data-snippet-id="17"> <div class="blog-boilerplate"> <div class="blog-boilerplate-subscribe portland"> <div class="createsend-button" style="height: 27px; display: inline-block;" data-listid="y/10/FB6/CFF/52DF3F66E116EFF2"></div> <script type="text/javascript">// <![CDATA[ (function () { var e = document.createElement('script'); e.type = 'text/javascript'; e.async = true; e.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https' : 'http') + '://btn.createsend1.com/js/sb.min.js?v=2'; e.className = 'createsend-script'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(e, s); })(); // ]]></script> </div> <div class="blog-boilerplate-desc">Every Thursday: The city's best arts and entertainment, can't-miss events, plus artist interviews and ticket giveaways. <a class="lightbox" href="/data/files/2013/11/attachment/213/on-the-town-example.jpg">(See an example!)</a></div> </div> </div> <p class="section_title">&nbsp;</p> Wed, 26 Feb 2014 09:50:00 -0800 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/binge-on-books-at-these-march-literary-events-february-2014 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/binge-on-books-at-these-march-literary-events-february-2014 Portland's Latest Prize-Winning Poet Remembers William Stafford <div class="inline-image-left inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:34510,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;570&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;829&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;171&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;260&quot;}" data-image-id="34510" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-left"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/1/image/34510/Stafford_Hi_Res.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F1%2Fimage%2F34510%2FStafford_Hi_Res.jpg&amp;cropify=570x829%2B0%2B171&amp;resize=260x%3E" alt="William Stafford" /></a> <div class="inline-image-caption mceNonEditable" style="width: 260px;"> <div>Image: <a class="attribution-link" href="/producers/courtesy-literary-arts">Courtesy Literary Arts</a></div> William Stafford</div> </div> </div> <p class="p1"><strong><em>For it is important that awake people be awake<br /></em></strong><strong style="font-size: 15px;"><em>or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;<br /></em></strong><strong style="font-size: 15px;"><em>the signals we give&mdash;yes or no, or maybe&mdash;<br /></em></strong><strong style="font-size: 15px;"><em>should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.&nbsp;</em></strong></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1">Portland poet Mary Szybist thinks often about these lines, from Po&rsquo;s poem &ldquo;A Ritual to Read to Each Other.&rdquo; &ldquo;I love his willingness to linger in ambiguity without rushing to resolve it,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;and to acknowledge that sometimes it cannot be resolved.&rdquo;</span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="s1">Twenty years after his death&mdash;and, this month, 100 years after his birth&mdash;Stafford remains Oregon&rsquo;s preeminent poet. Now, the 43-year-old Szybist finds herself carrying his torch: not only does she teach at Lewis &amp; Clark College, as Stafford did, but in November she became the first Oregon poet to win the National Book Award since Stafford received the honor 50 years ago. (He went on to become &ldquo;consultant in poetry&rdquo; at the Library of Congress&mdash;a position now called poet laureate.) For Szybist, a lingering influence of Stafford&rsquo;s work is its comfort in exploring the no-man&rsquo;s-land between question and answer.</span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="s1">&ldquo;I have felt myself to be both in Stafford&rsquo;s shadow and his light,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;And I have been grateful for both.&rdquo; </span></p> <p class="gray-box-shadow" style="text-align: center;"><span class="s1"><em>Literary Arts&rsquo; <a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/william-stafford-centennial-celebration-january-2014">William Stafford Centennial Celebration</a> (featuring Mary Szybist, among others) takes place Friday, February 7, at the Newmark Theatre.</em></span></p> Mon, 03 Feb 2014 09:00:00 -0800 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/portland-s-latest-prize-winning-poet-remembers-william-stafford-february-2014 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/portland-s-latest-prize-winning-poet-remembers-william-stafford-february-2014 February's Lit and Storytelling Events <p>February might only be 28 days long, but it&rsquo;s jam-packed with noteworthy literary events. Big names on tour as well as local Portland heavy hitters share new work this month, giving you plenty of opportunity to share&nbsp;the gift of the spoken word&nbsp;with the book lover in your life.</p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/backfencepdx-presents-ch-ch-changes-january-2014">BackfencePDX: &ldquo;Ch Ch Changes&rdquo;<br /></a></strong><em>Saturday, Feb 1; Mission Theater<br /></em><span style="font-size: 1em;"><span style="font-size: 1em;"><span style="font-size: 1em;">BackfencePDX's live, unscripted storytellers take on the pitfalls of Christian Clowning&mdash;humorous children's performers who promote biblical instruction and principles.&nbsp;<em style="font-size: 1em;">Ch Ch Changes</em>&nbsp;features author Mitchell S. Jackson, whose novel <em style="font-size: 1em;">The Residue Years</em>&nbsp;is about his upbringing in NE Portland (<a style="font-size: 1em;" href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/books-and-talks/articles/mitchell-s-jacksons-the-residue-years-august-2013" target="_blank">read our profile of Jackson</a>),&nbsp;</span></span><span class="s1" style="font-size: 1em;">Jezebel.com staff writer&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1em;">Lindy West,</span>&nbsp;<em style="font-size: 1em;">This American Life</em><span style="font-size: 1em;">&nbsp;contributor&nbsp;Gloria Harrison, and more</span><span style="font-size: 1em;">.</span></span></p> <div class="inline-image-left inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:34530,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;440&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;540&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;300&quot;}" data-image-id="34530" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-left"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/1/image/34530/colin_and_carson.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F1%2Fimage%2F34530%2Fcolin_and_carson.jpg&amp;cropify=440x540%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=300x%3E" alt="" /></a> <div class="inline-image-caption mceNonEditable" style="width: 300px;">Carson Ellis and Colin Meloy</div> </div> </div> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/colin-meloy-and-carson-ellis-january-2014">Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis<br /></a></strong><em>Sunday, Feb 2; Powell&rsquo;s Books at Cedar Hills<br /></em><span style="font-size: 1em;">"When illustrator Carson Ellis and musician-writer Colin Meloy began work on their fantastical young-adult trilogy,&nbsp;</span><em style="font-size: 1em;">Wildwood Chronicles</em><span style="font-size: 1em;">, the husband-and-wife duo traced Forest Park&rsquo;s boundaries onto a large piece of paper and began to transform its sites into their own magical world. The Pittock Mansion became the dysfunctional government seat of South Wood. The Audubon Society became the Avian Principality. The zoo became a prison. And when the third and final novel,&nbsp;</span><em style="font-size: 1em;">Wildwood Imperium,&nbsp;</em><span style="font-size: 1em;">comes out on February 1, the creepy stone skeleton of a building along the Lower Macleay Trail will become the site of a Bloody Mary&ndash;style preteen ritual&hellip;."</span>&nbsp;<strong style="font-size: 1em;"><a style="font-size: 1em;" href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/books-and-talks/articles/into-the-woods-with-carson-ellis-february-2014">Read our story</a><span style="font-size: 1em;"> about Carson Ellis and watch a slide show of how the two transformed the city into a magical world.</span></strong><strong style="font-size: 1em;"></strong></p> <p><strong>The Moth StorySLAM: Love Hurts<br /></strong><em>Monday, Feb 3; The Secret Society<br /></em>The little sister of the acclaimed national-storytelling non-profit the Moth, local StorySLAMs give storytellers in a few US cities like Portland the opportunity to compete for a spot at the GrandSLAM. Show up to this open mic competition and share your true, unscripted story adhering to the theme Love Hurts in front of a live audience and judges (or just watch).</p> <div class="inline-image-right inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:34532,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;440&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;540&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;300&quot;}" data-image-id="34532" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-right"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/1/image/34532/Jan14_Isabel_Allende.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F1%2Fimage%2F34532%2FJan14_Isabel_Allende.jpg&amp;cropify=440x540%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=300x%3E" alt="" /></a> <div class="inline-image-caption mceNonEditable" style="width: 300px;">Isabelle Allende</div> </div> </div> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/isabel-allende-january-2014">Isabel Allende<br /></a></strong><em>Tuesday, Feb 4; Newmark Theatre<br /></em>The human rights activist and best-selling Chilean author of <em>The House of the Spirits</em> reinvents herself yet again with a debut crime thriller, <em>Ripper</em>.</p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/william-vollmann-kicks-off-oregon-humanitys-think-and-drink-series-january-2014">Oregon Humanities Think &amp; Drink: William Vollmann </a>&nbsp;<br /></strong><em>Wednesday, Feb 5; Mission Theater<br /></em>Oregon Humanities' 2014 Think &amp; Drink series is themed Private, exploring themes around government and corporate collection of personal information and examining what we consider private in today's technological proliferation. Author, reporter, and essayist William T. Vollmann kicks off&nbsp;the year with a discussion of his decades spent under surveillance by the FBI.<strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/a-trifecta-of-literary-wickedly-funness-february-2014">A Trifecta of Literary Wickedly Funness</a><br /></strong><em>Wednesday, Feb 5; Broadway Books<br /></em>Words leap off the page and find new life in creative literary forms at this inventive reading. Monica Drake showcases the short film &ldquo;Georgie&rsquo;s Big Break,&rdquo; based on a section of her most recent book, <em>The Stud Book</em>; Shannon Wheeler and Mark Russell present a compelling power point presentation of the <em>Bible</em>, based on their book <em>God Is Disappointed in You</em>; and Art Edwards performs a single from his latest rock novel, <em>Badge</em>.</p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/william-stafford-centennial-celebration-january-2014">William Stafford Centennial Celebration<br /></a></strong><em>Friday, Feb 7; Newmark Theatre<br /></em>The yearlong celebration of Oregon&rsquo;s heralded poet has an early finale in this night of readings with some of the city&rsquo;s most important living poets, including Paulann Peterson, Kim Stafford, and the only&nbsp;other Oregon poet to win the National Book Award, Mary Szybist. (Read our story about how Stafford influenced her)<em>.&nbsp;</em>&nbsp;</p> <div class="inline-image-left inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:34533,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;739&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;960&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;300&quot;}" data-image-id="34533" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-left"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/1/image/34533/Jan14_AmaZINE_Night_at_IPRC.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F1%2Fimage%2F34533%2FJan14_AmaZINE_Night_at_IPRC.jpg&amp;cropify=739x960%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=300x%3E" alt="" /></a> <div class="inline-image-caption mceNonEditable" style="width: 300px;">Courtesy IPRC</div> </div> </div> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/amazine-night-zines-after-dark-february-2014">AmaZine Night: Zines After Dark</a><br /></strong><em>Saturday, Feb 8; Independent Publishing Resource Center<br /></em>Get in the mood for Valentines Day at this action packed zine festival. Listen to the intimate readings and performances by zinesters Alex Wrekk, Joshua James Amberson, Kaitlin Young, Davis Woods-Morse, Marla Singer, and Kenia Perez-Correa; groove to dance worthy R&amp;B boy band IBQT; and peruse the sex positive demonstrations, raffles, and craft tables.</p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/mortified-s-valentine-show-january-2014">Mortified&rsquo;s Valentines Show<br /></a></strong><em>February 13&ndash;15; Mission Theater<br /></em>What&rsquo;s more romantic than reading your childhood love letters and brokenhearted diary entries to a live audience? Just about everything, but there&rsquo;s little that is funnier. Laughing at others&rsquo; love-fails is also the perfect antidote for the unwillingly dateless on this Hallmark holiday.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/lit-arts-chris-ware-and-chip-kidd-january-2014">Lit Arts: Chris Ware &amp; Chip Kidd<br /></a></strong><em>Tuesday, Feb 18; Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall<br /></em>By incorporating elements of typography and graphic design, Chris Ware single-handedly reinvented comics. His work regularly graces the <em>New Yorker </em>and the <em>New York Times Magazine</em>, and he comes to us in conversation with another giant, book designer Chip Kidd.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <div class="inline-image-right inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:34537,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;1252&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;1252&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;300&quot;}" data-image-id="34537" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-right"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/1/image/34537/Jan14_BJ_Novak.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F1%2Fimage%2F34537%2FJan14_BJ_Novak.jpg&amp;cropify=1252x1252%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=300x%3E" alt="" /></a> <div class="inline-image-caption mceNonEditable" style="width: 300px;">Courtesy BJ Novak</div> </div> </div> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/b-j-novak-january-2014">B.J. Novak<br /></a></strong><em>Wednesday, Feb 19; Powell&rsquo;s Books at Cedar Hills<br /></em>The playfully imaginative screenwriter, actor, and comedian adds short-story writer to his r&eacute;sum&eacute; with the collection <em>One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories.</em></p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/elizabeth-kolbert-january-2014">Elizabeth Kolbert<br /></a></strong><em>Thursday, Feb 20; Powell&rsquo;s City of Books<br /></em>In <em>The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History</em>, this environmental journalist and two-time winner of the National Magazine Award draws from a wealth of scientific research in a startling examination of earth&rsquo;s next extinction&mdash;one of our own devising.<strong>&nbsp;</strong><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <br /></strong></p> <p><strong><br /></strong></p> <p><strong><br /></strong></p> <p><strong><br /></strong></p> <div class="inline-image-left inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:34538,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;500&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;327&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;300&quot;}" data-image-id="34538" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-left"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/1/image/34538/Spahr_Buuck.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F1%2Fimage%2F34538%2FSpahr_Buuck.jpg&amp;cropify=500x327%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=300x%3E" alt="" /></a> <div class="inline-image-caption mceNonEditable" style="width: 300px;">Courtesy Juliana Spahr and David Buuck</div> </div> </div> <p><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/the-switch-david-buuck-and-juliana-spahr-february-2014"><strong>The Switch: David Buuck and Juliana Spahr</strong></a><em><br />Thursday, Feb 20; Independent Publishing Resource Center<br /></em>Listen to California poets David Buuck and Juliana Spahr read from their new collaborative novel, <em>Army of Lovers,</em> an experimental book that delves into the power of poetry to enact social change in this monthly reading series.<strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/justin-hocking-january-2014">Justin Hocking<br /></a></strong><em>Wednesday, Feb 26; Powell&rsquo;s City of Books<br /></em>Local indie publishing darling (he heads the Independent Publishing Resource Center) releases his anticipated debut, <em>The Great Floodgates of the Wonderworld: A Memoir. </em>The tale follows his struggled transition from Colorado to New York City, and the eventual solace he found surfing on Rockaway Beach (and in Melville).</p> <div class="mceNonEditable" data-snippet-id="17"> <div class="blog-boilerplate"> <div class="blog-boilerplate-subscribe portland"> <div class="createsend-button" style="height: 27px; display: inline-block;" data-listid="y/10/FB6/CFF/52DF3F66E116EFF2"></div> <script type="text/javascript">// <![CDATA[ (function () { var e = document.createElement('script'); e.type = 'text/javascript'; e.async = true; e.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https' : 'http') + '://btn.createsend1.com/js/sb.min.js?v=2'; e.className = 'createsend-script'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(e, s); })(); // ]]></script> </div> <div class="blog-boilerplate-desc">Every Thursday: The city's best arts and entertainment, can't-miss events, plus artist interviews and ticket giveaways. <a class="lightbox" href="/data/files/2013/11/attachment/213/on-the-town-example.jpg">(See an example!)</a></div> </div> </div> Wed, 29 Jan 2014 16:13:00 -0800 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/fourteen-book-and-storytelling-events-not-to-miss-this-february-january-2014 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/fourteen-book-and-storytelling-events-not-to-miss-this-february-january-2014 The Scoop on Powell's Books' Downtown Remodel <div class="inline-image-block inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:34190,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;800&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;683&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;640&quot;}" data-image-id="34190" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-block"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/1/image/34190/0214-powells-books-illo.gif"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F1%2Fimage%2F34190%2F0214-powells-books-illo.gif&amp;cropify=800x683%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=640x%3E" alt="" /></a> <div class="inline-image-caption mceNonEditable" style="width: 640px;"> <div>Image: <a class="attribution-link" href="/producers/nick-stokes">Nick Stokes</a></div> </div> </div> </div> <p class="p1"><span class="boldcaps">W</span><span class="s3" style="font-size: 15px;"><strong class="boldcaps">ouldn&rsquo;t you know it:</strong> you arrive at an internationally renowned </span><span style="font-size: 15px;">tourist destination, only to find it covered with scaffolding.&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="p3">Starting in late January, visitors to Powell&rsquo;s City of Books&mdash;America&rsquo;s largest independent bookstore and world-famous beacon to the literate&mdash;will have a version of this archetypal experience, as the bookseller begins renovating its flagship store. The landmark West Burnside entrance will close until August. Inventory ordinarily housed in the Green and Blue Rooms of the 70,000-square-foot, color-coded literary labyrinth will move elsewhere in the store, or into warehouses.</p> <p class="p3">While the immediate cause is a seismic upgrade, the renovation by architect Ernie Munch will reach far beyond safety. An exterior face-lift will aim to match a neighborhood where Anthropologie and Whole Foods share streets with scruffy bars and social services. (Stucco in &ldquo;Bohemian Black,&rdquo; for example, will replace the long-standing cream and car-exhaust color scheme.) On a typically busy day, the City of Books sees more than 7,000 visitors, a number that swells beyond 12,000 during peak retail seasons. Widening the passage between Green and Blue, for example, will improve sightlines and foot-traffic flow for such masses.&nbsp;</p> <p class="p3">These moves also reflect a deeper effort to <span class="s3">pre</span><span class="s4">pare Powell&rsquo;s for the future. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re thinking 20 years out,&rdquo; says Emily Pow</span>ell, the company&rsquo;s 35-year-old owner. &ldquo;Of course, there will always be&nbsp;<span class="s3">changes, but this project sets us up for the next generation.&rdquo;&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="p3">The next generation? In books? Borders is dead. Barnes &amp; Noble is struggling. Independent booksellers like Powell&rsquo;s are under siege from Amazon, Apple, and big-box stores. New-media pundits have predicted the demise of Powell&rsquo;s printed core product for decades now. (Somehow, strangely, books continue to appear.) The boldest aspect of the Powell&rsquo;s project may be the implied faith that there <em>is</em>, in fact, a future&mdash;one in which Powell&rsquo;s writes its own script.</p> <p class="p3">&ldquo;The broader industry is on everyone&rsquo;s mind, of course,&rdquo; Powell says. &ldquo;But every time we focus on &lsquo;the changes in the book business,&rsquo; we lose sight of who we are. The larger industry pushes us to act, but we need to act in a way that&rsquo;s true to ourselves.&rdquo;</p> <p class="p2"><strong><span class="boldcaps">On a winter afternoon</span>,</strong> Powell leads the way to the back of the Purple Room, a light-flooded nook full of history books. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s one of my favorite spots in the store,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;and people don&rsquo;t shop social sciences the same way they used to, so we shouldn&rsquo;t have many interruptions.&rdquo; She explains that high-concept pop-history&mdash;a commercial approach pioneered by the likes of <em>Salt</em> and <em>Guns, Germs, and Steel</em>&mdash;now often lures readers away from the more traditional, academic titles in this sleepy corner.</p> <p class="p3">Along with the physical remodel, the Purple Room&rsquo;s inventory will be reorganized and reedited&mdash;part of an ongoing effort to serve evolving tastes. &ldquo;That means looking at our data and our history,&rdquo; Powell says, &ldquo;and figuring out ways to accentuate and deepen what we already do.&rdquo;</p> <p class="p3">If anyone is attuned to the dynamic tension between change and stability, it&rsquo;s Emily Powell. She basically grew up in the City of Books. She says the store&rsquo;s inimitable aroma&mdash;a pleasantly musty compound of paper and dust&mdash;reminds her of her grandfather Walter, who founded the company in 1971. Emily apprenticed at the store&rsquo;s used-books buying counter and answering customer e-mails, then took the reins from her father, Michael, in 2010.</p> <p class="p3">She now leads a business that&rsquo;s both an international icon&mdash;during a recent vacation in South Africa, she says, strangers repeatedly noted her husband&rsquo;s Powell&rsquo;s hat or T-shirt&mdash;and an essential local symbol. &ldquo;If you were going to pick one business in Portland <em>not</em> to fail, you&rsquo;d pick Powell&rsquo;s,&rdquo; says Greg Goodman, the developer who oversees downtown&rsquo;s largest property holdings. &ldquo;People elsewhere know three things about this city: the food scene, the Trail Blazers, and Powell&rsquo;s Books.&rdquo;</p> <p class="p3">A bookstore may seem a very tenuous civic anchor circa 2014, and Powell&rsquo;s has not been immune from industry tempests. Powell says sales have fluctuated unpredictably since the Great Recession hit, with steady growth elusive. In 2011, as e-book sales soared, the company engaged in painfully public layoffs. But Powell&rsquo;s turns out to be a leader of a strangely resilient breed.&nbsp;</p> <p class="p3">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a popular narrative that indie bookstores are hanging on by a thread,&rdquo; says Oren Teicher, the CEO of the American Booksellers Association (ABA). &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not true.&rdquo; After falling to 1,600 stores in 2008, the ABA&rsquo;s membership rebounded to surpass 2,000 stores last year, as a new generation of independents pop up around the country. Nationally, sales at indie stores have risen, too. (Meanwhile, e-book sales appear to have leveled off.) &ldquo;The growing consciousness around shopping locally has made a huge difference, and Powell&rsquo;s took the lead in developing localism as a core of its identity,&rdquo; Teicher says. &ldquo;They also pioneered invisible things like point-of-sale and inventory technology.&rdquo; (The company collaborated with an Indian firm to create proprietary retail software a few years ago; the same partner is now working to reengineer powells.com.)</p> <p class="p3">In the midst of change, Powell&rsquo;s remains Powell&rsquo;s: During an hour-long stand-up chat (as any regular knows, chairs are scarce), a few intrepid browsers find their way to that remote Purple Room corner. They ignore Emily Powell to peer at shelves of arcane history tomes. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a heavy responsibility,&rdquo; Powell says. &ldquo;Ultimately, this is a business that belongs to the community.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p> <p class="p3">This unusual quasipublic status carries certain challenges. As Powell talks about tweaking the look of the Burnside entrance during the remodel, for example, her visitor expresses some affection for its dingy current state, something like a loading dock crossed with a New York subway platform. &ldquo;I know!&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;This is what keeps me up at night. We&rsquo;re a strange and unique beast, and we don&rsquo;t want to lose that. If it were just me and my ego, we could do something really pretty and fancy and expensive. But that would not be true to Powell&rsquo;s. So how do we make it better without losing that quality?</p> <p class="p3">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve always been inventory-driven,&rdquo; she adds. &ldquo;Do we have the books? We do that pretty well. We need to concentrate on becoming the best version of the Powell&rsquo;s experience we can be.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p> Tue, 21 Jan 2014 12:30:00 -0800 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/the-scoop-on-powells-books-downtown-remodel-february-2014 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/the-scoop-on-powells-books-downtown-remodel-february-2014 Into the Woods with Carson Ellis <div class="inline-image-block inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:34178,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;641&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;897&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;90&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;85&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;375&quot;}" data-image-id="34178" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-block"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/1/image/34178/0214-wildwood.gif"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F1%2Fimage%2F34178%2F0214-wildwood.gif&amp;cropify=641x897%2B85%2B90&amp;resize=375x%3E" alt="" /></a> <div class="inline-image-caption mceNonEditable" style="width: 375px;"> <div>Image: <a class="attribution-link" href="/producers/courtesy-unadoptable-books-llc-2014">Courtesy Unadoptable Books LLC &copy;2014</a></div> </div> </div> </div> <p class="p1"><span class="boldcaps">W</span><span class="boldcaps" style="font-size: 15px;"><strong>hen illustrator Carson Ellis</strong></span><span style="font-size: 15px;"> and musician-writer Colin Meloy began work on their fantastical young-adult trilogy, </span><em style="font-size: 15px;">Wildwood Chronicles</em><span style="font-size: 15px;">, the husband-and-wife duo traced Forest Park&rsquo;s boundaries onto a large piece of paper and began to transform its sites into their own magical world. The Pittock Mansion became the dysfunctional </span><span class="s4" style="font-size: 15px;">government seat of South Wood. The Audubon Society became the </span><span style="font-size: 15px;">Avian Principality. The zoo became a prison. And when the third and final novel, </span><em style="font-size: 15px;">Wildwood Imperium, </em><span style="font-size: 15px;">comes out on February 1, the creepy stone skeleton of a building along the Lower Macleay Trail will become the site of a Bloody Mary&ndash;style preteen ritual.</span></p> <p class="p3">&ldquo;Some people call this the Witch&rsquo;s House,&rdquo; Ellis says as we pause while walking one of her longtime favorite trail loops, Lower Macleay to Wildwood to Birch, to stare up at the fern- and graffiti-covered stone. &ldquo;Which is really funny&mdash;it&rsquo;s actually a WPA-era public restroom.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p> <p class="p3">Ellis is a veritable encyclopedia of Forest Park history. Indeed, having spent her childhood exploring forests in Westchester County, New York, she moved to Portland in 2000 in large part because of the 5,100-acre expanse. In 2010, she and Meloy bought a house above the St. Johns Bridge, on the edge of the park. After years of collaborating on art for his band, the Decemberists, the pair began to imagine the mossy landscape repopulated with kingdoms of talking animals, malevolent nobility, <span class="s4">and romantic bandits. The first two </span><em>Wildwood</em> novels, with Meloy writing and Ellis providing imaginative illustrations and maps, hit the <em>New York </em><span class="s4"><em>Times </em>best-seller list, placing Port</span>land&rsquo;s crown-jewel park in the atlas of fantasy realms that runs from Narnia to Westeros.&nbsp;</p> <p class="p3">It seems somehow poetic then, as the series comes to at least a temporary close with <em>Imperium</em>, that the two recently moved to a farmstead south of Portland to be closer to a school for their seven-year-old autistic son.&nbsp;</p> <p class="text-box-right"><strong style="font-size: 15px;">Ellis and Meloy will read from <em>Wildwood Imperium</em> at Powell&rsquo;s at Cedar Hills Crossing on February 1&nbsp;</strong><strong style="font-size: 15px;">at 2 pm. <a title="Wildwood reading info" href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/colin-meloy-and-carson-ellis-january-2014" target="_blank">Event details</a></strong></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s5">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been back a couple times out of necessity to get stuff, but it breaks my heart,&rdquo; says Ellis, wearing an oversize jacket and gloves, her red hair and fire-engine-red lipstick vivid among the panoply of greens. This is her first stroll through the park since moving from forest to farm&mdash;and a much-needed break in a schedule of taking care of a new baby (the couple&rsquo;s second son was </span><span class="s4">born last March), illustrating three </span><span class="s5">children&rsquo;s books (including the first </span><span class="s3">two that she&rsquo;s written herself), and </span><span class="s5">planning her next collaboration with Meloy, which she can&rsquo;t yet discuss.&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s3">&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t ready to move,&rdquo; she says. Nor are readers ready to leave the fabulous Portland landscape she and Meloy created. As we pass a random tree decked with ornaments, I tell her I can no longer run the Wildwood without thoughts of coyote armies in Napoleonic garb and evil ivy spirits.</span></p> <p class="p3">&nbsp;&ldquo;The possibility of talking animals and magical trees was the thing that <span class="s4">made me like Forest Park to begin </span>with,&rdquo; she laughs. The books just allowed her to share that world with the rest of us.<br />&nbsp;</p> <p class="gray-box-shadow" style="text-align: center;"><span class="s1"><strong>Watch a slide show of Ellis&rsquo;s fairytale locations <br />alongside their real-world inspirations below.&nbsp;</strong></span></p> <div class="inline-slideshow-block inline-slideshow mceNonEditable" data-include-caption="true" data-slideshow-id="1252"> <div align="center"> <div class="slideshow-image-div"><a class="slideshow-image-link" href="/slideshows/slide-show-the-real-inspirations-for-wildwood-illustrations-january-2014"> <span class="slideshow-image-wrapper" style="width: 640px;"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F1%2Fimage%2F33890%2FCredit_PhotoAtelier_pittock.jpg&amp;resize=640x" alt="" /> </span> </a></div> </div> </div> Tue, 21 Jan 2014 12:00:00 -0800 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/into-the-woods-with-carson-ellis-february-2014 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/into-the-woods-with-carson-ellis-february-2014 Q&A: Author Gary Shteyngart <div class="inline-image-left inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:34037,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;591&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;470&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;59&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;390&quot;}" data-image-id="34037" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-left"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/1/image/34037/gary-shteyngart.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F1%2Fimage%2F34037%2Fgary-shteyngart.jpg&amp;cropify=591x470%2B59%2B0&amp;resize=390x%3E" alt="" /></a></div> </div> <p dir="ltr"><span>Gary Shteyngart has clearly taken the adage that &ldquo;you write what you know&rdquo; to heart. Born in Leningrad in 1972 to Jewish parents, the author came to the United States as a young boy, and each of his three novels have in some way been about the Russian Jewish emigre experience. He&rsquo;s used his personal experiences to complement a keen eye for satire, and his novels offer increasingly poignant, touching, and sharply witty takes on the joy, terror, and absurdity of modern life in the maws of <span id="docs-internal-guid-25305dcc-9867-3377-9490-16c6c5496310"><span>bureaucracy</span></span>&nbsp;and technology.</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span>Having clearly found a winning formula&mdash;his most recent novel, 2010&rsquo;s </span><em>Super Sad True Love Story</em><span>, was a critical sensation and a <em>New York Times&ndash;</em>bestseller&mdash;Shteyngart has gone all-in: he&rsquo;s written a memoir, </span><em>Little Failure</em><span>. The title alone, a nickname his parents gave him, should be enough of a signal to his fans that the Manhattanite has put his trademark mix of tragedy and humor to work in service of his own story. Shteyngart chronicles everything from his childhood days as a small, asthmatic devotee of the Soviet Union to his poncho-wearing and bong-ripping days at Oberlin to his post-graduate life as a self-obsessed and dirt-poor aspiring novelist in New York, via adolescent romantic failure, the unyielding disappointment of immigrant parents, and a cruel circumcision at a tender eight-years-old.</span></p> <p dir="ltr">We asked the author about the process of piecing his life together for this book, being called "Little Failure" by his parents, and being married to James Franco in his book trailer (which you must watch below).</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Did you have any trouble convincing your publisher that a memoir was the right step after only three novels, especially given how young you are?<br /></strong>Forty-one is 73 in Russian years. I'm barely alive. When my publisher heard that I was writing a memoir instead of another satire about an overweight oligarch, I think they said "Yahoo! Ka-ching! [sound of two-shooters going off]."</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Unless, unlike me, you have an incredibly clear and detailed memory of your childhood, you must have pieced some of the early events in the book together from interviews and conversations with other people involved. What was that like?<br /></strong>Here's the weird part: I remember parts of my childhood in the Soviet Union like they happened yesterday. It's some of America that I had trouble with, and for that I sat down with my best friend from Hebrew school, some of my stoner crew from Stuyvesant, and re-read the beautiful letters my college girlfriend JZ had sent me. It all came together after that.</p> <p dir="ltr">Plus, I interviewed my parents who were gracious enough to spend hours with me and accompanied me back to Russia for a very sad but enlightening trip.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>One of your trademarks is your fondness for couching truly tragic events in the tone of absurdism and satire. What attracts you to humor as a coping mechanism?<br /></strong>I'm a Soviet Jew, whaddaya want? Humorless drama? Plus, I wanted to knock Stalin down a few pegs, and there's nothing better than humor for tweaking that ridiculous mustache of his.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>A persistent theme of the book is your parents&rsquo; constant and unyielding disappointment in you. Any chance this memoir will change that much?<br /></strong>I think they're proud of me for being able to pay the mortgage from my writing, and hopefully the mortgage payments will continue with this book. This is what immigrant parents really want from you. Housing.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>I heard an interview with you on NPR where you said something along the lines of, &ldquo;Given the circumstances in which my parents grew up, what chance did they have? I can&rsquo;t believe they did as well as they did.&rdquo; Do you think that&rsquo;s a lesson that is not only applicable to children of parents who survived the destruction of Hitler and Stalin and its aftermath in the Soviet Union?<br /></strong>Well, I think some parents didn't do as well as they could have, and I know many barely functioning adults whose parents showered them with abuse, but withheld the love. Me, I always got the love too. I knew I was loved, even as I was being called Little Failure.<strong><br /></strong></p> <p dir="ltr"><strong><strong class="text-box-right"><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/gary-shteyngart-december-2013">Gary Shteyngart</a><br />Powell's<br />Jan 18<br /></strong>In some ways, one of the biggest parts of becoming an adult is the process of coming to more fully understand one&rsquo;s parents. Is the process finished now?<br /></strong>The process is never finished, because we're all still alive and turning into different creatures, as all people do. But I do understand what they went through. When I was younger, I had a lot of anger toward them. That anger is gone.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Getting circumcised at the age of eight&mdash;is that the most painful thing that&rsquo;s ever happened to you?<br /></strong>No, because I re-circumsize myself every eight years in my back shed. I figure I owe Judaism as much.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Your last three novels before this memoir have all in some way or another been about the immigrant experience of Russian Jews. With <em>Little Failure</em>, do you think you&rsquo;ve finally gotten that out of your system? Will you move on to other subject matter?<br /></strong>Yes! Now I am free! Free to write about non-Russian, non-male, non-immigrant characters. Imagine a book set entirely in the Pearl District of Portland? Wow.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Who was more fun to film your book trailer with, James Franco or Jonathan Franzen?<br /></strong>Making out with Franco is sort of the reason I got into writing books to begin with. But Franzen's analysis was pretty hot too.</p> <iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/sowt9Wq7zYU" frameborder="0" width="560" height="315"></iframe> <div class="mceNonEditable" data-snippet-id="17"> <div class="blog-boilerplate"> <div class="blog-boilerplate-subscribe portland"> <div class="createsend-button" style="height: 27px; display: inline-block;" data-listid="y/10/FB6/CFF/52DF3F66E116EFF2"></div> <script type="text/javascript">// <![CDATA[ (function () { var e = document.createElement('script'); e.type = 'text/javascript'; e.async = true; e.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https' : 'http') + '://btn.createsend1.com/js/sb.min.js?v=2'; e.className = 'createsend-script'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(e, s); })(); // ]]></script> </div> <div class="blog-boilerplate-desc">Every Thursday: The city's best arts and entertainment, can't-miss events, plus artist interviews and ticket giveaways. <a class="lightbox" href="/data/files/2013/11/attachment/213/on-the-town-example.jpg">(See an example!)</a><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">&nbsp;</span></div> </div> </div> Thu, 16 Jan 2014 12:01:00 -0800 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/q-and-a-gary-shteyngart-january-2014 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/q-and-a-gary-shteyngart-january-2014 Q&A: Bestselling Author Gretchen Rubin <div class="inline-image-left inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:34063,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;449&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;325&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;43&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;400&quot;}" data-image-id="34063" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-left"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/1/image/34063/Gretchen-Rubin.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F1%2Fimage%2F34063%2FGretchen-Rubin.jpg&amp;cropify=449x325%2B43%2B0&amp;resize=400x%3E" alt="" /></a></div> </div> <p>Gretchen Rubin wants you to be happiest you&rsquo;ve ever been, but she doesn&rsquo;t suggest any dramatic, sell-everything-and-move-to Bali stunts. Instead, Rubin urges her readers to examine a laundry list of small changes to make in everyday life that could make a big difference. Between the NYT bestselling <em>The Happiness Project</em>, her popular <a href="http://gretchenrubin.com/">blog</a>, and the compulsively readable paperback <em>Happier at Home</em>, Rubin tries these well-researched ideas and strategies out, chronicling her experiences attempting these month-&shy;long experiments. Crack open one of Gretchen Rubin&rsquo;s recent books and, undoubtedly, you will find yourself looking at the world in an entirely new light.</p> <p>Gretchen took a break from her book tour to speak with us on the phone about how she made the switch from clerking for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O&rsquo;Connor to writing, her creative process, her forthcoming book about habits, and how she knows her happiness projects are working.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><em>On the Town:</em></strong><strong> How did you make the leap from clerking for Sandra Day O&rsquo; Connor to writing? What sparked your passion for writing about happiness? </strong></p> <p>I am a person chronically prone to epiphanies. I was going on a walk one fall October afternoon and asked myself, &ldquo;If I could write a book that everyone would want to read, what would it be about?&rdquo; and I came up with the subject of my first book&shy;, <em>Power Money Fame Sex: A User&rsquo;s Guide.</em></p> <p>I was already researching for fun, and I had a specific project to write about, but it took a while to transition from working on the weekends to writing full time. I just knew I&rsquo;d rather fail as a writer than succeed as a lawyer. My husband and I were moving from Washington D.C. to New York, and I knew if I took a job [in New York], I wouldn&rsquo;t have the gumption to try writing.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>How do you start your research? When beginning a new book, what comes first: the research and the science, or the personal experience?<br /></strong>I have an unusual process. I am intensely interested in taking notes, and I become obsessed with a particular subject. As I am reading a ton and taking a ton of notes, I begin to see new material I hadn&rsquo;t seen before, even in the novels I read. From all my notes I form a structure. I lump like subjects together. Once I have all of these subjects, I write the story and overlay notes about my experience over that.&nbsp; My writing evolves and evolves. I never have that blank page moment.</p> <p><strong>How do you know these happiness projects are working? What&rsquo;s the most unlikely happiness project a reader has shared with you?<br /></strong>My site helps with this. When I was writing books before my blog, you never knew what people thought. Now it is so much easier to know, there is so much interconnection. Thousands of people have written to me or posted on my blog. I have heard countless stories of people switching careers.</p> <p class="text-box-right"><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/gretchen-rubin-at-powells-books-january-2014">Gretchen Rubin</a>&nbsp;</strong><br /><strong>Powell's City of Books</strong><br /><strong> January 21</strong></p> <p>In <em>Happier at Home</em>, I got so much feedback affirming my own experience about the moderation/abstainer distinction. For some people it is easier to abstain than it is to moderate, and both types try to convince people the other type is wrong. Writing about these things deepens my understanding of the human experience. I also found this to be true with two groups of people: finishers and openers&shy;. My sister has about ten different products open in her bathroom because she&rsquo;s an opener, while I would never do that because I am a finisher. There&rsquo;s not one right way, just distinctions. It&rsquo;s not a huge insight, but once you know it, it&rsquo;s clear and helps you understand things. I look for those things that are hard to put into words but help you understand the world.</p> <p><strong>What&rsquo;s been the most difficult habit you&rsquo;ve developed or broken?<br /></strong>I found that I&rsquo;m pretty typical when it comes to happiness, but I&rsquo;m freaky when it comes to habits. I&rsquo;m very extreme. I belong to a very small number of people that find it easy to make and break habits. The splashiest habit I&rsquo;ve developed is that I became a low carb person. I read <em>Why We Get Fat</em> by Gary Taubes and changed. Now, I don&rsquo;t drink much, and eat very little fruit.&nbsp;&nbsp; Sometimes people&rsquo;s thinking changes and their habits change accordingly.</p> <p><strong>What new projects are you working on right now?<br /></strong>I am working on my book <em>Before and After</em> (to be published in 2015) along with promoting the paperback of <em>Happier At Home</em>, and posting on my blog. I post six times a week, so I am pretty active.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="mceNonEditable" data-snippet-id="17"> <div class="blog-boilerplate"> <div class="blog-boilerplate-subscribe portland"> <div class="createsend-button" style="height: 27px; display: inline-block;" data-listid="y/10/FB6/CFF/52DF3F66E116EFF2"></div> <script type="text/javascript">// <![CDATA[ (function () { var e = document.createElement('script'); e.type = 'text/javascript'; e.async = true; e.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https' : 'http') + '://btn.createsend1.com/js/sb.min.js?v=2'; e.className = 'createsend-script'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(e, s); })(); // ]]></script> </div> <div class="blog-boilerplate-desc">Every Thursday: The city's best arts and entertainment, can't-miss events, plus artist interviews and ticket giveaways. <a class="lightbox" href="/data/files/2013/11/attachment/213/on-the-town-example.jpg">(See an example!)</a></div> </div> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> Thu, 16 Jan 2014 11:03:00 -0800 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/q-and-a-bestselling-author-gretchen-rubin-january-2014 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/q-and-a-bestselling-author-gretchen-rubin-january-2014 January's Top Book and Storytelling Events <p>While we might be short on sunshine, the next few dark Portland months are jam-packed with literary happenings. Whether you&rsquo;re checking out the newest work by your favorite Portland author, or stepping up to the mic yourself, <strong>there is no shortage of book events you&rsquo;ll want to attend this January.&nbsp;</strong></p> <div class="inline-image-left inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:33866,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;193&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;300&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;300&quot;}" data-image-id="33866" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-left"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/1/image/33866/kevin_sampsell_tin_house.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F1%2Fimage%2F33866%2Fkevin_sampsell_tin_house.jpg&amp;cropify=193x300%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=193x%3E" alt="" /></a></div> </div> <p><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/cari-luna-and-kevin-sampsell-read-at-slabtown-january-2014"><strong>Cari Luna and Kevin Sampsell read at Slabtown</strong><br /></a><em>Thursday, Jan 9; Slabtown<br /></em>Discover the new voices of Tin House Books featuring four authors reading from their recently published works: <strong>Cari Luna (<em>The Revolution of Every Day</em>), Dena Rash Guzman (<em>Life Cycle</em>), Justin Maurer (<em>Seventeen Television</em>), and local lit czar Kevin Sampell</strong>,<strong>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/books-and-talks/articles/local-book-czar-kevin-sampsell-releases-debut-novel-november-2013" target="_blank">who we profiled</a>&nbsp;</strong>in preview of his debut novel, <em>This Is Between Us</em>.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/the-switch-reading-series-january-2014">The Switch Reading Series at IPRC<br /></a></strong><em>Friday, Jan 10; IPRC<br /></em>Portland gains yet another monthly reading series highlighting emerging writers, visual artists, and musicians with the Switch, and it&rsquo;s popping up all over Portland in 2014. This month&rsquo;s installment is hosted at the indie publishing hub IPRC, complete with live music and a curated art show in an evening celebrating Portland&rsquo;s vibrant artistic community. Readers include <strong>poet Susan Landers (<em>Franklinstein</em>, and <em>248 mgs</em>), writer C.E. Putnam (Poetry attache at P.I.S.O.R.), and Kelly Shirmann (co-author of <em>Nature Machine,</em> and founder of Black Cake, an audio chapbook record label)</strong>.&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/portland-poetry-slam-s-women-of-the-world-qualifier-january-2014"><strong>Portland Poetry Slam&rsquo;s Women of the World Qualifier</strong><br /></a><em>Sunday, Jan 12; Slabtown<br /></em>If you&rsquo;re a lady and you&rsquo;ve secretly suspected you could bring down the house with your killer spoken word, Sunday is your last chance to throw your hat in the ring for the opportunity to compete in the biggest all&ndash;female poetry slam competition in the world, hosted this year in Austin. &nbsp;</p> <div class="inline-image-left inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:34058,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;720&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;1080&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;250&quot;}" data-image-id="34058" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-left"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/1/image/34058/simplified-map-final-cover-small.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F1%2Fimage%2F34058%2Fsimplified-map-final-cover-small.jpg&amp;cropify=720x1080%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=250x%3E" alt="" /></a></div> </div> <p><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/the-mountain-writers-series-present-steve-allred-and-robin-cody-january-2014"><strong>The Mountain Writers Series presents Steve Allred and Robin Cody</strong><br /></a><em>Wednesday, Jan 15; The &nbsp;Press Club<br /></em>The Mountain Writers Series gets 2014 off to a strong start with local author and <strong>busy literary man about town, Steve Allred (<em>A Simplified Map of the Real World</em>) and Oregon Book Award&ndash;winner Robin Cody (<em>Another Way the River Has</em>)</strong>. Grab a glass of wine and settle into the cozy booths at the Press club for the first installment of this year&rsquo;s intimate reading series.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><a title="Gary Shteyngart" href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/gary-shteyngart-december-2013" target="_blank">Gary Shteyngart</a><br /></strong><em>Saturday, Jan 18<br /></em>Anointed one of the&nbsp;<em>New Yorker</em>&rsquo;s 20 best writers under 40 after releasing his last book, the super-funny&nbsp;<em>Super Sad True Love Story</em>, this satirist now applies his wit to his own experience emigrating from the USSR in his new memoir,&nbsp;<em>Little Failure</em>.&nbsp;<strong><a title="Gary Shteyngart interview " href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/culturephile-portland-arts/articles/q-and-a-gary-shteyngart-january-2014" target="_blank">Read our interview with Shteyngart</a></strong>, where the bestselling author talks about his new memoir, dealing with his parents, and kissing James Franco for his juicy book trailer.&nbsp;<em>&nbsp;</em></p> <p><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/gretchen-rubin-at-powells-books-january-2014"><strong>Gretchen Rubin</strong><br /></a><em>Tuesday, Jan 21; Powell&rsquo;s Books Cedar Hills Crossing<br /></em>Catch this two-time NYT-best-selling author read from her latest book, <em>Happier At Home</em>. Following her smash hit, <em>The Happiness Project</em>, Rubin takes on her second project armed with science, personal reflection, and a singular focus on making her home a source of simplicity, comfort, and love.&nbsp;</p> <div class="inline-image-right inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:33880,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;624&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;416&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;300&quot;}" data-image-id="33880" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-right"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/1/image/33880/william_stafford.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F1%2Fimage%2F33880%2Fwilliam_stafford.jpg&amp;cropify=624x416%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=300x%3E" alt="" /></a></div> </div> <p><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/broadway-books-celebrates-william-staffords-birthday-january-2014">Broadway Books Celebrates William Stafford&rsquo;s Birthday</a></strong><em><br />Thursday, Jan 28; Broadway Books&nbsp;<br /></em>Grab your favorite William Stafford poem and head out for an evening of storytelling and poetry remembering the life and work of the late Poet Laureate at Broadway Books. The event is hosted by <strong>Joanna Rose</strong> and will feature <strong>local authors Steve Allred, Jane Glazer, John Morrision, and Don Colburn</strong>. &nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="inline-image-left inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;id&quot;:34057,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;1224&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:&quot;891&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;scale_width&quot;:&quot;300&quot;}" data-image-id="34057" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-left"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/1/image/34057/1_meek_s_cutoff01.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F1%2Fimage%2F34057%2F1_meek_s_cutoff01.jpg&amp;cropify=1224x891%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=300x%3E" alt="" /></a> <div class="inline-image-caption mceNonEditable" style="width: 300px;">Michelle Williams in Meek's Cutoff</div> </div> </div> <p><strong><span class="text-box-right">Rescheduled to April 4th</span><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/backfencepdx-presents-reel-stories-january-2014">BackfencePDX: &ldquo;Reel Stories&rdquo;<br /></a></strong><em>Thursday, Jan 30; Hollywood Theatre<br /></em>BackfencePDX, the live, unscripted, totally true storytelling show, is changing the game this January. Featuring writer-filmmakers Jon Raymond (<em>Rain Dragon, Meek's Cutoff</em>), Arthur Bradford (<em>Dogwalker, 6 Days to Air</em>), and Brian Lindstrom (<em>Finding Normal,&nbsp;<em>Alien Boy: the Life and Death of James Chasse</em></em>), Backfence presents an evening of storytelling featuring film clips intermingled with true, behind-the-scenes stories.</p> <p><br /><span><span><strong><a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/events/backfencepdx-presents-ch-ch-changes-january-2014">BackfencePDX: "Ch Ch Changes"<br /></a></strong><em>Saturday, Feb 1; Mission Theater</em><br /></span></span><span><span>BackfencePDX's live, unscripted Mainstage Show presents dark, funny, true, and poignant stories about the pitfalls of Christian Clowning featuring the hilarious&nbsp;</span></span><span class="s1">Jezebel.com staff writer<strong>&nbsp;</strong></span>Lindy West&nbsp;(SEA<strong>), </strong>author of The Residue Years Mitchell S. Jackson&nbsp;(NYC, raised in NE PDX)<strong>,&nbsp;</strong>This American Life contributor&nbsp;Gloria Harrison&nbsp;(PDX),&nbsp;school teacher&nbsp;Norina Beck&nbsp;(PDX)<strong>,&nbsp;</strong>and Esquire magazine contributor Litsa Dremousis&nbsp;(SEA)<span>.&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;</p> <div class="mceNonEditable" data-snippet-id="17"> <div class="blog-boilerplate"> <div class="blog-boilerplate-subscribe portland"> <div class="createsend-button" style="height: 27px; display: inline-block;" data-listid="y/10/FB6/CFF/52DF3F66E116EFF2"></div> <script type="text/javascript">// <![CDATA[ (function () { var e = document.createElement('script'); e.type = 'text/javascript'; e.async = true; e.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https' : 'http') + '://btn.createsend1.com/js/sb.min.js?v=2'; e.className = 'createsend-script'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(e, s); })(); // ]]></script> </div> <div class="blog-boilerplate-desc">Every Thursday: The city's best arts and entertainment, can't-miss events, plus artist interviews and ticket giveaways. <a class="lightbox" href="/data/files/2013/11/attachment/213/on-the-town-example.jpg">(See an example!)</a></div> </div> </div> Wed, 08 Jan 2014 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/expose-yourself-to-art-at-these-january-book-events-january-2014 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/expose-yourself-to-art-at-these-january-book-events-january-2014 2014 Oregon Book Awards Finalists Announced <div class="inline-image-block inline-image mceNonEditable" data-crop="{&quot;scaling-type&quot;:&quot;in-proportion&quot;,&quot;fill-color&quot;:&quot;#000000&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:240,&quot;left&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;top&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;width&quot;:480,&quot;scale&quot;:&quot;100&quot;}" data-image-id="33770" data-include-caption="true" data-layout="inline-image-block"> <div align="center"><a class="lightbox" href="/data/images/2014/1/image/33770/OBA-2014-Finalists2.jpg"> <img src="/images/change?src=%2Fdata%2Fimages%2F2014%2F1%2Fimage%2F33770%2FOBA-2014-Finalists2.jpg&amp;cropify=480x240%2B0%2B0&amp;resize=480x%3E" alt="" /></a></div> </div> <p>The Oregon Book Awards finalists were announced this morning. While there're no Oprah-approved writers this time around (<a href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/culturephile-portland-arts/articles/oregon-book-awards-winners-and-recap-april-2013" target="_blank">read our madcap recap of last year</a>), there're heavy hitters nonetheless.</p> <p>The most widely recognized name (and literal top of the list) is Portland's grande dame <strong>Ursula K. Le Guin</strong>, who hand-selected her own best short stories in <em>The Unreal and The Real: Collected Stories: Volume 1 and 2</em>? When this master of the genre speaks, we should listen.</p> <p>Then, of course, poet <strong>Mary Szybist</strong> recently won the National Book Award for <em>Incarnadine</em> (<a title="Mary Szybist National Book Award interview" href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/culturephile-portland-arts/articles/q-and-a-with-national-book-award-winner-mary-szybist-december-2013" target="_blank">read our interview with Szybist after her win</a>). It seems to follow that she'd take home the Oregon Book Award, too? (It actually seems like she should've taken it home first, but who can account for schedules?)</p> <p>If Graham Salisbury wins the Children's Literature Award for<em> Calvin Coconut: Extra Famous</em>, he'll bolster his Oregon Book Awards record from six to seven victories.</p> <p>Finally, the Graphic Literature Award includes two internationally recognized cartoonists (and humble friends, who no doubt would tell you the other should win if you asked). None can match the reporting rigor of war cartoonist <strong>Joe Sacco</strong>, whose <em>Journalism</em> collects his best stories from over the years, many never before published in America, that take readers from Abu Ghraib to India's Untouchables. The book comes in the same year as his first foray into American-based reportage, the collaboration with journalist Chris Hedges, <em>Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt</em>. Meanwhile, few can match the illustrative rigor of <strong>Craig Thompson.</strong> His <em>1001 Arabian Nights&ndash;</em>influenced <em>Habibi</em>, the long-awaited follow-up to his international hit, <em>Blankets</em>, is unparalleled in its epically imaginative, richly detailed, fairy-tale exploration of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. (<a title="Craig Thompson Habibi interview" href="http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/articles/portland-author-craig-thompson-september-2011" target="_blank">Read our interview with Thompson about <em>Habibi</em>.</a>)</p> <p>The winners will be announced at a ceremony on March 17.</p> <p>Here's the full list of nominees from Literary Arts:</p> <p>&nbsp; <br />KEN KESEY AWARD FOR FICTION<br />Judge: Alan Cheuse<br />&nbsp;<br />Ursula K. Le Guin of Portland, The Unreal and The Real: Collected Stories: Volume 1 and 2 (Small Beer Press)<br />Whitney Otto of Portland, Eight Girls Taking Pictures (Scribner)<br />Amanda Coplin of Portland, The Orchardist (Harper Perennial)<br />Roger Hobbs of Portland, Ghostman (Knopf)<br />&nbsp; <br /><br />STAFFORD/HALL AWARD FOR POETRY<br />Judge: Kwame Dawes<br />&nbsp;<br />Jennifer Boyden of Milton-Freewater, The Declarable Future (University of Wisconsin Press)<br />Matthew Dickman of Portland, Mayakovsky&sup1;s Revolver (Norton)<br />Andrea Hollander of Portland, Landscape with Female Figure: New and Selected Poems, 1982-2012 (Autumn House Press)<br />Ralph Salisbury of Eugene, Like the Sun in Storm (The Habits of Rainy Nights Press)<br />Mary Szybist of Portland, Incarnadine (Graywolf)<br />&nbsp;<br /><br />FRANCES FULLER VICTOR AWARD FOR GENERAL NONFICTION<br />Judge: Amanda Vail<br />&nbsp;<br />C. B. Bernard of Portland, Chasing Alaska (Lyons Press)<br />William J. Bernstein of Portland, Masters of the Word (Grove Press)<br />Paul Collins of Portland, Duel with the Devil (Crown Publishers)<br />R. Gregory Nokes of West Linn, Breaking Chains (OSU Press)&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<br />Martin N. Raitiere of Portland, The Complicity of Friends (Bucknell University Press)<br />&nbsp;<br /><br />SARAH WINNEMUCCA AWARD FOR CREATIVE NONFICTION<br />Judge: Ander Monson<br />&nbsp;<br />Jay Ponteri of Portland, Wedlocked (Hawthorne Books)<br />Scott Nadelson of Salem, The Next Scott Nadelson (Hawthorne Books)<br />Elena Passarello of Corvallis, Let Me Clear My Throat (Sarabande Books)<br />Kim Stafford of Portland, 100 Tricks Every Boy Can Do<br />(Trinity University Press) <br />Sandra Stone of Portland, The Inmost House (Prospect Cove Press)<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />ELOISE JARVIS MCGRAW AWARD FOR CHILDREN'S LITERATURE<br />Judge: Anita Silvey<br />&nbsp;<br />Scott William Carter of Salem, Wooden Bones (Simon &amp; Schuster)<br />Deborah Hopkinson of West Linn, Knit Your Bit (G.P. Putnam)<br />Barbara Kerley of Portland, The World Is Waiting for You (National Geographic)<br />Graham Salisbury of Lake Oswego, Calvin Coconut: Extra Famous (Wendy Lamb Books)<br />Allen Say of Portland, The Favorite Daughter (Arthur A. Levine)<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />LESLIE BRADSHAW AWARD FOR YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE<br />Judge: Benjamin Saenz<br />&nbsp;<br />Kari Luna of Portland, The Theory of Everything (Philomel Books)<br />Kelly Moore, Larkin Reed and Tucker Reed of Jacksonville, Amber House (Arthur A. Levine)<br />Rosanne Parry of Portland, Written in Stone&nbsp; (Random House)<br />&nbsp; <br /><br />PACIFIC NORTHWEST COLLEGE OF ART GRAPHIC LITERATURE AWARD <br />Judge: Jesse Karp<br />&nbsp;<br />Barry Deutsch of Portland, Hereville: How Mirtka Met a Meteorite (Amulet Books)<br />Steve Duin and Shannon Wheeler of Portland, Oil and Water (Fantagraphics Books)<br />Natalie Nourigat of Portland, Between Gears (Image Comics)<br />Joe Sacco of Portland, Journalism (Metropolitan Books)<br />Craig Thompson of Portland, Habibi (Pantheon)<br />&nbsp;<br /><br />SPECIAL AWARDS: In addition to recognizing the finest achievements of Oregon authors in several genres, Literary Arts recognizes individual contributions with the C.E.S. Wood Award, the Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award, and the Walt Morey Young Readers Literary Legacy Award.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />The C.E.S. Wood Distinguished Writer Award<br />Vern Rutsala of Portland<br />&nbsp;<br />The Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award<br />Vince and Patty Wixon of Ashland<br />&nbsp;<br />The Walt Morey Young Readers Literary Legacy Award<br />Ellen Fader of Portland<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp; <br />2014 OREGON LITERARY FELLOWSHIP RECIPIENTS&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />Literary Arts is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2013 Oregon Literary Fellowships to writers and to publishers. The judges named eight writers and two publishers to receive grants of $2500.&nbsp; &nbsp;<br /><br />WRITERS<br />&nbsp;<br />Poetry &nbsp;<br />Toni Hanner of Eugene, The Friends of the Lake Oswego Library William Stafford Fellowship<br />Armin Tolentino of Portland, The C. Hamilton Bailey Fellowship<br />&nbsp;<br />Fiction<br />Robert Arellano of Talent, The Leslie Bradshaw Fellowship<br />Sarah Marshall of Portland, Women Writer's Fellowship<br />&nbsp;<br />Literary Nonfiction<br />Kristy Athens of Enterprise<br />Alena Nevarte Nahabedian of Portland, The Walt Morey Fellowship<br /><br />Drama<br />Stephanie Golisch of Portland &nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />Young Readers Literature <br />Anjie Seewer Reynolds of Ashland, The Edna L. Holmes Fellowship in Young Readers Literature<br />&nbsp;<br /><br />PUBLISHERS<br /><br />Calyx of Corvallis<br />Forest Avenue Press of Portland &nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</p> <div class="mceNonEditable" data-snippet-id="17"> <div class="blog-boilerplate"> <div class="blog-boilerplate-subscribe portland"> <div class="createsend-button" style="height: 27px; display: inline-block;" data-listid="y/10/FB6/CFF/52DF3F66E116EFF2"></div> <script type="text/javascript">// <![CDATA[ (function () { var e = document.createElement('script'); e.type = 'text/javascript'; e.async = true; e.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https' : 'http') + '://btn.createsend1.com/js/sb.min.js?v=2'; e.className = 'createsend-script'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(e, s); })(); // ]]></script> </div> <div class="blog-boilerplate-desc">Every Thursday: The city's best arts and entertainment, can't-miss events, plus artist interviews and ticket giveaways. <a class="lightbox" href="/data/files/2013/11/attachment/213/on-the-town-example.jpg">(See an example!)</a></div> </div> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> Mon, 06 Jan 2014 10:03:00 -0800 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/oregon-book-awards-finalists-announced-january-2014 http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/articles/oregon-book-awards-finalists-announced-january-2014
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