Things to Do in Portland This Week, January 2026
Image: Courtesy Reynaldo Rivera
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Colm Tóibín once told The New York Times, “I am normal,” which is not something a normal person generally says. And the extremely prolific Irish writer, whose novel Brooklyn was adapted as a movie of the same title starring Saoirse Ronan, is far from normal. Tóibín (The New Yorker says it’s pronounced “toe-bean,” like a kitten’s paw) is at the Schnitz Thursday as part of Literary Arts’ Portland Arts & Lectures series (7:30pm; tickets are sold as a subscription). A gloss through his staggering CV—Oprah’s book club, Columbia University professor, Laureate for Irish Fiction—is the only info promoting the event. Still, that should be enough for pretty much anyone, normal or otherwise.
His books include novelizations of the lives of Henry James and Thomas Mann, both of which transpose themes of repressed queer desire from the authors’ fictional works onto their autobiographies. Continuing the story of an Irish woman immigrating to New York in the 1950s, Tóibín published a follow-up to Brooklyn in 2024 titled Long Island. In September, his Irish publisher put out Ship in Full Sail, a collection of essays and the lectures Tóibín gave during his Laureateship, from 2022 to 2024.
That last one could hint at what he’ll discuss Thursday, except that it covers everything from artificial intelligence to Ulysses to Salman Rushdie to Bob Dylan, reflecting Tóibín’s auxiliary career; despite being 70, he’s an extremely busy critic and journalist. He wrote about Pope Leo for The London Review of Books this past May and covered the fires in Los Angeles, where he lives part-time, for the same publication last January. Another recent byline, this one for The Guardian: “Why I set up a press to publish Nobel winner László Krasznahorkai.” Whatever he chooses to chat to us about Thursday, Colm Tóibín certainly has a lot to choose from, none of which could be called something so boring as “normal.”
More things to do this week
SPECIAL EVENTS Fan Expo Portland
1:45PM FRI; 9:30AM SAT & SUN JAN 16–18 | OREGON CONVENTION CENTER, $39+
While not quite the full Fellowship roster, sci-fi and fantasy convention Fan Expo managed to wrangle the Shire contingent, with all four hobbitses hosting meet-and-greets at the Oregon Convention Center this weekend. If that’s not enough incentive to break out your best cosplay, they’ll be joined by genre celebs like Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride, Saw), Jonathan Frakes and Gates McFadden (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Manny Jacinto (The Good Place, Star Wars: The Acolyte), and most of the cast of the original live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films—no word on if they’ll be sporting their half-shells. Ticket prices get you in the door, but keep in mind that everything inside—from signatures to swag—can get pricey. —Alex Frane
COMEDY Peter Lundquist
7:30PM FRI & SAT, Jan 16–24 | 21TEN THEATRE, $28+
The title of Lundquist’s autobiographical one-man show, Nervous Laughter, slightly undersells its backstory. Before being diagnosed with agoraphobia anxiety disorder, he spent three years without leaving his apartment. “He’s totally fine now!” the show notes quip. Comedy was a big part of treatment—both laughter and the exposure therapy of getting not just out into the world but onto a stage. “This might not be what you think a severe anxiety disorder looks like,” the Portland comic says to open a promo video. Soon, a series of quick cuts of yelling and hijinks interrupt, showcasing what you might think a severe anxiety disorder does look like. A percentage of proceeds benefit the mental health nonprofit Raíces de Bienestar.
VISUAL ART Lynne Woods Turner
RECEPTION 3–5PM SAT, JAN 17; THRU FEB 28 | ADAMS AND OLLMAN, FREE
I don’t know if the title of Turner’s latest show, one thing and another, is a juxtaposition, an expression of exasperation, or a graceful lineage. All three concepts appear in her drawings and paintings, minimalist tributes to the quietest, most beautiful curve or burnished edge of found paper. Turner often presents scientific diagrams and mathematical formulae as abstract works of art. Sometimes she mines sewing patterns or charts out “magic squares” for their aesthetic merits, where the digits dissolve into the pulp of handmade paper. Other references—shapes and lines inspired by dance, Turner’s garden, historical artworks—while less overt, are just as easy to feel once pointed out to you. Both give a comfortable, reassuring context to something so ruthless as math. Looking at them feels an awful lot like moving through the modern world: feeling your way through familiar touchstones despite not really knowing how anything actually works.
Elsewhere...
- Lindsay Costello on the pooling narratives of The Chronology of Water: “Trauma surfaces, screams, numbs, and resurfaces, bleeding and suturing in no particular order.” (Portland Mercury)
- Nicola Twilley on Pacific Northwest wildfires and the science of smoke-tainted wine. (The New Yorker)
