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Portland Monthly

Books & Talks

Bookshelf

Why Can’t a 5-Year-Old Write a Memoir?

Kevin Sampsell’s novel Baby in the Night is as sweetly hilarious and poignant as baby talk gets.

03/13/2026 By Matthew Trueherz

from the archive

The Wet: Brian Doyle’s Rain Journal

From 2007, the celebrated Oregon author’s “Waterlogged notes from rainy seasons present and past.”

03/10/2026 By Brian Doyle

Branching Out

Multnomah County Retrofits Its Libraries for the People

A $387 million bond, designs informed by hundreds of patrons, and a radical shift in what libraries are for.

03/09/2026 By Brian Libby

Words with Friends

How to Make Book-Loving Friends IRL in Portland

Recite poems from memory. Share a work in progress. Read to Clive the dog. Nerd out on graphic novels.

02/20/2026 By Matthew Trueherz

“America’s Game”

Chuck Klosterman’s Football Journeys into America’s Media-Addled Soul

The Portland author’s latest book unpacks football’s unique perch atop the flaming pyre of a dying monoculture.

02/06/2026 By Jordan Michelman

Words with Friends

The Open Mic That Counts Amateurs and Award-Winning Authors as Regulars

One-Page Wednesdays, hosted by Portland novelist Emme Lund, feels like a public writers’ group.

01/22/2026 By Matthew Trueherz Illustrations by Stephan Dybus

Required Reading

Must-Visit Portland Indie Bookstores

Our list of more than 20 shops spotlighting the African diaspora and children’s books, sci-fi and fantasy, artist monographs, comics, and…yarn?

12/22/2025 By Matthew Trueherz

Movies

Kristen Stewart’s Chronology of Water Captures the Book’s Emotional Force

The Twilight star’s directorial debut stays true to Oregon author Lidia Yuknavitch’s intimate portrait of reclaimed agency.

12/15/2025 By Chase Hutchinson

Bookshelf

Portland Monthly’s Best Books of 2025

Our favorite fiction and nonfiction, children’s books, cartoons, and comics of the year by Oregon authors.

12/08/2025 By Matthew Trueherz

Arts and Letters

Mother Foucault’s, the Lifeblood of Portland Literary Bohemia

“Hey, this is a real way to live,” says owner Craig Florence, who’s formalizing the community around his bookshop as a nonprofit.

10/29/2025 By Jaydra Johnson Photography by Michael Novak

Popular Content

    Multnomah County Retrofits Its Libraries for the People

    The Bike Library Connecting Portland’s Housed and Unhoused Residents

    Must-Visit Portland Indie Bookstores

    With New HQ, the City’s Literary Heart (Finally) Finds a Permanent Physical Form

    What We Talk About When We Talk About Hanya

    Karen Russell on Her Witchy Dust Bowl Epic, The Antidote

Bookshelf

Local Authors on the 2025 Portland Book Festival Lineup

Jonathan Hill, Emma Pattee, Leah Sottile, and Leni Zumas share who they’re looking forward to seeing at this year’s fest.

10/27/2025 By Matthew Trueherz

Book Review

Romance on the Basketball Court in Play You for It

The debut novel from sports journalist turned romance author Samantha Saldivar hops between Portland and Eugene.

10/22/2025 By Margaret Seiler

Gimme Five

The 5 Ursula K. Le Guin Books You Need to Read, According to Her Son

While curating an exhibition of her life and work, Theo Downes-Le Guin shares his favorite books by Portland’s greatest author, a.k.a. his mom.

10/14/2025 By Matthew Trueherz

Interview

Portland’s New Yorker Cartoonist on the Important Kind of Jokes

In a new book, Tom Toro collects 15 years of work for the magazine. Here, he talks about the role of cartoons in the present.

10/08/2025 By Matthew Trueherz

bookshelf

The Ursula K. Le Guin Cat Book You’ve Been Waiting For

A new collection gathers the late author’s poetry, sketches, and correspondence about her beloved feline companions.

10/08/2025 By Alex Frane

Bookshelf

A Novel of an Anarchist Nursing Home Run by 1970s Punks

Leni Zumas’s Wolf Bells is a spirited, hilarious, and tender study of intergenerational living.

09/15/2025 By Matthew Trueherz

Long Story Short

A Tiny Travel Bookstore That Takes You Places

Tucked inside Cargo, Patrick Leonard’s Postcard Bookshop is an argument for armchair travel.

08/20/2025 By Rebecca Jacobson

Book Club

The Bike Library Connecting Portland’s Housed and Unhoused Residents

Street Books has made a lot of friends in its 15 years—and divined a uniquely effective form of mutual aid.

08/12/2025 By Jaydra Johnson Photography by Michael Novak

Bookshelf

Sex, Books, and New Age Spiritualism

Portland novelist and screenwriter Jon Raymond’s funky Ashland twist on a classic, God and Sex, pushes faith and reality to climax.

07/21/2025 By Matthew Trueherz Illustrations by Derek Abella

reading ahead

Book Launches and Author Events in Portland This Summer

A fresh crop of summer reads from Portlanders Jon Raymond, Leni Zumas, and more.

07/17/2025 By Matthew Trueherz

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Winter 2025/2026

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