Books & Talks

Booktopia

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

Literary Arts’ expansive Southeast building will house a bookstore, café and bar, and all-ages community resources.

09/18/2024 By Matthew Trueherz

Q&A

Mostly True Stories: Chelsea Bieker on Her Novel ‘Madwoman’

“I wanted to write this zany book about motherhood and wellness powders,” she says. “And then it turned into this much deeper thing.”

09/17/2024 By Matthew Trueherz

Author Events

Portland Book Festival Announces 2024 Lineup

Richard Powers, Renée Watson, Ani DiFranco, and Danez Smith are among this year’s 80+ authors.

09/12/2024 By Matthew Trueherz

Picture Book

Carson Ellis Finds Her Past in an Old Portland Warehouse

New paintings illustrate a 20-year-old diary in the artist’s latest book, recounting her first week in town, falling in love, and reading Dylan Thomas aloud.

09/10/2024 By Matthew Trueherz

Memoir

Breaking Bread and Capitalism with Lola Milholland

The Umi Organic founder’s memoir challenges the nuclear family model with food.

08/01/2024 Photography by Jason Hill By Matthew Trueherz

Book Review

You’re Safe Here, A Sci-Fi Novel Set In 2060, Reads Eerily Current

Author of the popular Substack newsletter Morning Person, Leslie Stephens takes aim at the wellness industrial complex in her debut novel.

06/27/2024 By Matthew Trueherz

Drinks for Thought

Jim Meehan’s Deep Dive into the Cocktail Kitchen

The award-winning mixologist’s third book, focused on culinary ingredients, shifted his sense of self.

06/11/2024 By Matthew Trueherz

Reading Ahead

3 Upcoming Books by Portland Authors

Does your nightstand need a genre-bending food memoir, a wellness-obsessed sci-fi novel, and a first-person report of an adult autism diagnosis? Of course it does.

05/22/2024 By Matthew Trueherz

Bookshelf

Riot Grrrl History in Kathleen Hanna’s Rebel Girl

The Portland-born musician’s memoir details ’90s Olympia, Bikini Kill, life on tour, and some serious trauma and healing.

05/17/2024 By Margaret Seiler

Life’s Fictions

Miranda July in Conversation with Portland Novelist Chelsea Bieker

“A feeling of recklessness is what made me write it down,” July says of her latest novel, All Fours. “I’m pointing at a thing and calling it out.”

05/15/2024 By Chelsea Bieker Illustrations by Becki Gill

Interview

‘Unlikable’ Narrators and the Impossible Expectations of Motherhood

Portland author Kimberly King Parsons unpacks her hotly anticipated debut novel, We Were the Universe.

05/10/2024 By Michelle Kicherer

Down the Aisles

11 Portland Authors’ Favorite Indie Bookstores

Where do Renée Watson, Dane Liu, Erica Berry, and Jon Raymond shop for books? Hint: it’s not Amazon.

05/06/2024 By Matthew Trueherz

As Told To

In ‘skin & bones,’ Renée Watson Writes for Her Devout Readers’ Parents

"I’m always writing for that little girl who needed to see herself and her ancestors represented in stories."

05/03/2024 By Matthew Trueherz Photography by Michael Raines

First-time Caller

Alison Roman Is in Her Advice Hotline Era. We Got Her Portland Tips.

Her podcast is called Solicited Advice, and that’s exactly what we did.

05/01/2024 By Matthew Trueherz

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?

04/24/2024 By Matthew Trueherz

Awards Season

Erica Berry and Patrick deWitt Are among the 2024 Oregon Book Awards Winners

Kwame Alexander presented seven Oregon authors with new badges to add to their book covers at Monday’s ceremony.

04/10/2024 By Matthew Trueherz

Slow Burn

How Writing Romance Helped Alison Cochrun Embrace Her Queerness

The former high school English teacher, raised and based in Vancouver, is now a full-time author of love stories.

03/29/2024 By Rebecca Jacobson

420-Friendly

This Guidebook Tours the Country’s Coolest Cannabis Destinations

In Green Scenes, Portlander Lauren Yoshiko scopes out cat-themed dispensaries, consumption-friendly treehouses, and chic smoke shops.

03/12/2024 By Rebecca Jacobson

Book Review

A Journalist Dives Behind the Scenes of the Art World

Portland native Bianca Bosker plunges headfirst into the New York City art world, attempting to see what the fuss is about.

02/09/2024 By Matthew Trueherz

Book Biz

Portland Gets Its First-Ever Romance Bookstore, Finally

Black-owned Grand Gesture Books looks to fill a hole in Portland’s bookish heart.

01/04/2024 By Matthew Trueherz