Portland Book Events: October 20-25

From what I could find (please contact me if you have an event you would like me to add to this or future schedules), the local book events for the week of October 20, 2009 through October 25, 2009 are:

Tuesday October 20-

Zinesters Talking (Central Library, @6:30pm): Local independent publishers read from their zines in the fifth annual Zinesters Talking series. Mini-comics come alive with author-illustrators Lisa Eisenberg (“I Cut My Hair” and “Monsters Make a Stew”) and Julia Gfrörer (“Ariadne auf Naxos” and “All the Ancient Kings”).

Women’s Creative Collective (In Other Words Women’s Books and Resources, @6:30pm): Women’s Creative Collective who we are and what we do… who we are: A collective of women, formed with the purpose of supporting each other in overcoming roadblocks, challenging ourselves, and helping each other meet our goals as artists, writers, and performers. what we do: We plan to combine writing, interactive games, discussion, exercises from The Artist’s Way, and artist’s sharing to re-charge creatively, challenge ourselves artistically, and support each other in meeting our long-term goals.

This collective is open to self-identified women who are well along in their creative pursuits, who would appreciate and benefit from the opportunity of a shared creative community. Meetings: first and third Tuesdays, beginning Oct. 20 6:30-8:30 Shared facilitation (rotating, and divided by section). For more information, please call Tamara at 503-334-7491, or email tamlynwal@gmail.com.

Johnny Stallings Presents “One-Man Lear” (Lewis & Clark College, Albany Quadrangle, Smith Hall, @7:00pm): This is an encore performance of Johnny Stallings’ popular one-man show. Stallings first performed his solo version of King Lear in the spring of 1978, thanks to a grant from the Metropolitan Arts Commission of Portland. Since then, he has performed in schools, theaters, prisons, and at the Cornelia Connell Theater in New York.

Stallings’  performance of King Lear is a no-frills version that will amaze and fascinate. Without trivial things like sets, props, costumes, and other actors cluttering up the stage, you’ll find your brain forced to concentrate on nothing but the words themselves, which–according to Johnny–is not such a bad thing: “It’s arguably the best poetry in any language,” he says reverently. It takes great skill to make Shakespeare this approachable, and above all else, his grasp of the language is impeccable. Stallings glosses over sections of King Lear with summary asides, and handles the dialogue scenes by simply moving to different parts of the room, distinguishing the different characters with only the smallest variations in posture and tone. The result should be clumsy and awkward, but the precision of his line readings, combined with his quirky sense of humor, makes it fluid.

In prior years, this has been a standing-room-only event.  Please arrive early to get a seat.

Karen Karbo (Lake Oswego Library, @7:00pm): The Lake Oswego Public Library is pleased to present local author Karen Karbo as part of the Library’s Third Tuesday Author Series.

Karen Karbo is the author of three novels – Trespassers Welcome Here, The Diamond Lane and Motherhood Made a Man Out of Me ­­– all of which were named New York Times Notable Books. The Stuff of Life, about caring for her father during the last year of his life, was a People Magazine Critic’s Choice, a selection of the Satellite Sisters Radio Book Club, a winner of the Oregon Book Award for Creative Nonfiction, and also a Times Notable Book. Her most recent work, The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the World’s Most Elegant Woman, is a captivating, offbeat look at style, celebrity and self-invention.

Two Pennies and a Magpie, What We Collect and What We Discard (Looking Glass Bookstore, @7:00pm): A poetry reading with Penelope Scambly Schott author of A is for Anne, Penny Harter author of The Night Marsh, & Margaret Chula author of What Remains. Apropos to the theme, they invite you to bring in something that you collect or to tell a story about an object, idea, or person that you have discarded.

Daniel Goldhagen (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): From Daniel Goldhagen’s Worse Than War (PublicAffairs) gets to the heart of genocide and, in doing so, challenges fundamental ideas about human beings, society, and politics. This event is co-sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Oregon.

Timothy Egan (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): In The Big Burn (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), Timothy Egan details the largest-ever forest fire in America and the tragedy that cemented Teddy Roosevelt’s legacy in the land.

Wednesday October 21-

Walking with Ramona (Hollywood Library, @10:30am): Join Portland walking author Laura O. Foster on a tour back in time, to the 1950s world of Ramona Quimby and friends. Explore the Northeast Portland landscape that inspired Beverly Cleary’s best-selling children’s books, from the 1951 “Ellen Tebbits” to the 1999 “Ramona’s World.” See the supermarket where mud claimed Ramona’s boot, the park where Henry hunts for night crawlers, and the Portland school that inspired Glenwood School. Plus lots more, including a stroll along the streets where both Ms. Cleary, Ramona and her friends lived.

The tour begins at the Hollywood Library, 4040 NE Tillamook Street. It is accessible, on flat terrain, and lasts about 1.5 hours. Families are welcome.

Foster is the author of “Portland Hill Walks,” “Portland City Walks” and the editor of Metro’s Walk There!

The Writer/Editor Relationship (Portland State University, SMU 327, @4:00pm): A conversation between Joshua Kendall, Senior Editor at Viking/Penguin in New York and Tom Bissell, fiction and nonfiction writer and professor in the PSU Creative Writing MFA program.

Vince Flynn (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): Deadly and charismatic hero Mitch Rapp wages a war against a new enemy in Pursuit of Honor (Atria), the new thriller by New York Times-bestselling author Vince Flynn.

Reading with J.C. Hallman (The Writers Dojo, @7:30pm): Join editor J.C. Hallman for a reading from The Story About the Story: Great Writers Explore Great Literature, published by Tin House Books. Hallman has pored through countless collected essays of notable authors, searching for the piece in which the author approaches literature from a personal angle. With over thirty essays written by authors as diverse as Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf to Cynthia Ozick and Salman Rushdie, this collection offers an invaluable course on literature as well as a look into “Creative Criticism,” a form of critical essay that involves a personal perspective.

J.C. Hallman is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of The Chess Artist and The Devil is a Gentleman. A collection of his short fiction, The Hospital for Bad Poets, will be published by Milkweed Editions in 2009.

Timothy Egan presents The Big Burn (Annie Bloom’s Books, @7:30pm): Timothy Egan’s The Big Burn is the story of the largest-ever forest fire in America and the tragedy that cemented Teddy Roosevelt’s legacy in the land. The Big Burn was a 1910 forest fire that devastated millions of acres in the Pacific Northwest. Egan also recounts how the heroism of the rangers who fought the fire helped Teddy Roosevelt to pioneer the notion of conservation and the creation of our National Parks.

Alicia Silverstone (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): Best known for her role in Clueless, Alicia Silverstone shares how her journey toward a vegan and now macrobiotic diet has left her feeling better than ever. The Kind Diet (Rodale) features nearly 100 easy, earth-friendly recipes.

Gina Ochsner (The Press Club, @7:30pm): Please join Mountain Writers Series for a reading by Gina Ochsner. Come early for dinner or one of the fine wine specials at The Press Club.

Gina Ochsner lives in Keizer, Oregon and divides her time between writing and teaching with the Seattle Pacific Low-Residency MFA program. Ochsner has been awarded a John L. Simon Guggenheim grant and a grant from the National Endowment of Arts. Her stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Tin House, Glimmer Train and the Kenyon Review. She is the author of the short story collection The Necessary Grace to Fall, which received the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction and the story collection People I Wanted to Be. Both books received the Oregon Book Award. Her novel The Russian Dreambook of Colour and Flight (Portobello Press) is a finalist for the 2009 Oregon Book Award for Fiction.

Thursday October 22-

Justine Larbalestier (A Children’s Place Bookstore, @4:00pm): The fabulous Justine Larbalestier, author of How to Ditch Your Fairy, has a new book coming out, Liar, and she’s coming to ACP to talk and sign copies. Liar tells the story of Micha, who freely admits that she’s a compulsive liar. Over the years she’s duped her classmates, her teachers, and her parents. But when her boyfriend dies under brutal circumstances, the shock might be enough to set her straight. Or maybe not.

Milwaukie Authors’ Quarterly (Milwaukie’s Ledding Library, @6:30pm): This exciting new series of programs focuses on introducing local authors to local audiences and encouraging the authors to share their experiences in a friendly and comfortable setting. Milwaukie Mayor Jeremy Ferguson and local author Amanda Morgan will introduce three regional authors – Ron Cogdill (general fiction), Elena Ives (Christian fiction) and Stanley Baldwin (Christian nonfiction) – who will each have about 15 minutes to discuss their work. After each author has spoken, the event will be opened for questions.

J.C. Hallman Reading (Lewis & Clark College, Manor House, Armstrong Lounge, @7:00pm): J.C. Hallman is the author of a variety of fiction and nonfiction. In 2009, he published a story collection, The Hospital for Bad Poets, with Milkweed Editions, and edited The Story About the Story, a collection of pieces on literature by writers themselves: “criticism” combined with personal essay. In 2010, he will publish In Utopia, a book about modern utopian movements and the history of utopian literature.

Michael Genelin presents Dark Dreams (Murder By The Book, @7:00pm): We have hosted Michael Genelin in the past and are happy to announce that he will return to present his latest work, Dark Dreams. Jana Matinova, a police detective in Slovakia, returns as the heroine in Genelin’s intriguing tales of a part of world about which we rarely get to hear. Jana’s life becomes complicated when her friend Sofia, a member of parliament, becomes involved in criminal activities and Jana’s young granddaughter comes for a visit. In a world in which Western rules don’t apply, Jana’s approach to solving crime has to be … innovative.

Windfall: A Journal of Poetry of Place Fall 09 Release Reading (Looking Glass Bookstore, @7:00pm): Featuring poets: Bill Siverly, Michael McDowell, Carlos Reyes, Eleanor Berry, Kathie Durbin & Melanie Green.

Join us for a reading with 6 incredible local poets featured in the Fall 2009 issue of Windfall: A Journal of Poetry of Place. Windfall features poetry which captures the spirit of place as part of the essence of the poem. We particularly emphasize poetry of the Pacific Northwest which is attentive to the relationships between people and the landscapes in which we live.

Spit it Out! Open Mic (In Other Words Women’s Books and Resources, @7:00pm): Join us every third Thursday for this open mic night at In Other Words. Whether you’re singing about your latest heartbreak, beatboxing, or rocking out on your melodica we want to hear your noise. So SPIT IT OUT!

Michael Connelly (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): When Harry Bosch gets word that his young daughter Maddie is missing in Hong Kong, he drops everything to find her in Michael Connelly’s Nine Dragons (Little Brown).

Pacific University’s Writer’s Series welcomes Daniel Duford (Pacific University, Taylor Auditorium in Marsh Hall, @7:30pm): If you loved comic books as a kid (or still do) and want to learn more about how this form has evolved into one of the most sophisticated kinds of storytelling, don’t miss this opportunity to hear Daniel Duford talk about his work and graphic stories.

Duford’s sculptures and drawings have been shown at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Contemporary Craft Gallery, and the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art.  His illustration and comic work has appeared in Tin House Magazine and his writing has appeared in Parabola, Artweek, ARTnews, The Organ, The Bear Deluxe, Emily Dickinson Award Anthology, and Ceramics Monthly. He teaches at Pacific Northwest College of Art.

Throwing Bones with Anthony Alvarado and Tony Morgan (St. John’s Booksellers, @7:30pm): Experience this new book of weird tales and gothic art featuring the illustrations of North Portland artist Tony Morgan.  Just in time for Halloween!

John Kroger presents Convictions (Annie Bloom’s Books, @7:30pm): As an Assistant United States Attorney, John Kroger pursued high-profile cases against mafia killers, drug kingpins, and Enron executives. In Convictions, Kroger reveals how to flip a perp, how to conduct a cross, how to work an informant, how to placate a hostile judge. Starting from his time as a green recruit and ending at the peak of his career, he steers us through the complexities and ethical dilemmas in the life of a prosecutor, where the battle in the courtroom is only the culmination of long and intricate investigative work.

Barbara Ehrenreich (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): In Bright-Sided (Metropolitan), Ehrenreich exposes the downside of America’s penchant for positive thinking. “Bright, incisive, provocative thinking from a top-notch nonfiction writer,” praises Kirkus.

Gringa: A Contradictory Girlhood (Powells Books on Hawthorne, @7:30pm): Torn between the high socioeconomic status of her father and the bohemian lifestyle of her mother, Melissa Hart tells a compelling story of contradiction in the coming-of-age memoir Gringa: A Contradictory Girlhood (Seal).

Friday October 23-

L. J. Sellers presents Secrets to Die For (Murder By The Book, @12:00pm): L. J. Sellers is a Eugene author. She has followed up her debut novel, The Sex Club, with Secrets to Die For. Detective Wade Jackson must solve the murder of a social worker and find a rapist who is becoming more violent. Stop by and chat informally with her.

SHOW: The Angry Orts & The Glyptodons (In Other Words Women’s Books and Resources, @7:00pm): The Angry Orts are a frantic and dancey local band sporting disco-punk tendencies mired in wailing Blondie-like vocals and catchy poppy riffs. Admired by the Portland Mercury and the Seattle Inquirer, You’ll find yourself humming the songs for days after a show. Also playing are The Glyptodons, a summery sugary indiepop group that will chase your beginning-of-fall blues away. These groups are Portland sexy and they’re excited to meet you.

The Demon King (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): The Seven Realms will tremble in The Demon King (Hyperion), the stunning new page-turner from bestselling author Cinda Williams Chima.

Massacred for Gold: The Chinese in Hells Canyon (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): In 1887, more than 30 Chinese gold miners were massacred on the Oregon side of Hells Canyon. Gregory Nokes’s Massacred for Gold (Oregon State University) unearths evidence that points to an improbable gang of rustlers and schoolboys as the killers.

Saturday October 24-

Voices In Verse (Cedar Mill Community Library, @10:00am-11:00am): Bring along a cup of coffee and share your own poetry or listen to others read their favorites. The group meets on the fourth Saturday morning of each month in the library’s upstairs meeting room.

Historic Zinesters Talking (Central Library, @2:00pm): Meet some of the original creators of zines in Portland. Features Sean Tejaratchi creator of the zine “Craphound,” an internationally known zine of clip art, and Chloe Eudaly, founder of Reading Frenzy, one of Portland’s first zine stores.

Honeybee: From Hive to Home, Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper (Pastaworks, @2:00pm): Honeybee (Black Dog & Leventhal) is Marina Marchese’s charming and personal account of abandoning the rat race to live blissfully as a beekeeper and honey entrepreneur — plus everything you’d ever want to know about bees. This event includes a honey tasting.

Sunday October 25-

Architecture, Power and Justice in Ragtime-era Portland (Central Library, @2:00pm): Community discussion moderated by architectural writer/Portland Monthly editor Randy Gragg, featuring historian Jan Dilg and Chet Orloff (director of the Museum of the City) and Philip Niles, author of Beauty of the City: A.E. Doyle, Portland’s Architect, exploring the intersections of architecture, wealth and power and social justice in turn-of-the-last-century Portland.

Cosponsored by AIA Center for Architecture, in conjunction with the Portland Architecture and Design Festival and Portland Center Stage

October Treats Feature Poetry And Long-Ago Tales (Lake Oswego Moonstruck Chocolate, @6:30pm): Featuring the Latest Work by Northwest Authors: Jerry Isom, David Oates, Penelope Scambly Schott, Joseph A. Soldati, and hosted by Joan Maiers.  Arrive early to order beverages and chocolate for enjoying this magic interweaving of imagery and story. Free and Open to the Public. Donations welcomed to support a girls’ orphanage in Little Artibonite, Haiti.

Spare Room presents Peter O’Leary and Michael Autrey (Concordia Coffee House, @7:30pm, $5 suggested donation): Michael Autrey was raised in Oregon, and attended schools in France, Greece, and his home town of Portland. From the Genre of Silence was published by Dos Madres Press in 2008. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago, and has lived and worked in Prague, Geneva, New York, Washington DC, rural Paraguay, and south India. He resides in Portland.

Peter O’Leary’s books include Depth Theology, Watchfulness, A Mystical Theology of the Limbic Fissure, and Wren/Omen. Benedicite is forthcoming soon from Answer Tag Home Press. He lives in Berwyn, Illinois, and teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Vocations to poetry and religion have committed him to the pursuit of an itinerarium mentis in deum, the journey of the mind to God, with particular attention devoted to the mystagogical-initiatic and the mytho-poetical.

Jonathan Lethem (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): The author of Motherless Brooklyn returns with Chronic City (Doubleday), his “most ambitious work to date” (Kirkus), a gorgeous, searing portrayal of Manhattanites wrapped in their own delusions, desires, and lies.

For further events check out the links to the community calendars for Tri-County area Libraries: Washington County, Multnomah County, Clackamas County.