Reading Local: Portland

Portland Noir is a collection of original short stories that is all over the map — if the map is of the Rose City. The stories are set in different neighborhoods that collectively make up the seedy underbelly of Portland.
The anthology, edited by Kevin Sampsell, is part of the Akashic Books Noir series — “a groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book.”

The Portland stories take readers to many a gritty, greasy corner of Portland, where junkies break into the wrong houses, lesbians fantasize about strangling the men in their beds, and love gets strange. The stories come in many shades of dark, from creepy (“Baby, I’m Here”) to clever (“Shanghaied”); violent (“The Wrong House”) to sadly sweet (“Alzheimer’s Noir”).

If there is anything generally missing, it is high-end noir. The stories do not venture much past seedy motels, dive bars, and strip clubs, although there must be plenty of noir to be found in tonier venues. There are a few references to the trendy Pearl District, but a story or two involving the residents of Portland’s ritzier neighborhoods would have enhanced the collection.

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We are pleased to announce the event we’ve been working on for a few weeks. The first event Reading Local has ever put on and we are excited that it really sets the tone for what we would like to do with Reading Local.

Reading Local and Writers’ Dojo are proud to present: Read to Rebuild – A Haiti Benefit Reading

Haiti still needs our help. They must rebuild. Let the Portland literary community come together to do our part and help Mercy Corps in their efforts to support Haiti. (You can see our Fundraising Page Here.)

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Howdy Book Folk!

I know you are out enjoying President’s Day, but just in case you are looking for some wonderful links to local sites talking about Books, well I have a few right here in my bag just for you.

Oregon Live
Portland writer Lidia Yuknavitch signs two-book deal with Hawthorne Books
-The venerable Mr. Baker at the Oregonian got this one before we did, but it’s exciting news for Hawthorne Books, Ms. Yuknavitch and all of us. Looking forward to these books.

Publish your own book? It’s easy. Author Steve Almond explains
-Okay so this ends up being a link to a link to the article on The Rumpus (which I love by the way), but I think Self-publishing should be a continued conversation in today. Not only to review its successes and horrible pitfalls, but to help remove the stigma of such a plan of action for authors.

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Hi Book Folk! So unfortunately, this is going to be a Short Edition of the weekly roundup. I won’t make excuses, but I will say I will need a month of detox and some good calm reading to recover from a ridiculous weekend. Just too much. I look forward to the tasty words of Cormac McCarthy, Charles D’Ambrosio and maybe finishing the last few stories I have left in Portland Noir. And I will be back next week with a full host of links for your Portland Blog Roundup.

Hawthorne Books
Frank Meeink’s Lecture at Washington and Jefferson College – Nov. 19 2009
-An amazing several part video link to a lecture by Frank Meeink, whose story is told in Hawthorne Books coming title Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead

Powell’s Book Blog
A Very Fine Engagement
-Now I am truly, truly sad I couldn’t make it to Kevin Sampsell’s reading last week for his book A Common Pornography. He also managed to squeeze in a proposal to his girlfriend! Oh and there’s some other news at the bottom of this post, but it’s not nearly as exciting as the warm fuzzy from the engagement pictures.

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Today’s Featured Book Event:

Kevin Sampsell (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): From writer and Future Tense publisher Kevin Sampsell comes A Common Pornography (Harper Perennial), a searing memoir, told in vignettes, that captures the history of an American family. Intertwining recollections of small-town youth with darker threads of family history, Sampsell reveals how incest, madness, betrayal, and death can seem positively normal. “Embarrassing and honest, heartbreaking and hilarious,” hails Willy Vlautin, author of Northline and The Motel Life. “A great memoir from one of the Northwest’s best writers.”

Other Book Events Today:

Title Raves-Book Blogs (Central Library, @12:00pm): Explore the online book scene with local literary bloggers Laini Taylor, Alison Hallett, Gabe Barber and Emily-Jane Dawson.

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Well Good Day Portland Book Folk! Here we are again on Monday with another round of Links that I and others of the RL crew find interesting.

Portland Fiction Project
Sin Sanai: Part Two
-Tonight the Portland Fiction Project performs at the Maiden. 7pm. Are you checking our their site every day for the new fiction that goes up? Great stuff from prolific local authors.

Poets & Writers
Floyd Skloot Recommends
-Okay so PW isn’t a Blog, but Local Author Floyd Skloot details a bit of advice for writers and the ideas that come from everywhere.

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Every Saturday we will bring you links to articles from around the web featuring members of Portland’s lit community.  Please feel free to pass along any you come across as well, by emailing us at portland@readinglocal.com, and we will include them in next week’s edition of Short Stories.

Underland Press Founder Victoria Blake is interviewed on Fatally Yours:

Fatally Yours: How did your time at Dark Horse help prepare you for launching your own publishing house, Underland Press? In what ways were you unprepared?

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From what we could find (please contact us if you have an event you would like us to add to this or future schedules), the local book events for the week of January 30, 2010 through February 5, 2010 are:

Saturday January 30-

Ink Splash (Writers’ Dojo, @10:00am, $15 suggested donation): Ink Splash is an annual workshop for young writers offered in conjunction with the submission period for Ink-Filled Page’s Youth Issue. Join the editors and special guest poetry ambassador Celeste Thompson for an inspiring day of literary creation. The day will include poetry writing prompts as well as personal creation time. We’ll also workshop one of your poems or stories, highlighting your writing talent and offering suggestions for further exploration. Light refreshments will be provided. This workshop is geared toward young adults in grades 6–12. Bring: Four copies of a poem or story to workshop.

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The ABA announced the selections for the February 2010 Indie Next List yesterday, and among those chosen was Kevin Sampsell’s new release A Common Pornography: A Memoir (Harper Perennial).  Marketing materials promoting all of the selections are in the mail now and will be displayed in indie stores across the country beginning February 1st.

Jackie Blem from Denver’s Tattered Cover Book Store had this to say in nominating A Common Pornography:

“This book is different–a personal [look at the author's] family and his life as a young man that he calls ‘a memory experiment.’ Written primarily in short vignettes, A Common Pornography is brutally honest and gritty. Sampsell glosses over nothing–abuse, drugs, sex, relationships of all sorts. He’s not the sort to change much of anything to protect the innocent because frankly, none of them are that innocent. This book is bold and brave and extremely difficult to put down.”

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Today’s Featured Book Event:

Historic Zinesters Talking-Kevin Sampsell and Leanne Grabel (Central Library, @6:30pm): Meet some of the original creators of zines in Portland. Kevin Sampsell, of Future Tense Books and Powell’s City of Books, and Leanne Grabel, poet, performer and teacher, discuss the development of chapbooks, poetry and zines in Portland.

Other Book Events Today:

Bill Siverly and Barbara Drake (Broadway Books, @7:00pm): Two very fine teachers and poets, Bill Siverly and Barbara Drake, will be with us tonight to read from new books. Bill Siverly, originally from Idaho, has lived in Portland since 1972. He is co-editor of Windfall: A Journal of Poetry of Place, which features poetry of the Pacific Northwest and appears twice yearly on the equinoxes. Bill’s new book, Clearwater Way, is a journey from the Washington Coast up the Columbia, Snake, and Clearwater Rivers and into the woods of north Idaho. The journey is also back in time, to his childhood, and is inspired by the Wasco myth cycle about Coyote, who traveled the same terrain, creating land forms, resources, and cultural practices. Barbara Drake grew up at the Oregon coast. She is the author of a number of poetry chapbooks, a memoir, and a college textbook about writing poetry. Barbara’s new book is Driving 100. The major theme of this work is that the past in all of its mystery and wonder is driving relentlessly into the dark. Barbara’s strong voice and sympathetic observation create a haven in her poetry for things which are passing away, and in these poems they go on living in the light of her unique poetic reality, exquisite in line, image, memory and emotion.

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The “Recipe For Wordstock Delight” posts will be a series of brief profiles of the events surrounding this years Wordstock Festival.  Inspired by the “Be a Literary Omnivore” catchphrase adopted by Wordstock and suggested by contributor Spencer Cushing, the “Recipe” posts will appear throughout the next week.

P:EAR invites you to “enjoy an evening on Portland’s literary dark side” with a benefit reading tonight (10-7) featuring the top three stories from their “noir flash fiction contest.” The contest was judged by Portland Noir editor Kevin Sampsell, who chose Tom Larsen’s story One Night in July as the winner.  Portland Noir authors Dan DeWeese, Zoe Trope and Jess Walter will read, and a literary themed live-auction will further help to support p:ear’s innovative program for Portland’s homeless youth. Regional food and wines will be available to whet the appetite.

Here is a little bit more about P:EAR taken from their website: Read the rest of this entry »