- Olivia Storm
Portland’s literary community boasts great local publishing houses (like Tin House and Hawthorne Books), an absolute wealth of micro-presses, and literary all-stars (like Ursula K. Le Guin, Chuck Palahniuk, Tom Spanbauer, Lidia Yuknavitch, and Matthew Dickman, to name just a few)—but finding out where to see readings in this town can be difficult. For starters, places that consistently host readings are few and far between, and many of the reading series we do have aren’t always found in the likeliest of places, or even widely advertised. To make it all a little clearer, we’ve created this guide.
Old Reliables
These are places you can always depend on when you’re in the mood to be read to:
Beautiful wood bookshelf backdrop, different levels, standing room only, people packed in: Walk by Mother Foucault’s Bookshop (523 SE Morrison) during a reading and you’ll see a fine-looking event. And no wonder: It’s arguably Portland’s best specialty bookshop.
Broadway Books (1714 NE Broadway) isn’t showy about their events—some folding chairs and a podium in the mystery section—but they create a kind of reading you rarely get in Portland. Broadway’s a place where people get some knitting done while listening to readings, and where Q&As are more like friendly conversations—the audience talks as much as the author.
With poetry and visual art pairings, poetry slams, and fiction and creative nonfiction authors, Glyph Café and Arts Space (804 NW Couch) has good lighting and a decent atmosphere, but also has the feel of a pretty new space.