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Posted inLGBTQIA+

Author Q&A: Intersex Activist Alicia Roth Weigel on Her New Memoir Inverse Cowgirl

A visit to Powell’s City of Books uncovered no books about intersex experience, so she vowed to write one.
Avatar photo Kye Grant

A crushing visit to Portland’s very own Powell’s City of Books inspired Alicia Roth Weigel to write a memoir about her experience as an intersex activist. We spoke with her about the book and a new documentary she’s featured in, ahead of a book signing at PSU’s 5th Ave Cinema.

Posted inBooks

Multnomah County Library Opens Temporary Northeast Portland Location

MCL users can expect to use University of Oregon’s Library and Learning Center through the summer of 2024.
Avatar photo Suzette Smith

A new, temporary Multnomah County Library location opened today, at the University of Oregon campus in Northeast Portland. In a press release, MCL said patrons can expect to use the short-term location through the summer of 2024—as it is meant to offset the system’s renovation and construction projects, which have left a significant number of […]

Posted inMusic

Portland’s Coolest New Record Shop Is Three Record Stores, a Bookstore, a Radio Station, and a Label

Avatar photo Ben Salmon

Andrew Neerman had just moved his Beacon Sound record store and label HQ from one space to another when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived and significantly complicated running a retail operation. Almost immediately, Neerman shuttered the shop, even before the state of Oregon mandated the closure of many retail businesses. When he talks about it now, […]

Posted inBooks

2023 Was the Summer of Closed Libraries in Multnomah County—Here’s Why

Avatar photo Taylor Griggs

It can be easy to take public libraries for granted. The free (tax-funded) service allows anyone with a library card to skim through books, access resources like computers and public archives, or just chill out in a climate-controlled space.  “It’s a real anti-capitalist move to utilize the library,” said Katie O’Dell, a Multnomah County Library […]

Posted inBooks

Portland Book Festival 2023 Authors, Ranked by Lit Crowd Gasps

Jonathan Lethem returns, Fermenter chef Aaron Adams co-authored a cookbook with Liz Crain, and Naomi Alderman sneaks Portlanders some preview copies of The Future.
Avatar photo Suzette Smith

Every year, for one crisp day in November, local lit-focused nonprofit Literary Arts holds a festival of books, named—quite literally—Portland Book Festival. Hailed as “the largest festival of its kind in the Pacific Northwest,” the event brings local and nationally-recognized authors to the Portland Art Museum and surrounding partner venues for live panels, interviews, and […]

Posted inComics

An LA Comics Fest Comes to Create Permanent Damage in Portland

Floating World hosts the grimy indie comics fair in Lloyd Center’s old Ulta Beauty salon.
Avatar photo Ben Coleman

If you like your comics filled with indie grime, you’ll want to get over to the former Ulta Beauty Salon in the Lloyd Center this weekend for Permanent Damage PDX. If you like your cartoons the same, Clinton Street screens such shorts the night before.

Floating World’s Jason Leivian partnered up with festival organizer Keenan Keller to bring LA’s Permanent Damage show to Portland’s vaporwave home base. Comic books? In the mall?

Posted inBooks

Hi Honey, I’m Homo Is History That Won’t Depress You During Pride

Culture critic Matt Baume not only recounts Sitcom TV’s tea—he reads the leaves.
Avatar photo Suzette Smith

Queer history has had some terrific chroniclers. Open a copy of the Mayor of Castro Street in a bookshop and read the first few pages—now, I dare you to put it down. (Take the Mayor of Castro Street Challenge!) It’s the same with Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution; it’s the same with Let […]

Posted inComic Books

Graphic Novel Review: Mimosa Shows Friends Fucking Up and Figuring It Out

Comics artist Archie Bongiovanni says Tin House took a comic narrative about 30-something queer friendship seriously.
Avatar photo Sam Pape

The story starts with a problem as old as time (or at least the ’70s): A broken Hitachi. “Damn! That’s the third one this year!” a wide-eyed Elise complains to her three friends at brunch. “Did I read a book? No. Did I catch up on work? No. I rewatched Butches in Chains five times […]

Posted inBooks

New Literary Names Sindya Bhanoo and Casey Parks Win Big at the 2023 Oregon Book Awards

Several lesser-known writers won in competition with local literature giants.
Avatar photo Suzette Smith

Literary Arts presented the 2023 Oregon Book Awards at the Armory on Monday, and the results were pleasantly surprising: We saw several lesser-known names win in competition against mighty, more-established Oregon writers. Washington Post reporter Casey Parks took home the creative nonfiction prize for Diary of a Misfit: A Memoir and a Mystery—her partial memoir, […]

Posted inBooks

The Crying in H Mart Paperback Release Will Be Author Michelle Zauner’s First Book Tour

A  Q & A with the author and musician on growing up in Oregon, moving to South Korea, and writing a screenplay based on her memoir.
Avatar photo Rose Wong

Ahead of her Portland stop on March 31, the Mercury spoke with musician and author Michelle Zauner about going on her first book tour for the paperback release of “Crying in H Mart,” writing a screenplay based on her memoir, and being shaped by the places where we live and go.

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