Book Talk: Erin L. McCoy in Coversation with Erica Berry at Literary Arts
Tuesday, May 5, 2026. 6:30-8:00 pm. 716 SE Grand Street.
The Literary Arts Bookstore and Cafe is excited to welcome poet Erin L. McCoy to celebrate her debut novel, Underlake. McCoy will be in conversation with Erica Berry.
Portland Lit Mic at Rose City Book Pub
Friday, May 8, 2026. Sign up at 6:30 pm, event at 7 pm. 1329 NE Fremont Street.
Open mic event. Free and open to the public!
The People’s Poets BIPOC Open Mic at Akadi
Sunday, May 10, 2026. 1:00 pm-3:30 pm. 1001 SE Division Street.
$10 presale tickets, $15 at the door. The People’s Poets is an open mic curated to amplify marginalized voices. Everyone is welcome, but the mic is reserved for BIPOC poets. Hosted every second Sunday at Akadi. Follow @thepeoplespoets on Instagram for more details.
Open Poetry Night at Covert Cafe
Monday, May 11, 2026. 7-9 pm. 803 SE 82nd Avenue.
Free and open to the public.
Contra La Migra at Mother Foucault’s
Tuesday, May 12, 2026. 7-9 pm. 1715 SE Grand Avenue.
Poetry by Amelia Diaz Ettinger & Stephanie Adams-Santos
PSU Creative Writing Series Presents Novuyo Tshuma and M. Mick Powell at PSU
Wednesday, May 13, 2026. 6 pm. SMSU Room 328
Novuyo Rosa Tshuma is a Kalanga (who occupy land in Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa) and Ndebele (Zimbabwe and South Africa) novelist and short story writer. Her novel Digging Stars (W. W. Norton, 2023) was a National Book Foundation Science + Literature Selection, and her novel House of Stone (W. W. Norton, 2019) won the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award and the 2019 Bulawayo Arts Award for Outstanding Fiction, and was listed for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, the Dylan Thomas Prize, and other honors. Her novella-and-short story collection, Shadows (Kwela Books, South Africa 2013), won the 2014 Herman Bosman Prize for Literature and was listed for the Etisalat Prize.
A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Tshuma holds a B.S. in Economics & Finance from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa and a PhD in Literature & Creative Writing from the University of Houston, Texas. Tshuma also serves as a reviewer and editor, having helped pioneer publications such as The Bare Life Review (2017-2021), the only literary journal devoted entirely to work by immigrant and refugee. She now teaches Creative Writing at Reed College and community-led workshops globally.
m. mick powell is a queer Black Cabo Verdean femme, poet, artist, educator, and the author of DEAD GIRL CAMEO (One World/Random House), winner of the 2026 Stonewall Book Award and listed as a Best Book of the Year by the New York Public Library and Debutiful.
mick’s work situates Black queer femme existence and experience as rupture, revolution, revelation, and revival. They are the author of the chapbooks threesome in the last Toyota Celica (winner of the Host Publications Chapbook Prize, Fall 2023) and chronicle the body (winner of Yemassee Journal’s second Annual Chapbook Contest, 2019). Their poems have been nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology and a Pushcart Prize and have been published in Split Lip, RHINO, Indiana Review, Muzzle Magazine, and elsewhere.
For their poetry, mick has been awarded a 2026 Yaddo residency, a 2025 Get the Word Out fellowship from Poets & Writers, a 2024 fellowship from Torch Literary Arts, a 2023 Tin House Residency, a research award from the Barnard Library, writing fellowships from the Hurston/Wright Foundation and the Ruth Stone House, and several other recognitions. They currently teach at Bay Path University in the MFA in Creative Nonfiction Writing Program and at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in Crime and Justice Studies.
Book Talk: Stephanie Fairyington in Conversation with Andi Zeisler at Literary Arts
Thursday, May 14, 2026. 6:30-8 pm. 716 SE Grand Street.
The Literary Arts Bookstore and Cafe is excited to welcome Stephanie Fairyington to celebrate their book Ugly. Fairyington will be joined in conversation by Andi Zeisler.
Book Talk: Staged Reading at Literary Arts
Friday, May 15, 2026. 6:30-8:30 pm. 716 SE Grand Street.
Join us at The Literary Arts Bookstore and Cafe for a staged reading of Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them by A. Rey Pamatmat, directed by Terry Kitagawa.
Constellation Reading Series at Bishop & Wilde
Thursday, May 14, 2026. 7-9 pm. 2601 NW Thurman St.
Readers TBD
Boca Ardiente Open Mic at Kilo D’Cofi
Sunday, May 17, 2026. 4:30-6:00 pm. 1615 NE Killingsworth Street.
Come share something on the mic or just share some good coffee with our comunidad!
Letter Writing at Broadway Books
Monday, May 25, 2026. 4:30-6:30 pm. 1714 NE Broadway Street.
Join us for another letter writing social hosted by Emma Swartz of Squeezebox Press! Meet like-minded snail mail enthusiasts, write letters, and make some new friends. Bring your favorite stationary, markers, washi tape, and accoutrements, or just share what’s provided. It’s always fun and we love welcoming new people who want to join us!
Squeezebox Press, run by Emma Swartz, makes stationery, postcards, posters, broadsides, and more on a 100 year old press in Portland. Find more information at www.squeezeboxpress.com
The Literary Arts Bookstore and Cafe is excited to welcome Steven Pfau to celebrate his hybrid memoir, Say Nephew. Pfau will be joined in conversation by Milo Muise.
This monthly reading series is intended to prioritize the safety, creativity, and stories of Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color.
Come listen to our featured readers, or sign up to share your work in our open mic. Readings will be followed by a short community discussion. Hosted by Kyle Yoshioka and Jessica Meza-Torres. The featured reader for May will be announced soon.
This event is open to everyone, but only people who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color will be invited to read. If you have any questions, please contact Jessica Meza-Torres at jmezatorres24@gmail.com or Kyle Yoshioka at kyle.yoshioka@gmail.com.
Queer Poetry Night at Always Here Bookstore