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Susan Orlean and Lidia Yuknavitch’s Portland Book Festival appearances will be some of the weekend’s biggest draws, to say nothing of former Georgia state rep (and one-time Star Trek actress) Stacey Abrams at the Schnitz, or WW culture writer Rachel Saslow’s conversation with National Book Award finalists Omar El Akkad and Karen Russell. You already know why they’re such big draws, so what about some of the writers a little farther down the marquee? Here are a few upcoming PBF events that caught our attention.
Safe as Houses: Cleyvis Natera and Leni Zumas
OPB senior producer Allison Frost moderates a discussion between these two authors under the umbrella topic of how buildings and the spaces they house also work to support existing dynamics within capitalism. Natera’s novel The Grand Paloma Resort is something like if The White Lotus interrogated how money and power affects resort workers while offering a thrilling nonmurder mystery in its throughline. WW previewed an excerpt of Zumas’ third novel Wolf Bells a few weeks back, and now she dives further into the story of a riverside group living home run by an ex-punk singer. 10 am at The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave.
Star-Crossed: Alanna Bennett and Dustin Thao
Multnomah County Library marketing manager Danielle Bylund moderates this discussion on that sweetest of subjects: young love. Alanna Bennett’s debut, The Education of Kia Greer, charts the paths of Kia (daughter of a prominent reality TV star) and rising star Cass and how they navigate desire and big feelings under social media’s magnifying glass, while Thao’s You’ve Found Oliver follows its titular character as he bonds with college student Ben after the latter gets assigned the phone number that once belonged to Oliver’s late best friend. 10:30 am at Brunish Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway.
Graphic Storytelling: Craig Thompson, Shay Mirk and Eleri Mai Harris
Portland Monthly senior associate editor Matthew Trueherz leads a discussion on the impact of graphic novels in the nonfiction realm. With Ginseng Roots, Thompson connects his summers harvesting it in Wisconsin with his siblings to a 300-year global legacy. Mirk and Harris discuss Making Nonfiction Comics, their guide to helping graphic novel writers and readers get into graphic journalism while considering its applications for other nonfiction projects. 11:30 am at the Portland Parks Foundation tent at Shemanski Park, 1010 SW Park St.
Pop Culture Poetry: m. mick powell and Taylor Byas
Slam poetry champion Jae Nichelle leads fellow poets m. mick powell and Taylor Byas through a discussion of how our favorite pop culture subjects not only impact our understanding of gender and sexuality, but how our understanding of fandom, standom and stardom impact our creativity. Sometimes pop culture churns out work that impacts generations for decades, while other times it’s a trap that ensnares our attention and originality. 1:30 pm at Brunish Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway.
Survival: Julian Brave NoiseCat and Chyana Marie Sage
Indigenous writers Chris La Tray, NoiseCat and Sage discuss not only how Native Americans continue to survive genocide and the historical trauma it carries, but how tribes use literature to work together on building cross-cultural understanding and strengthen their bonds. La Tray moderates, while the other two writers will present their new memoirs: NoiseCat’s We Survived the Night and Sage’s Soft as Bones. 1:45 pm at Winningstad Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway.
