While the acts of reading and writing are often enjoyed as a solitary activity, Literary Arts is a nonprofit that aims to foster a community around the cultivation and enjoyment of literature in Portland. Literary Arts does this by coordinating a variety of events catered to people who love reading and writing. Their events range from writing classes for both adults and youth, to financially supporting up-and-coming authors with the Oregon Literary Fellowship. Additionally, Literary Arts holds reading seminars to engage discussion about novels, and hosts Portland Arts & Lectures, which welcomes accomplished authors to speak at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. These opportunities along with Literary Arts’ mission to engage readers, support writers, and inspire the next generation culminate at their biggest annual event: the PDX Book Festival.
The 2023 PDX Book Festival took place on Nov. 4 at the Portland Art Museum and its neighboring venues in the South Park Blocks. The festival brings in more than 100 presenters who lead author sessions and writing workshops. Literary Arts aims to make attending their events as accessible as possible. They do this by funding the majority of the costs for their events through support from corporations as well as individual donations. For the PDX Book Festival, this allows the price of tickets to only cost $15 when paid in advance or $25 if tickets are bought the day of the event. Along with this, there are free festival passes for anyone 17 and younger to take advantage of by providing their high school ID on the day of the event. Franklin students could also access free passes through the Franklin library.
Tickets give attendees access to the many exciting opportunities provided at the festival. A large aspect of the festival is Q&A sessions and book signings with select authors. Olivia Jones Hall, the director of youth programs for Literary Arts, describes how through these sessions “the festival gives folks the opportunity to see authors they know well, and also to discover new writers.” Taking place across different venues throughout the day, one can pick and choose from a handful of author discussions happening at once to decide who they would like to hear from. Literary Arts provides a large variety in the authors present at the festival, ranging in both genres and ages of the intended audiences. This means that, at any one time, there will probably be discussions happening that you find interesting — no matter where your passions lie. The array of author events presented at this year’s festival ranged from discourse over celebrity gossip to the complex histories of the American transcontinental railroad.
The Q&As are hosted by moderators who guide the discussions with the authors. These moderators skillfully lead conversations that can vary from the craft of the author’s writing, discussion of upcoming novels, and even funny or insightful anecdotes from the author’s life. For attendees with any pending questions you would love to ask an author, there is always time taken at the end of the sessions for audience-led questions. Hall highlights the value of the opportunity to talk with an author one admires, stating, “One of the biggest impacts I’ve seen from students attending lectures or talking with an accomplished author at their school is that they feel empowered to follow their dreams of pursuing a creative career.”
These author Q&A sessions are a big part of the festival as they are a chance to foster the community that Literary Arts aims to create. Kelly McWilliams, an author of a variety of young adult fiction such as her latest novel: “Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay,” hosted a Q&A at the festival. McWilliams spoke on the opportunities the PDX Book Festival holds for authors and cites how the festival not only allows authors the chance to publicize and share their works but also connects them with other writers and readers. McWilliams shares her love for getting to nerd out at the Q&A sessions about her writing and all the research that goes along with it, highlighting that “when you have a literary organization collaborating with a city to celebrate books, and getting so many people from the community engaged, that’s just magic.”
Jane Wong is another author who took part in a Q&A session, discussing family, poetry, memoir writing, and ancestral care alongside fellow memoirist Safiya Sinclair. Wong writes both poetry and nonfiction, and in her time at the festival she found how important it was for her to be able to meet and connect with readers and authors who share similar life experiences. She mentions how another one of the most important parts for her was being able to “share stories from BIPOC writers!”
While these author panels are taking place, there are exhibitors set up selling and promoting all sorts of book-related things. Weaving through the many booths, you can stop to buy some unique books or talk with publishers promoting the next steps for the publication of writing. Some of the most interesting booths sell items that relate to books in a looser sense, including all types of tea — perfect for drinking while you read, unique jewelry — to match the theme in your favorite book, and beautiful handmade leatherbound notebooks — perfect for writing all your story ideas.
A bonus to the festival is access to the resident art exhibits in the Portland Art Museum. This not only means you can take the time to walk around and appreciate the art on display, but you can also enjoy the pop-up readings presented by authors that surround the exhibits. These readings are unique as the authors are paired with select artwork from the museum. Authors read their literature and are visually supported by another piece of art, allowing a display of the intersection that is present among different art forms.
Literary Arts aims to make the PDX Book Festival a place to support the cultivation of writing for aspiring authors. This is achieved by bringing authors to share their advice and inspiration, or through hosting writing workshops brought to the festival by Write Around Portland. Chris McDonald, executive director of Write Around Portland, describes how the organization hosted “three creative writing workshops for youth writers — middle and high schoolers — as well as four ‘pop-up’ creative writing workshops in the Portland Art Museum for all ages.” With set themes for each youth workshop and the pop-ups aimed towards using the art in the museums as inspiration, these free-writes create a special environment to write; share if comfortable; and receive positive, specific feedback.
McDonald expands on the power the structure of these free-writes have for aspiring authors, stating, “This practice gives people the time and space to really think and reflect — time which is hard to come by … we [also] encourage people to share their free-writes. The fact that the writing isn’t ‘finished’ is what’s important to us, because that vulnerability that comes with sharing an imperfect piece of writing really connects people together and results in lasting bonds and friendships.” Instead of focusing on creating a “good” end product, these free-writes provide the space for writers — both young and old — to focus on expressing themselves and to build a writing community.
Opportunities for enthusiasts of both reading as well as writing reach far past the PDX Book Festival. Specifically for youth, Hall highlights programs she helps coordinate, stating, “Writers in the Schools (WITS) is where we hire local writers to teach creative writing residencies in schools. We also donate books and tickets to students [who] attend our lecture series (Portland Arts & Lectures). As part of that program, we bring each author to a school to have a conversation with students. [Literary Arts] also produces Verselandia, the youth poetry slam that was started by PPS librarians.” Hall adds that students can also take advantage of the College Essay Exchange where Literary Arts brings volunteers into schools to help juniors and seniors “get one-on-one help with their admissions essay from an adult.”
These programs are put into place to support young authors. Hall adds how during the Verslandia poetry slam, Literary Arts creates a space to “appreciate youth poets, and to give those poets a platform to share their words and their stories.” To uplift youth voices further, through WITS, Literary Arts publishes an “anthology of student work each year.” These opportunities can help inspire youth to continue to write and publish work, and Hall finds it is also something special to have on an aspiring writer’s resume, stating, “It’s a real book that is sold on our website, and it gives students the opportunity to have a publication credit before even graduating high school.”
Anyone interested in attending the PDX Book Festival in future years should keep an eye out for the event at the beginning of November, and check out the many author and writing events Literary Arts presents throughout the year on literary-arts.org. The website also shares opportunities to donate or support the nonprofit by volunteering at events like the PDX Book Festival. Whether you want to go to these events solely as a reader who enjoys literature, as a writer, or both, Hall summarizes the beauty of these literary events, saying, “There are thousands of book lovers in one place, just a lot of people who are interested in and curious about the world, and everything it might have to offer, sharing space with each other. There are always a lot of happy faces, and I think people just really enjoy being there.”
