Literary Site Type: Reading Venue

Barnes & Noble: Fifth Avenue

Open seven days a week, this location includes a café and has frequent events with authors, celebrities, and musicians. Along with a wide selection of books, there is also a department for toys and games as well as vinyl records.

C & P Coffee Company

Since 2003 C & P Coffee Company has been building friendships around community and coffee. It proudly serves Lighthouse Roasters fine coffees as well as a rotating selection of beer and wine. It offers locally sourced baked goods including vegan and wheat free options.

The coffee house is also home to a variety of events including live music, open mics, poetry and storytelling, arts and crafts fairs, lectures and more—including Poetry Bridge, a reading series that features guest writer and an open mic.

Holocene

Holocene is a music and arts venue, nightclub, and events space in Southeast Portland. Since 2003, they have hosted a broad range of events, including live music, touring acts, dance and multimedia parties, performances, screenings, poetry readings, The Moth storytelling series, discussions, community gatherings, and more.

Porter Square Books

Founded in 2004, Porter Square Books is a general new bookstore featuring contemporary and classic literature for both kids and adults, as well as greeting cards, magazines, and unique gifts. The store hosts many events by national and local authors, sells books for other organizations in the community, and organizes book fairs and author appearances in local schools.

University of Chicago’s Program in Creative Writing

The University of Chicago’s Program in Creative Writing has been proud to host readings and lectures by writers including Daniel Alarcón, Charles D’Ambrosio, Lydia Davis, Karen Russell, Zadie Smith, Nick Laird, and many others. 

Moreover, their Program in Poetry and Poetics hosts the Poem Present Reading and Lecture Series as well as the annual Pearl Andelson Sherry Memorial Poetry Reading and Lecture. All events are free and open to the public unless noted otherwise.

Village Books and Paper Dreams

Each year more than three hundred events are hosted including regional, national, and international superstars in the literary world. Authors include Sherman Alexie, Garrison Keillor, Ralph Nadar, Meg Tilly, Jonathan Safran Foer, David Suzuki, Terry Tempest Williams, Rick Steves, Ivan Doig and hundreds more. Many events have been fundraisers for local organizations such as the Whatcom Literacy Council, Northwest Indian College, Bellingham Boys & Girls Club and others. The bookstore has two locations, one in Bellingham and one in Lynden.

American University’s Creative Writing Program

In a city long known for its creative activity and writers—including Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Katherine Anne Porter, Sterling Brown, William Meredith, and Doris Grumbach—American University continues the tradition by serving as a lively venue for creative work by both established and emerging writers. Through their Visiting Writers Series, they bring renowned writers from across the country to read their work.

Courtesy of American University, by Jeff Watts.

Red Emma’s

Red Emma’s is the worker cooperative behind the restaurant, bookstore, and community events space, dedicated to putting principles of solidarity and sustainability into practice in a democratic workplace. They host a variety of talks, panels, readings, workshops, and screenings, almost all are entirely free to attend.

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