Guess who’s coming to Portland Book Festival? Check out the lineup

Published 9:25 pm Tuesday, September 12, 2023

The biggest literary event in Portland is coming up Nov. 4, and the Portland Book Festival has announced its lineup.

Hosted by Literary Arts, it’ll be held at seven venues and on 11 stages in downtown Portland’s South Park Blocks, including Portland Art Museum. A new venue is The Judy Kafoury Center for the Youth Arts (“The Judy”), home of Northwest Children’s Theater at 1000 S.W. Broadway.

More than 100 local and national authors will be in attendance, and there’ll be a book fair and local food trucks. Authors Michael Lewis (“Going Infinite”) and Viet Thanh Nguyen (“A Man of Two Faces”) will appear at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in additional ticketed events. The festival’s Cover to Cover, a week of free neighborhood literary encounters, takes place Oct. 30 to Nov. 5 at multiple locations.

“As we continue to move through these strange and troubling times, we look to stories to heal and unite us,” said Andrew Proctor, executive director of Literary Arts. “Portland Book Festival’s programming this year reaffirms and expands our commitment to community and invites a diverse, intergenerational audience to engage around literature in ways that inspire conversation, understanding, and joy.”

Fiction and nonfiction authors to be in attendance (with recent titles):

Fiction: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, “Chain-Gang All-Stars”; Kathleen Alcott, “Emergency”; Naomi Alderman, “The Future”; Jazmina Barrera, “Cross-Stitch”; Patrick deWitt, “The Librarianist”; Debra Magpie Earling, “The Lost Journals of Sacajewea”; John Freeman, “Freeman’s: Conclusions”; Megan Kamalei Kakimoto, “Every Drop Is a Man’s Nightmare”; Lydia Kiesling, “Mobility”; Angie Kim, “Happiness Falls”; E. J. Koh, “The Liberators”; Edan Lepucki, “Time’s Mouth”; Jonathan Lethem, “Brooklyn Crime Novel”; Ayana Mathis, “The Unsettled”; Tim O’Brien, “America Fantastica”; Curtis Sittenfeld, “Romantic Comedy”; Justin Torres, “Blackouts”; Luis Alberto Urrea, “Good Night, Irene”; Vauhini Vara, “This Is Salvaged”; Michelle Wildgen, “Wine People” Alice Winn, “In Memoriam.”

Nonfiction: Aaron Adams & Liz Crain, “Fermenter”; Erica Berry, “Wolfish”; Cat Bohannon, “Eve”; Roz Chast, “I Must Be Dreaming”; Nicole Chung, “A Living Remedy”; Stacey Mei Yan Fong, “50 Pies, 50 States”; John Freeman, “Freeman’s”; Santi Elijah Holley, “An Amerikan Family”; Sabrina Imbler, “How Far the Light Reaches”; Mitchell S. Jackson, “Fly”; Kate Lebo, “Pie School”; Michael Lewis, “Going Infinite” (additional ticket required); Navied Mahdavian, “This Country”; Hetty Lui McKinnon, “Tenderheart”; Viet Thanh Nguyen, “A Man of Two Faces” (additional ticket required); Roger Reeves, “Dark Days”; Safiya Sinclair, “How to Say Babylon”; Angela Sterritt, “Unbroken”; Jane Wong, “Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City.”

There’ll also be authors in poetry, young adult, middle grade and picture book and pop-up events with others at Portland Book Festival. More: pdxbookfest.org/lineup.

General admission is $15 in advance and $25 at the door.

More: pdxbookfest.org.