Where to Go for a Bookish Fall in Portland!
Fall has always been an eventful season here in Portland, Oregon. With the colder weather setting in, a little too late in my opinion, us Portlanders get to experience the pumpkin patch, corn mazes, apple picking, fall farmers markets, and the ever-so-coveted color-changing leaves. It’s true that the city becomes the poster child for cozy days/nights, so how about a good book event to go with it?
One thing we at Hellebore love is a good book festival/event/launch to get the perfect story in our hands and immediately on our TBR list, as shown by the book crawl we recently attended. But if you’re not from Portland or are just getting into the literary scene here, where do you go to find these events? While the literary community isn’t silent here, it’s still something you have to seek out for yourself. Fret not! I have compiled a list of places and some events for you to check out and wonder about. For you writers, there are some items in here for you as well!
This event is held every November by Literary Arts, a nonprofit organization in Portland that is committed to bringing the best bookish and literary experiences to us all. It is a one-weekend event that consists of a Friday night “preview” called Readers Night. A limited number of tickets are available for patrons to go and walk around the Portland Art Museum to look at the vendors without all the hustle and bustle of the main festival event on Saturday. Vendors include bookstores, literary magazines, indie publishers, indie authors, writing programs, and so much more. If you want to just meander around and shop at multiple bookstores at once, I highly recommend getting a ticket for this. Purchase here!
The festival also invites authors to put on conversations and do pop-up readings all throughout the SW part of downtown, and it is an incredible thing to see. This year, the dragon lady herself, Rebecca Yarros, is holding an author talk, and I was having flashbacks to the Eras Tour Ticketmaster queue trying to get my hands on this one. We also have the fantastic opportunity to see Kamala Harris come talk about her memoir, 107 Days, in which she recounts her time on the 2024 campaign trail. Both events are sold out, but there are plenty of others to check out.
This is a wonderful coffee shop and small bookstore that holds many events throughout the week. The owner hosts local authors for readings and conversations with attendees. They also hold several writing workshops, most notably, the “Sit Down, Shut Up, and Write” workshop. There are also writing socials, book publishing Q&As, and story time hours for young kids. Definitely stop by and experience the community the owner has created for literary people. You can find their events on their website here.
This place was created for book lovers to enjoy a cup of tea or a pint of beer and dive into their book. They hold events every day, not all book-related but all supporting local creatives. All month they hold zine meetups, open writing sessions, open mics, writing groups and workshops, and readings from local authors publishing essays, short stories, poetry, and even some erotica if you’re feeling spicy. This pub is a NE staple and safe space. You can find their events calendar on their website here.
Book Launch: Cepka: A Memoir in Beaded Essays by Leah Altman
From Ooligan Press comes a rich narrative from alumnus Leah Altman, who writes about her upbringing as an adopted child who was removed from her Indigenous tribe and given to a family in Portland. Leah takes you through her experience of finding herself, her culture, and her spirit in her personal essays dedicated to her daughter. This book launches November 11, 2025. Details will be posted on the Ooligan website here.
Grand Gesture Books
This is a relatively new book store that opened up about a year ago in the heart of downtown. It’s a queer, black woman-owned store focused on the romance genre, but they carry books of many genres. The owner opened this shop to create a safe space for anyone who needed it. She often holds events to help everyone make friends with other bookish people, and she started a monthly book club that you can sign up for! Grand Gestures has branched out into now hosting author events at their shop, and they recently booked one at the Alberta Rose Theatre with Emily McIntire, author of Burning Daylight. Their Instagram has the Linktree for all of their events and signups: @grandgesturebooks.
Other shops that do author events are:
These are just a few of the bookshops that curate events for their community. So many more exist with their own niche styles, themes, and interests. Shop local! Support the community! ✿
