The Festival From the City That Loves to Read
This November marks the return of Literary Arts’ Portland Book Festival (PBF), bringing people together to celebrate books, storytelling, and the many ways stories can be told.
Formerly known as Wordstock, PBF was founded in 2005 by Portland writer Larry Colton. In 2015, Literary Arts revived the festival after a two-year hiatus. In the years since, PBF has earned the title of the largest festival of books and storytelling in the Pacific Northwest and continues to grow in popularity.
After a sold-out event in 2025, this year’s festival has expanded into a multi-day celebration from November 2-8, 2026. New collaborations with some of the most creative minds in Portland’s music, art, and culinary communities shape this year’s festival, bringing together food, music, and art—and serving up new ways to connect around great stories.
Throughout the week, festival-goers will fill downtown for packed conversations at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, intimate readings, workshops, pop-up events, and more. The festival’s largest gathering takes place on Saturday, November 7 with more than 100 locally, regionally, and nationally acclaimed authors convening in the South Park Blocks.
Partnering with Oregon Symphony, Food Forward, 45th Parallel Universe, Mississippi Studios, Portland Art Museum, Fuller Events, and Papertrees Creative, Portland Book Festival aims to create a celebration reflecting the creativity, curiosity, and community spirit of the our city.
For more literary enjoyment outside of the main event, Cover to Cover is a series of Portland Book Festival-related activities during the week surrounding the festival, taking place in coffee shops, restaurants, bars, and other locations throughout the city. Check the PBF updates page for news and stay tuned for the Cover to Cover schedule, which is usually updated in the three weeks leading up to the festival.
Plan your Portland Book Festival experience today!
About Literary Arts
Literary Arts is a community-based nonprofit with a mission to engage readers, support writers and inspire the next generation with great literature. We do this work because we believe literature challenges us to discover what it means to be more empathetic, more inclusive, and more fully alive human beings.
Literary Arts is one of the most vibrant and comprehensive literary centers in the country. For the past 40 years, the organization has built community around literature, books and storytelling. We engage readers through the Portland Arts & Lectures series, The Archive Project, Portland Book Festival, Delve Readers Seminars and more. We support writers through the Oregon Book Awards, Oregon Literary Fellowships, writers forums and classes, and more. We inspire youth through our Writers in the Schools residencies, Students to the Schnitz, College Essay Exchange, Verselandia! and East Side Slam, and more. Our radio show and podcast, The Archive Project, can be heard on NPR affiliate station OPB Sundays at 7 p.m., or wherever you get your podcasts.
Learn more at literary-arts.org.
Our Sponsors and Partners
Literary Arts is deeply grateful to our 2026 title sponsor, Bart Eberwein and the Eberwein Family, whose generous support helps make this year’s Portland Book Festival possible and welcoming to all.
Our Partners
Lisa Lipton
45th Parallel
Executive Director
Lisa Lipton is a Portland-based arts leader, musician, and producer whose work spans performance, radio, and nonprofit leadership. She is the executive director of 45th Parallel Universe, an innovative chamber music organization known for expanding how classical music is performed and experienced, and an on-air producer and host for All Classical Portland, one of the region’s leading cultural institutions. A clarinetist, Lipton brings a musician’s perspective to her work, combining artistic rigor with a deep understanding of audience and community. Through her leadership, performance background, and public voice, she plays an important role in Portland’s classical music ecosystem, helping connect artists, listeners, and civic life through thoughtful programming and a clear belief in the enduring power of live performance.
Mike Thelin
Bolted Consulting
Founder
Mike Thelin is a cultural leader, producer, writer, and founder of Bolted Consulting, where he works with tourism, cultural, nonprofit, and private sector leaders to create and steward projects that shape regional identity, attract investment, and drive cultural inspiration and economic growth. His work spans narrative infrastructure, culinary, tourism, urban development, and strategic partnerships. He is the architect of Food Forward Oregon, a statewide effort positioning Oregon as one of the world’s leading food regions through long-term alignment across industry and institutions. Thelin co-founded Feast Portland and Hot Luck in Austin, Texas, two of the country’s most influential food festivals. He continues to shape civic identity and cultural strategy, using food, storytelling, and partnerships as tools for economic and community impact.
Christina Fuller
Fuller Events
Founder
Christina Fuller is a Portland-based event producer and the founder of Fuller Events, known for executing large-scale cultural experiences with precision and personality. As festival director of the Waterfront Blues Festival, she leads one of the Pacific Northwest’s most iconic events—an independently operated, multi-day celebration that draws tens of thousands to Tom McCall Waterfront Park each summer. Fuller’s work sits at the intersection of logistics, culture, and community, overseeing everything from permitting and infrastructure to vendor coordination and guest experience. Her leadership has helped sustain and evolve the festival as both a cultural cornerstone and an economic driver for downtown Portland. Known for a steady, solutions-oriented approach, she brings a producer’s mindset to every project—thoughtful, detail-driven, and deeply attuned to how events shape the identity and energy of a city.
Amanda Bullock
Senior Artistic Director
Literary Arts
As Senior Artistic Director, Amanda curates and directs the annual Portland Book Festival, as well as Portland Arts & Lectures and various large venue special events, and co-hosts and oversees production for The Archive Project radio show (broadcast weekly on statewide NPR affiliate, OPB) and podcast. Prior to joining Literary Arts in 2015, she was director of public programming at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, a nonprofit social enterprise in New York City, where she curated, publicized, and produced 200+ events annually. She is the co-founder of Moby-Dick Marathon NYC, and has worked as a bookseller and in book production.
Andrew Proctor
Executive Director
Literary Arts
Andrew has been the director of Literary Arts since 2009. Born and raised in Canada, Proctor earned a bachelor’s degree in English and Music at Concordia University in Montreal, and later worked in London for the Cultural Attaché to the Canadian High Commission. In the UK, he also earned an MA in English Literature at the University of East Anglia under the supervision of England’s then Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion. From 2000-2004 Proctor worked as an editor for HarperCollins in New York City and then as the Membership and Operations Director of the PEN American Center, a global literary and human rights organization focused on the welfare of writers and editors. In total, Proctor has worked in the literary world for over twenty years in the governmental, for profit and nonprofit sectors.
Jim Brunberg
Mississippi Studios
Founder
Jim Brunberg is a Portland-based artist, composer, and placemaker whose work has helped shape the city’s contemporary cultural landscape. He is the founder of Mississippi Studios and cofounder of Revolution Hall, two of the region’s most beloved live music venues. He is also cofounder of the National Independent Venue Association, which advocates for independent stages nationwide. Brunberg’s creative work spans film, podcasts, and recorded music, reflecting a multidisciplinary approach rooted in storytelling and sound. Through his venues, he has created enduring platforms for artists while anchoring vibrant neighborhood communities, welcoming millions of guests over the years. Known for blending artistic vision with civic impact, Brunberg approaches development as both a creative and cultural act, building spaces that support artists, strengthen local economies, and reinforce the essential role of live performance in the identity of a city.
Darcie Kozlowski
Oregon Symphony
Director of Artistic Planning
Darcie Kozlowski is an innovative leader in the performing arts and serves as the Oregon Symphony’s Director of Artistic Planning, Contemporary. Pushing the bounds of what it means to be a top tier American orchestra, her vision is focused on spotlighting Portland’s vibrant music ecosystem, fostering impactful moments of connection, and bringing the world’s best talent to the Oregon Symphony. Prior to being called westward she spent 10 years at several of New York’s top artist management and booking agencies.
Darcie holds a degree in French horn performance from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and has performed at such prestigious locations as Carnegie Hall and Tom McCall Waterfront Park. As devotee to all things PNW she can often be found outdoors hiking, swimming in any body of water, or stationed at a pinball table.
Paul Snyder
Oregon Symphony
President & CEO
Paul Snyder is President and CEO of the Oregon Symphony, bringing to the role a career of executive leadership at Tillamook County Creamery Association and InterContinental Hotels Group, where he built deep expertise in brand stewardship, sustainability, and corporate affairs. A longtime champion of the arts, he has served on the boards of the Atlanta Opera, the Atlanta Symphony, and the Portland Opera, alongside civic leadership roles with Oregon Business & Industry and the Portland Metro Chamber. He holds a BA in English Literature from Lawrence University and an MBA from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management.
Josh Wong
PaperTrees Creative
Papertrees Creative is a minority-owned, MBE-certified creative agency specializing in experiential marketing, event production, video production, broadcast and brand development. We help organizations transform ideas into experiences that engage audiences, strengthen brands, and create lasting impact.
Stephanie Parrish
Portland Art Museum
Director of Learning
Stephanie Parrish leads PAM’s Learning team, which develops public programs, youth and educator initiatives, accessibility efforts, community partnerships, and participatory gallery experiences that bring people together around art, ideas, and conversation. The team’s work includes K–12 tours, educator programs, talks, art-making, Look with Me slow-looking sessions, Art in ASL, exhibitions in the Silver Family Youth and Community Gallery, and interdisciplinary programs connecting visual art with film, literature, music, and performance. Access is central, from Free First Thursdays and Miller Family Free Days to reduced- and no-cost admission opportunities. PAM has proudly hosted Portland Book Festival for the past decade, including popular gallery pop-up readings. With the opening of the Mark Rothko Pavilion, PAM is embracing an expanded role as a cultural gathering place in a revitalized downtown Portland.
Volunteer Information
Portland Book Festival would not be possible without our volunteers! It takes hundreds of volunteers to make the festival happen every year. Volunteer roles range from check-in support to directing attendees, all-day stage management, and more. Literary Arts welcomes those who have helped in the past and those who are interested in assisting with the festival for the first time.
Our highest volunteer need will be on Saturday, November 7, 2026. We hope you’ll join us!
If you are interested in Group Volunteering, or taking on a Volunteer Captain role, please email volunteer@literary-arts.org for more information.