Portland is supposed to have a substantial literary scene, and I believe it with small presses and literary journals like Hawthorne Books, Tin House, Glimmer Train, Poetry Northwest, Portland Review, and others. But there’s nothing like a book and literary festival to excite the writers in a city enough to get them to come out and be social with each other. Wordstock, Portland’s annual book and literary festival, goes from October 7th to the 10th and includes a book fair, of course, as well as workshops and events such as the Text Ball hosted by the Independent Press Resource Center (maybe one of my favorite Portland finds). This year Wordstock will be graced by our very own Christopher Howell, which is very exciting. The list of authors is long and includes favorites such as Anthony Doerr, Aimee Bender, Kevin Sampsell, Steve Almond, Richard Robbins, and Michele Glazer. The book fair is only $10 for both days (or $7 for one), and workshops are $35 (with deals for signing up for more than one). Dylan and I will be at the book fair for sure and are looking into volunteering so we can get more time at the festival sans dinero. So…if any of you were looking for a reason to visit one of the coolest cities in the country (if not THE coolest), now you’ve got a good one.