Portland's Book Festival Goes Weeklong, Plus Drag Kings and Zelda

The Portland Book Festival has stretched from a single day back to a full week, running November 2–8 across multiple venues with more than 100 authors and artists on the bill. General admission passes cost $20–27 and, in news that will surprise nobody, are already sold out — though some events are free or ticketed separately.

The lineup is generous with names: Willy Vlautin, Carson Ellis, Ke Huy Quan, Liz Prato, Hieu Minh Nguyen, Kimberly King Parsons, Paul Susi and Alexis Nicole Nelson, plus chefs, media figures and, yes, a Goonie. Expect author talks, writing workshops, pop-up readings, a Live Wire recording and a concert from the Philip Glass Ensemble, with the main events on Saturday centered around the South Park Blocks.

What else is on stage this week?

Milagro Theater commemorates El Día de Muertos with Marigolds y Memorias, a family-friendly walkthrough of Day of the Dead symbols and customs. It runs Thursdays through Sundays, 7:30pm, with 2pm Sunday matinees, through November 8. Tickets are $28–32.

At the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, the Taiwanese troupe Hung Dance performs Birdy November 5–7 at 7:30pm, a new work choreographed by Lai Hung-Chung that blends classical Chinese art with modern influences, including an electronic soundtrack. Standard tickets start at $22, with discounts for students, children and working artists. White Bird (Portland's contemporary dance presenter) copresents the visit.

Where's the comedy?

Murray Hill — possibly the world's most famous drag king — plays Polaris Hall on Friday, November 6 at 7:30pm ($44, 21+), with local drag king Stevie Phoenix opening. He also appears at Live Wire on Saturday, November 7, a Book Festival event ticketed separately. He can roast anyone with such warmth that people hope they're in his crosshairs.

Ron Funches, Portland's homegrown comedy hero, returns to Revolution Hall on Sunday, November 15 for shows at 7 and 10pm ($40.93). The early show is already sold out. Funches made waves this year for his too-brief stint on The Traitors, but he's been making audiences laugh for over a decade as a screen and voice actor.

Music, from hip-hop to symphonic Portugal. The Man

The Thesis, the monthly hip-hop showcase, lands at Alberta Street Pub on Thursday, November 5 at 8:30pm ($15, 21+), headlined by pop artists Rachel Wong and 4our, with Armand Scott, Petey and Kemi Badu.

Pedro the Lion plays Polaris Hall November 7–8 at 8pm ($25+). David Bazan's Seattle indie rock project sort of ceased 20 years ago, came back about a decade ago, and now qualifies for a 30th anniversary tour. The similarly tenured Earlimart opens both nights.

Portugal. The Man teams with the Oregon Symphony and conductor Raúl Gómez-Rojas on November 11 and 12 at 7:30pm at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall ($39–113), celebrating both the 15th anniversary of In the Mountain in the Cloud and last November's Shish.

Kimbra plays Alberta Abbey on Monday, November 16 at 8pm (from $40+) for the 15th anniversary of her superb 2011 album Vows. She remains best known for "Somebody That I Used to Know," her 2011 duet with Gotye.

Can a horror franchise sing?

Saw: The Musical runs through November 8 at Alberta Abbey ($34–176). The unauthorized parody embraces the farce of the Jigsaw Killer's ludicrously elaborate, selectively moralistic murders, focusing mostly on the iconic bathroom trap from the first film.

100 Lives Rep opens its season with Lauren Gunderson's Anthropology through November 15 ($26–50). An all-woman cast follows a coder who builds an AI simulation of her recently deceased sister — a play about emerging technology pulling out onto the road of grief, wondering whether those driving AI really looked both ways.

The stranger stuff

The Hyrule Ball, a Legend of Zelda drag dance party hosted by Quesa D'Mondays, hits the Star Theater Friday, November 6 at 8pm ($28.30, 21+). Zelda costumes are highly encouraged; expect Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, Navi and, obviously, Tingle.

The Oddities and Curiosities Expo runs November 7–8, 10am–4pm, at the Oregon Convention Center ($19), offering taxidermy and independently made horror-inspired merch — one of the last chances this year for bleak beauties now that Spirit Halloween has packed in its banner.

The Tomorrow Theater screens Memorie Olfattive, a 2025 perfumed documentary about Italian herbalist Giuseppe Imprezzabile, better known as the perfumer Meo Fusciuni, on Tuesday, November 10 at 6:45pm ($17). Fusciuni attends, plus a meet-and-greet at neighboring Fumerie Parfumerie from 4 to 6pm.

On November 14 at 7pm, the Clinton Street Theater screens the 4K restoration of Repo! The Genetic Opera ($15), the 2008 cult rock opera starring Paris Hilton, Sarah Brightman, Nivek Ogre and Alexa Vega, with shadow-cast crew the Denton Delinquents performing live.

And the galleries?

One Grand Gallery hosts textile artist Ashley Anson's Home Sweet Home, blending quilting, small sculpture and personal folklore, free through December 4. The Portland Art Museum's The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art ($27.50, through January 3, 2027) brings nearly 150 works from Melbourne's National Gallery of Victoria — ochre bark paintings, sound installations, photography and weavings spanning the late nineteenth century to the present. Anyone planning a slow cultural autumn should book the sold-out-adjacent items first.