2023-2024 Readings and Lectures Series | University of Portland

2023-2024 Readings and Lectures Series

Spring 2024

Michael O'Loughlin

Nonfiction writer Michael O’Loughlin, Tues. Feb. 13, 5pm Brian Doyle Aud. (DB Hall)

Co-sponsored by the Garaventa Center for Catholic Intellectual Life & Am. Culture 

The height of the AIDS crisis in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s left many profound stories that remained untold. In Hidden Mercy, gay Catholic journalist Michael O’Loughlin uncovers the stories of Catholics who at great personal cost chose compassion. A compelling picture of those who responded to human suffering with mercy, offering insights for LGBTQ and other people of faith struggling to find a home in religious communities today. O’Loughlin is an award-winning journalist and the national correspondent for America Media. He is the host of the podcast Plague: Untold Stories of AIDS and the Catholic Church. Prior to joining America magazine, O’Loughlin was a national reporter for The Boston Globe. He has written for The Atlantic, The Washington Post, National Catholic Reporter, and The Advocate.

Ross Gay

Schoenfeldt Distinguished Poet & Essayist Ross Gay, Mon. Mar. 18, 7:30pm, BC Aud.

Ross Gay is the author of four books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; Be Holding, winner of the PEN American Literary Jean Stein Award; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. In addition to his poetry, Ross has released three collections of essays—The Book of Delights was released in 2019 and was a New York Times bestseller; Inciting Joy was released in 2022, and his newest collection, The Book of (More) Delights was published September 2023. 

Kesha Ajose-Fisher

Fiction writer Kesha Ajose Fisher, Tues. Apr. 2, 5pm, UP Bookstore

Kesha Ajose-Fisher was born in Chicago, raised in Lagos, Nigeria, and returned to the United States with her family in the early nineties. She won the Oregon Book Awards' 2020 Ken Kesey Prize for her debut short story collection No God Like the Mother. She is also an Oregon Literary Fellow and a relentless student of the human condition. Ajose-Fisher’s work has appeared in collections such as The Alchemy, The Phoenix, and The Buckman Journal, and one of her stories was recently anthologized in Dispatches from Anarres: Tales in Tribute to Ursula K. Le Guin.

Fall 2023

Loaners event poster

Reading with Laura Moulton and Ben Hodgson

Join us for a reading with Laura Moulton and Ben Hodgson, authors of Loaners: The Making of a Street Library.

November 15, 2023 at 7:15 PM in the UP Bookstore

Jess Walter

Schoenfeldt Series Event

Jess Walter, author of ten books including The Angel of Rome and Other Stories, Beautiful Ruins, and The Cold Millions

Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writer
Wednesday, November 1, 2023, 7:30 PM - BC Auditorium.

Click here for the UP English Department's interview with Jess Walter! 

 For ADA accommodations or any questions, please contact the English Department at 503.943.7849.