Powell’s is excited to offer virtual events featuring authors from around the world. We’re using Zoom Webinar as our virtual event platform (as it comes with enhanced security features).
Missed an event? Watch past virtual events on our YouTube channel.
Questions about how to attend our virtual events? Click here for our FAQ.
Monday, October 25 @ 6pm (PT)
In Yours Cruelly, Elvira (Hachette), the woman behind the icon known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, the undisputed Queen of Halloween, reveals her full story, filled with intimate bombshells, told by the bombshell herself, Cassandra Peterson. Always original and sometimes outrageous, her story is loaded with twists, travails, revelry, and downright shocking experiences. It is the candid, often funny, and sometimes heartbreaking tale of a Midwest farm girl's long strange trip to become the world's sexiest, sassiest Halloween icon. Peterson will be joined in conversation by Evan Ross Katz, writer, fashion columnist, podcast host, and author of Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts.
Please note: This is a ticketed event. Purchasing a copy of Yours Cruelly, Elvira ($29) entitles you to attend the virtual event with Peterson and her special guest on Monday, October 25, at 6pm (PT). This virtual event is presented in partnership with Peterson’s publisher, Hachette Books, and will take place on Hachette’s Crowdcast account. After you’ve purchased the book, we will register you for the Zoom event and send you an access code on the afternoon of October 25. To attend the virtual event, tickets must be purchased no later than 12pm (PT) on October 25.
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Tuesday, October 26 @ 5pm (PT)
Sorry Not Sorry (Dutton) is Alyssa Milano’s sharply observed, uproarious, and deeply intimate ode to the life she has lived and the issues that matter most. In her new book, the actress and activist delivers a collection of powerful personal essays that get to the heart of her life, career, and all-out humanitarianism. Milano’s essays are unvarnished and elegant, funny and heartbreaking, and utterly real. A timely book that shows in almost real time the importance of taking care of others, it also gives a gut-punch-level wake-up call in an era where the noise is a distraction from what really needs to happen, if we want to live in a better world. These are stories of growing up in celebrity, of family and of friends, of connections and breaking apart. They have teeth on the page and come from the heart. And they are stories that offer a direct line into the thoughts and life of one of the most visible, hard-working humanitarians we have. A bestselling children’s book author, here Milano’s finally giving her fans worldwide what they really want to hear directly from her about: the life she has lived, the things she’s seen and experienced, and the way she lives in and with the world. Milano will be joined in conversation by Charlotte Clymer, writer, transgender activist, communications consultant, and military veteran.
Please note: This is a ticketed event. Purchasing a copy of Sorry Not Sorry ($28) entitles you to attend our virtual event with Milano and Clymer on Tuesday, October 26, at 5pm (PT). The first 600 ticket purchases will include an autographed copy of Milano’s Sorry Not Sorry. After you’ve purchased the book, we will automatically register you for the Zoom event — and will send you a confirmation email two days prior to the event containing a Zoom link to the event and instructions on how to access it.
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Wednesday, October 27 @ 5pm (PT)
Remember all those ingrained habits, cherished ideas, beloved objects, and stubborn preferences from the pre-Internet age? They’re gone. To some of those things we can say good riddance. But many we miss terribly. Whatever our emotional response to this departed realm, we are faced with the fact that nearly every aspect of modern life now takes place in filtered, isolated corners of cyberspace — a space that has slowly subsumed our physical habitats, replacing or transforming the office, our local library, a favorite bar, the movie theater, and the coffee shop where people met one another’s gaze from across the room. Even as we’ve gained the ability to gather without leaving our house, many of the fundamentally human experiences that have sustained us have disappeared. In 100 glimpses of that pre-Internet world, Pamela Paul, editor of The New York Times Book Review, presents a captivating record, enlivened with illustrations, of the world before cyberspace — from voicemails to blind dates to punctuation to civility. There are the small losses: postcards, the blessings of an adolescence largely spared of documentation, the Rolodex, and the genuine surprises at high school reunions. But there are larger repercussions, too: weaker memories, the inability to entertain oneself, and the utter demolition of privacy. 100 Things We’ve Lost to the Internet (Crown) is at once an evocative swan song for a disappearing era and, perhaps, a guide to reclaiming just a little bit more of the world IRL. Paul will be joined in conversation by Ayad Akhtar, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, novelist, and author of Homeland Elegies. This event is presented in partnership with Third Place Books.
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Thursday, October 28 @ 5pm (PT)
For the better part of a decade, Uli Beutter Cohen, the acclaimed creator of Subway Book Review, rode the subway through New York City’s underground to observe society through the lens of our most creative thinkers: the readers of books. Between the Lines (Simon & Schuster) is a timely collection of beloved and never-before-published stories that reflect who we are and where we are going. In over 170 interviews, Uli shares nuanced insights into our collective psyche and gives us an invaluable document of our challenges and our potential. Complete with original photography, and countless intriguing book recommendations, Between the Lines is an enthusiastic celebration of the ways stories invite us into each other’s lives, and a call to action for imagining a bold, empathetic future together. Beutter Cohen will be joined in conversation by Simmone Taitt, founder and CEO of Poppy Seed Health; and fashion designer Daniel Vosovic, founder and creative director of THE KIT.
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Tuesday, November 2 @ 5pm (PT)
Reproductive freedom has never been in more dire straits. Roe v. Wade protected abortion rights and Planned Parenthood v. Casey unexpectedly preserved them. Yet in the following decades these rights have been gutted by restrictive state legislation, the appointment of hundreds of anti-abortion judges, and violence against abortion providers. Today, the ultra-conservative majority at the Supreme Court has activists, medical providers, and everyday Americans worry that we are about to lose our most fundamental reproductive protections. When Roe is toppled, abortion may quickly become a criminal offense in nearly one-third of the United States. At least six states have enacted bans on abortion as early as six weeks of pregnancy – before many women are even aware they are pregnant. Today, 89% of U.S. counties do not have a single abortion provider, in part due to escalating violence and intimidation aimed at disrupting services. In Controlling Women: What We Must Do Now to Save Reproductive Freedom (Hachette), legal titans Kathryn Kolbert and Julie F. Kay share the story of one of the most divisive issues in American politics through behind-the-scenes personal narratives of stunning losses, hard-earned victories, and moving accounts of women and health care providers at the heart of nearly five decades of legal battles. Kolbert and Kay will be joined in conversation by Dr. Jennifer Lincoln, board-certified OB-GYN and author of Let's Talk About Down There.
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Tuesday, November 2 @ 8pm (PT)
Don't call it a comeback: bestselling author Shea Serrano’s latest book, Hip-Hop (And Other Things) (Twelve), combines the smooth hipness of A Tribe Called Quest, the hellfire of DMX, the quirky brilliance of Missy Elliot, and the sheer, unstoppable flow of Jay-Z into one enlightened compendium of hip-hop greatness. It's a smart, fun, funny, insightful book that spends the entirety of its time celebrating what has become the most dominant form of music these past two and a half decades. Some of the chapters are serious, and some of the chapters are silly, and some of the chapters are a combination of both things. All of them, though, are treated with the care and respect that they deserve.
Please note: This is a ticketed event. Purchasing a copy of Hip-Hop (And Other Things) ($27) entitles you to attend our virtual event with Serrano on Tuesday, November 2, at 8pm (PT). After you’ve purchased the book, the publisher (Twelve Books) will register you for the Crowdcast event and send you an email prior to the event containing a login link and instructions on how to access the event.
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Wednesday, November 3 @ 5pm (PT)
Whether in political debates or discussions about immigration around the kitchen table, many Americans, regardless of party affiliation, will say proudly that we are a nation of immigrants. In her bold new book, Not "A Nation of Immigrants" (Beacon), historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz asserts this ideology is harmful and dishonest because it serves to mask and diminish the U.S.’s history of settler colonialism, genocide, white supremacy, slavery, and structural inequality, all of which we still grapple with today. She explains that the idea that we are living in a land of opportunity — founded and built by immigrants — was a convenient response by the ruling class and its brain trust to the 1960s demands for decolonialization, justice, reparations, and social equality. Moreover, Dunbar-Ortiz charges that this feel good — but inaccurate — story promotes a benign narrative of progress, obscuring that the country was founded in violence as a settler state, and imperialist since its inception. This paradigm shifting new book from the acclaimed author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States charges that we need to stop believing and perpetuating this simplistic and ahistorical idea and embrace the real (and often horrific) history of the United States. Dunbar-Ortiz will be joined in conversation by Reece Jones, author of White Borders: The History of Race and Immigration in the United States From Chinese Exclusion to the Border Wall.
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Tuesday, November 9 @ 7pm (PT)
In her beautifully written and propulsive new memoir, Huma Abedin — Hillary Clinton’s famously private top aide and longtime advisor — emerges from the wings of American political history to take command of her own story. The daughter of Indian and Pakistani intellectuals and advocates, Abedin grew up in the United States and Saudi Arabia and traveled widely. Her relationship with Clinton has seen both women through extraordinary personal and professional highs, as well as unimaginable lows. Here, for the first time, is a deeply personal account of Clinton as mentor, confidante, and role model. Abedin’s memoir is also the candid and heartbreaking chronicle of her marriage to Anthony Weiner, what drew her to him, how much she wanted to believe in him, the devastation wrought by his betrayals — and their shared love for their son. Abedin’s journey through the opportunities and obstacles, the trials and triumphs, of a full and complex life is a testament to her profound belief that in an increasingly either/or world, she can be both/and. Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds (Scribner) grapples with family, legacy, identity, faith, marriage, motherhood — and work — with wisdom, sophistication, and clarity. Abedin will be joined in conversation by Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things.
Please note: This is a ticketed event. Purchasing a copy of Both/And ($30) entitles you to attend our virtual event with Abedin and Strayed on Tuesday, November 9, at 7pm (PT). After you’ve purchased the book, we will automatically register you for the Zoom event — and will send you a confirmation email two days prior to the event containing a Zoom link to the event and instructions on how to access it.
Buy the Book-Inclusive Event Ticket
Tuesday, November 16 @ 5pm (PT)
Madam (Doubleday) — the new book from Debby Applegate, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Most Famous Man in America — is the compulsively readable and sometimes jaw-dropping story of the life of a notorious madam who played hostess to every gangster, politician, writer, sports star, and Cafe Society swell worth knowing, and who as much as any single figure helped make the twenties roar. Simply put: Everybody came to Polly’s. Pearl “Polly” Adler (1900-1962) was a diminutive dynamo whose Manhattan brothels in the Roaring Twenties became places not just for men to have the company of women but were key gathering places where the culturati and celebrity elite mingled with high society and with violent figures of the underworld — and had a good time doing it. As a Jewish immigrant from eastern Europe, Polly Adler’s life is a classic American story of success and assimilation that starts like a novel by Henry Roth and then turns into a glittering real-life tale straight out of F. Scott Fitzgerald. She declared her ambition to be “the best goddam madam in all America” and succeeded wildly. Applegate uses Polly’s story as the key to unpacking just what made the 1920s the appallingly corrupt yet glamorous and transformational era that it was and how the collision between high and low is the unique ingredient that fuels American culture. Applegate will be joined in conversation by Abbott Kahler, author (as Karen Abbott) of Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy and The Ghosts of Eden Park.
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Thursday, November 18 @ 5pm (PT)
Named for the anarchist utopia in Ursula K. Le Guin’s science fiction classic, The Dispossessed, Dispatches From Anarres (Forest Avenue Press) embodies the anarchic spirit of Le Guin’s hometown of Portland, Oregon, while paying tribute to her enduring vision. In stories that range from fantasy to sci-fi to realism, some of Portland's most vital voices have come together to celebrate Le Guin’s lasting legacy and influence on that most subversive of human faculties: the imagination. Editor Susan DeFreitas (Hot Season) will be joined by contributors Lidia Yuknavitch (Verge), Michelle Ruiz Keil (Summer in the City of Roses), David D. Levine (Arabella of Mars trilogy), Leni Zumas (Red Clocks), and Curtis C. Chen (the Kangaroo series).
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Monday, November 22 @ 5pm (PT)
For years, one country has acted as the greatest offshore haven in the world, attracting hundreds of billions of dollars in illicit finance tied directly to corrupt regimes, extremist networks, and the worst the world has to offer. But it hasn’t been the sand-splattered Caribbean islands, or even traditional financial secrecy havens like Switzerland or Panama, that have come to dominate the offshoring world. Instead, the country profiting the most also happens to be the one that still claims to be the moral leader of the free world, and the one that claims to be leading the fight against the crooked and the corrupt: the USA. Casey Michel’s American Kleptocracy (St. Martin’s) examines just how the United States’ implosion into a center of global offshoring took place: how states like Delaware and Nevada perfected the art of the anonymous shell company, and how the Obama administration gutted international efforts to fight massive money-laundering; how post-9/11 reforms brought a flood of illicit finance directly into the U.S., and how Nazi-era lobbyists birthed an entire industry of spin-men whitewashing transnational crooks and despots; how territories like Guam and Puerto Rico opened up their islands to as much offshore money as they could hold, and how everyone from Michael Jackson to The Fugees to The Wolf of Wall Street ended up involved. It also looks at how Trump’s presidency has accelerated all of the trends. Michel will be joined in conversation by Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman (U.S. Army, ret.), author of Here, Right Matters: An American Story.
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Tuesday, November 30 @ 5pm (PT)
For the past two decades, James Beard Award winner, fermentation expert, and bestselling author Sandor Ellix Katz has traveled the world, both teaching and learning about the many fascinating and delicious techniques for fermenting foods. Wherever he's gone, he has gleaned valuable insights into the cultures and traditions of local and Indigenous peoples, whether they make familiar ferments like sauerkraut or less common preparations like natto and koji. In his latest book, Sandor Katz's Fermentation Journeys (Chelsea Green), Katz takes readers along with him to revisit these special places, people, and foods. Katz’s new cookbook reminds us that the magical power of fermentation belongs to everyone, everywhere. Perfect for adventurous foodies, armchair travelers, and fermentation fanatics who have followed Katz's work through the years — from Wild Fermentation to The Art of Fermentation to Fermentation as Metaphor — this book reflects the enduring passion and accumulated wisdom of this unique man, who is arguably the world's most experienced and respected advocate of all things fermented. Katz will be joined in conversation by Liz Crain, author of Dumplings Equal Love and Food Lover's Guide to Portland.
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Thursday, December 2 @ 5pm (PT)
In Fonda Lee’s Jade Legacy (Orbit), the page-turning conclusion to the Green Bone Saga, the Kaul siblings battle rival clans for honor and control over an East Asia-inspired fantasy metropolis. Jade, the mysterious and magical substance once exclusive to the Green Bone warriors of Kekon, is now coveted throughout the world. Everyone wants access to the supernatural abilities it provides, from traditional forces such as governments, mercenaries, and criminal kingpins, to modern players, including doctors, athletes, and movie studios. As the struggle over the control of jade grows ever larger and more deadly, the Kaul family, and the ancient ways of the Kekonese Green Bones, will never be the same. Battered by war and tragedy, the Kauls are plagued by resentments and old wounds as their adversaries are on the ascent and their country is riven by dangerous factions and foreign interference. The clan must discern allies from enemies, set aside bloody rivalries, and make terrible sacrifices… but even the unbreakable bonds of blood and loyalty may not be enough to ensure the survival of the Green Bone clans and the nation they are sworn to protect. Lee will be joined in conversation by Sarah Gailey, Hugo Award-winning author of Magic for Liars and The Echo Wife.
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Friday, December 3 @ 5pm (PT)
Neal Stephenson's sweeping, prescient new novel transports readers to a near-future world in which the greenhouse effect has inexorably resulted in a whirling-dervish troposphere of superstorms, rising sea levels, global flooding, merciless heat waves, and virulent, deadly pandemics. One man — visionary billionaire restaurant chain magnate T. R. Schmidt, Ph.D. — has a Big Idea for reversing global warming, a master plan perhaps best described as "elemental." But will it work? And just as important, what are the consequences for the planet and all of humanity should it be applied? Ranging from the Texas heartland to the Dutch royal palace in the Hague, from the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas to the sunbaked Chihuahuan Desert, Termination Shock (William Morrow) brings together a disparate group of characters from different cultures and continents who grapple with the real-life repercussions of global warming. Ultimately, it asks the question: Might the cure be worse than the disease? Epic in scope while heartbreakingly human in perspective, Termination Shock sounds a clarion alarm, ponders potential solutions and dire risks, and wraps it all together in an exhilarating, witty, mind-expanding speculative adventure. Stephenson will be joined in conversation by Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians Trilogy.
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Tuesday, December 7 @ 5pm (PT)
In 1917, deep in the snowy mountains of occupied Korea, an impoverished local hunter on the brink of starvation saves a young Japanese officer from an attacking tiger. In an instant, their fates are connected — and from this encounter unfolds a saga that spans half a century. In the aftermath, a young girl named Jade is sold by her family to Miss Silver’s courtesan school, an act of desperation that will cement her place in the lowest social status. When she befriends an orphan boy named JungHo, who scrapes together a living begging on the streets of Seoul, they form a deep friendship. As they come of age, JungHo is swept up in the revolutionary fight for independence, and Jade becomes a sought-after performer with a new romantic prospect of noble birth. Soon Jade must decide whether she will risk everything for the one who would do the same for her. From the perfumed chambers of a courtesan school in Pyongyang to the glamorous cafes of a modernizing Seoul and the boreal forests of Manchuria, where battles rage, Juhea Kim’s unforgettable characters forge their own destinies as they wager their nation’s. Immersive and elegant, Kim's epic debut, Beasts of a Little Land (Ecco), unveils a world where friends become enemies, enemies become saviors, heroes are persecuted, and beasts take many shapes. Kim will be joined in conversation by Caroline Kim, author of The Prince of Mournful Thoughts and Other Stories.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do I attend a Powell’s virtual event?
You’ll be able to access our virtual event programming via your home computer, laptop, tablet, mobile phone, or other Internet-ready device. If you’re new to Zoom, please visit their Getting Started guide.
Are Powell’s virtual events free to attend?
As with our prior in-store programming, nearly all of our events are free to attend. On occasion, we will host a special event for which tickets or a book purchase are required for virtual admission — but details will be shared for those specific events separately.
How do I buy an event author’s new book?
Each event listing will include a link to purchase a copy of an author’s new book. A purchase link will be shared by us during the event itself, as well. Purchasing a copy of an author’s new book helps support both the author and Powell’s event programming.
Will I be able to get my book signed?
Unfortunately, we’re not able to offer signed editions or personalizations at this time. In some cases, signed bookplates will be available on a limited first come, first served basis.
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