State of Wonder

Where To Find State Of Wonder At Wordstock

By Julia Oppenheimer (OPB)
Nov. 4, 2016 12:45 a.m.

Are you coming to Wordstock Saturday? So is State of Wonder! We will be recording two fantastic mainstage shows (10 a.m. and 3:15 p.m.), as well as a handful of pop-up interviews from 12:30–5:30 p.m. at the OPB Pop-Up Stage. Join us as we talk and play with some of our favorite authors.


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10 a.m. Mainstage Show 1

Cole Haan Stage at First Congregational United Church of Christ
1126 Southwest Park Ave.

Rabih Alameddine in the best press photo ever.

Rabih Alameddine in the best press photo ever.

Oliver Wasow

Rabih Alameddine's newest novel, "The Angel of History," follows the life of a Yemeni-born poet from his maternal upbringing in an Egyptian brothel to his adolescence in a Catholic boarding school to his life as a gay Arab man in San Francisco at the height of AIDS. Alameddine is the author of five books, including his most recent, "An Unnecessary Woman," which was shortlisted for the National Book Award.

Alexander Chee's second novel, "The Queen of the Night," is the soaring, operatic tale of an American orphan turned French soprano superstar, complete with courtesans, spies and hot-air balloon escapes. The book has received rave reviews and even landed him an appearance on "Late Night: Seth Myers."  That's right: a historical novel caught the attention of a late-night host!

Maria Semple's "Today Will be Different," a story of a woman forced to abandon her small ambitions and awake to a strange new future, is her follow-up to her massively popular "Where'd You Go, Bernadette," which is being turned into a movie starring Cate Blanchett. Semple has also been a screenwriter on multiple television shows including "Arrested Development" and "Saturday Night Live."


3:15 p.m. Mainstage Show 2

Winningstad Theatre in Portland'5 Centers for the Arts
1111 SW Broadway

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Lindy West looking super serious.

Lindy West looking super serious.

Jenny Jimenez

Lindy West's essay collection, "Shrill," charts her life as a fact-accepting feminist and a woman speaking her mind — you might know her voice from a "This American Life" story about confronting her worst Internet troll. West is a former editor at The Stranger, Seattle's weekly alternative newspaper, and was a staff writer for Jezebel.

Peter Ames Carlin will be joining us to talk about his new biography, "Homeward Bound," following the life of Paul Simon. A former television columnist for The Oregonian, Carlin has written biographies about Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and Brian Wilson. Joining Carlin on stage will be Luz Elena Mendoza of Y La Bamba, performing some of Paul Simon's most notable songs.  

Rivka Galchen's "Little Labors" is a collection of essays that chronicles the state of continual interruption faced by a mother who writes and explores motherhood as an undiscovered country. Her previous works include "Atmospheric Disturbances" and a short story collection "American Innovations: Stories."


12:30–5:30 p.m. OPB Pop-Up Stage

The Stevens Room at the Portland Art Museum (next to the Whitsell Auditorium)
1219 SW Park Ave.

Nikki McClure's new book, "Waiting for High Tide."

Nikki McClure's new book, "Waiting for High Tide."

Nikki McClure

In addition to our two mainstage shows, please join us at the OPB Pop-Up Stage, where we will be talking with the following writers about works that influenced them.

12:30 p.m.
Nikki McClure, whose trademark paper art is now iconic in the Northwest, most recently published "Waiting for High Tide." She will be talking about "The Summer Book" and "A Winter Book" by Tove Jansson.

2 p.m.
Karen Russell 's novel, "Swamplandia!" was shortlisted for the Pulitzer, and her two books of short fiction have received equal acclaim. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant in 2013. She will be discussing Carson McCullen's "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter."

1:30 p.m.
We briefly turn our focus away from writers and their influences to talk with Christopher Rothko, the son of famous artist Mark Rothko. Christopher will discuss the Mark Rothko Pavilion slated to be built at the Portland Art Museum as well as his and his sister's plan to lend their father's work to the museum.

2:20 p.m.
MacArthur Genius Jonathan Lethem won the National Book Critics Circle Award with his 1999 novel "Motherless Brooklyn" and returns with "A Gambler's Anatomy." He'll share his love of "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass."

5:30 p.m.
Richard Russo
's new book, "Everybody's Fool," follows up on the characters he first introduced us to in "Nobody's Fool," which was made into a movie starring Paul Newman and Philip Seymour Hoffman. In 2002 he received a Pulitzer Prize for his novel "Empire Falls." He'll talk about the short stories of Richard Yates.

THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR:
THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR: