Reading and Writing Events @ BOLD Coffee & Books

BOLD is thrilled to host a special children’s storytime with Katelyn Pearl, illustrator of Monsters Celebrate Christmas Too!

Join local illustrator Katelyn Pearl for a festive storytime featuring her new children’s book, Monsters Celebrate Christmas Too! Kids will enjoy a lively reading, Q&A, and a peek behind the scenes at how the book’s watercolor illustrations were created. Perfect for ages 3–8 and families who love holiday fun, friendly monsters, and creative storytelling. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.

In Monsters Celebrate Christmas Too!, children will meet many colorful characters that possess relatable humanlike qualities, such as Mogo and Baba Baloo, and learn all the ways in which these quirky creatures celebrate Christmas.

This picture book emphasizes inclusivity in its fun take of how monsters celebrate similar Christmas traditions as us, just with a unique and monstrous spin. In the end, although we are different, we are very much alike. After all, Christmas is for everyone big or small, young or old, monsters and all.

Katelyn Pearl is an Oregon-based artist and illustrator from Miami, Florida. Working in watercolor, oil, and animation, her art blends realism and whimsy. She has worked with Paramount+ delivering international shows, and at LAIKA Studios as a Post-Production Video Editor. Living with Crohn’s Disease has made her resolute in pursuing her passions, including illustrating Monsters Celebrate Christmas Too!, her book illustrator debut.

Carolina Anne was born and raised in Miami, Florida to parents of Cuban immigrants. With the love and support of her parents and grandparents, she earned a bachelor’s degree in Art History at Florida International University. After discovering her passion for art and its storytelling, Carolina began to write stories of her own. She divides her time between being a mother to her daughter Siena, and being a muse to the pen in her hand.

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Event cohosted by BOLD Coffee & Books and Indigo: Editing, Design, and More.

BOLD is thrilled to host our new Holiday Artist Pop-up series this season!

Join us this December as we host Portland-area artists and creators for connection, creativity, and fabulous gifts for your friends and family. Get cozy, hang out, take some amazing pieces home with you, and learn more about what our stellar artist community is up to going into the new year.

For this pop-up event, we’re so excited to welcome Kellin Bass!

Kellin Bass (she/her/hers) is an illustrator and graphic designer in Oregon. Her personal style is largely informed by her background in art history. Vibrant colors, analog textures, and retro touches are fundamental characteristics of her work. Her favorite subjects include vintage items, animals, and fashion.

Find out more about Kellin’s work here, via Etsy, or Instagram.

The pop-up event will begin at 12:00 p.m. and wrap up at 4:00 p.m.

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Event cohosted by BOLD Coffee & Books and Indigo: Editing, Design, and More.

BOLD is thrilled to host Fairy Tale Salon Night: Radical Retellings.

Fairy tale writer Kathlene Postma and her band of tale-spinning students from Pacific University take on traditional European fairy tales.
This modern fairy tale salon group will share some surprises hidden in ancient tales and read from their own radical retellings.

Their for-adults stories challenge what we’ve been told about the characters in old favorites like “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Cinderella,” “Snow White,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty in the Beast,” and “Sleeping Beauty.”

What happens if the wolf is hunted by Little Red? Is the stepmother in Snow White truly up to no good? What if Ariel is a stalker? What if Beauty is a boy?

These creative retellings pose questions about gender, humans, animals, love, hate and, of course, magic.

Kathlene “Kat” Postma is a professor at Pacific University where she teaches creative writing and literature, including fairy tale studies, mythology, and folklore. Her work has appeared in The Kenyon Review, Los Angeles Review, Hawai’i Review, ZYZZYVA, Willow Springs, Blood Orange Review, Green Mountains Review, and numerous other magazines. She has written a collection of fairy tales for adults entitled The Keys to Her Own Kingdom and is crafting a historical novel that runs wild with the fairy tales of seventeenth-century France. Kathlene is editor of New Ground Books, an imprint of Pacific University Press.

Interested in more radical retellings?

Books that rebel: The Merry Spinster by Mallory Ortberg. What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi, Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghu, The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, The Witch’s Kiss by Emma Donaghu, The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy.

Arrive at 6:30 p.m. to grab a snack or drink. The event will start at 7:00 p.m.

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Event cohosted by BOLD Coffee & Books and Indigo: Editing, Design, and More.