Transmit Culture (TC) is an ongoing series of lectures and conversations intended to illuminate the ever changing and fascinating publishing industry. This series was created to provide the community and PSU Writing and Publishing students with an opportunity to network and learn from leading publishing professionals. It features a flexible format that starts with a Q&A between two professionals, lecture, or panel discussion, and concludes with questions from the audience.
The Master’s Program in Publishing at Portland State University is committed to promoting the art and craft of great works of literature. Transmit Culture gives PSU students, and the greater literary community, a platform to share passions, curiosities, and new developments during this exciting time in the evolution of the industry.
Previous Transmit Culture Events
Mindful Editing – February 22, 2018
The Mindful Editing panel discussion examined how the publishing community can take steps to break patterns of using trauma-inducing language and allow those who have experienced long-standing inequity to take the lead. This event was moderated by Amanda Matteo, a residential case manager pursuing a graduate certificate in Addictions Counseling in addition to her MA in Writing at Portland State. Panelists included Cathy Camper, author of the Lowriders in Space graphic novel series; Vinnie Kinsella, editor of the anthology Fashionably Late: Gay, Bi, and Trans Men Who Came Out Later in Life and the author of A Little Bit of Advice for Self-Publishers; Erika Stevens, a freelance editor working with literary presses, academic presses, NGOs, and individual clients; and Reema Zaman, author, speaker, actress, teacher, and winner of the 2018 Oregon Literary Arts Writer of Color Award.
The Future of Children’s Reading – October 17, 2017
This event brought together a group of specialists to explore new forms of reading, how kids develop and learn, and how the research generated from these new practices impacts the publishing industry. Kathi Berens, Assistant Professor of English and Digital Humanities at Portland State, moderated the event. Panelists included Dr. Rachel Noorda, Senior Instructor of Publishing at Portland State, and Terra Chapek, Proposal Manager at Learning A–Z.
Sexuality & the Body in Comics – May 2, 2017
Dr. Susan Kirtley, head of the Comics Studies program at Portland State, moderated the event. Panelists include Colleen Coover, comic book artist for adult comic Small Favors and Eisner award winner for Bandettes; Leila Del Duca, a comic book artist and illustrator currently co-creating SHUTTER with Image Comics; Celina Hernandez, artist and co-founder of Chibi Comics; and Taneka Stotts, a comics writer and editor, most recently of queerotica anthology Passionfruit.
Native Americans in Writing & Publishing – February 2, 2017
Native Americans in Writing and Publishing brings together author Trevino Brings Plenty, author and editor Jessica Mehta, poet, storyteller and teacher with Writers in the Schools and Young Audiences, Ed Edmo, and Mary Elizabeth Braun, acquisitions editor for Oregon State University Press. This panel discussion was moderated by Dennis Stovall, founder and former publishing director of Ooligan Press.
Writers at Work – October 18, 2016
A handful of Oregon’s most esteemed writers discuss their day jobs in writing-adjacent fields like publishing, teaching, and literary non-profits. Speakers include Kait Heacock, publicist at The Feminist Press (publishing house) and author of the Ooligan title Siblings and Other Disappointments; Michael Heald, owner of Perfect Day Publishing (publishing house), writer at large for Runner’s World (magazine), and bartender at Lucky Lab; and David Biespiel, founder of Attic Institute writing center and instructor at Oregon State University.
Portland’s Publishing + Maker Communities – May 3, 2016
By engaging local entrepreneurs, publishers, and makers in conversation, we hope to unpack what it is about Portland’s suppliers and consumers that uniquely positions this city as a maker community. We will attempt to differentiate between the designations of maker-made, locally made, locally sourced, artisan, hand-crafted, artist-empowered, and local artist in order to determine the value of these buzzwords.
A small, innovative publishing house, Microcosm Publishing empowers readers to make positive changes in their lives and in the world around them. Microcosm emphasizes skill-building, showing hidden histories, and fostering creativity through challenging conventional publishing wisdom with books about DIY skills, food, gender, self-care, social justice, and art. Originally started as a record label by Joe Biel in his bedroom in 1996, the publishing house is now based in Portland. Microcosm constantly strives to be recognized for its spirit, creativity, and value.
Dissatisfied with passive consumption, many residents of Portland take matters into their own hands. Associate Professor of Urban Studies Charles Heying noticed these local artisans prospering all over the city and set out to study their thriving economy. Profiling hundreds of local businesses, and with an eye on Portland’s unique penchant for sustainability and urban development, Brew to Bikes is a book about everything from bike manufacturers to microbreweries, from do-it-yourself to traditional crafts. A treatise to local, ethical business practices, Brew to Bikes positions Portland as a hub of artisan ingenuity worthy of admiration.
ADX is a hub for collaboration where individuals and organizations make and learn. By sharing tools, knowledge, and experience, ADX helps makers do things better–by working together. Their makerspace, learning center, and custom fabrication shop allow anyone to bring their ideas to life. In their 14,000-square foot facility, high-profile designers work alongside students, retirees share their knowledge with novice builders, and entrepreneurs collaborate with hobbyists. Kelley Roy will represent Portland Made, a sister company to ADX, with a curated selection of wares for sale.
Begun as a conversation eight years ago, the Portland Incubator Experiment—commonly known as PIE—has become an ongoing collaboration between the startup community and Wieden+Kennedy, the largest privately held creative advertising agency in the world. Throughout its history, PIE has served as a curated coworking space, a community event space, a startup accelerator, a flashpoint for corporate innovation, and a home-away-from-home for startup types—and the startup curious—from around the world. It’s all part of Rick Turoczy’s ever-changing experiment created to test how startups, brands, and corporations can collaborate.
Diversity and Inclusion in Young Adult and Children’s Literature – January 28, 2017
Portland, OR—Portland State University’s graduate program in Book Publishing is excited to announce the winter installment of its Transmit Culture lecture series. Please join us for a panel discussion with author and activist S. Renee Mitchell, literary agent with Howard Morhaim Literary Agency and Portland State University professor DongWon Song, and Multnomah County librarian Alicia Tate. Brian Parker, Ooligan Press graduate, author, illustrator, and cofounder of Believe in Wonder Publishing will moderate the discussion.
Spoken word poet and songwriter, women’s advocate, actress, performer, playwright, speaker, educator, and community servant S. Renee Mitchell is the 2015 Yolanda D. King Drum Major Award winner for her dedication to community service. Mitchell is the author of the novel Tangoing with Tornadoes, two collections of poetry, and is the author and illustrator of two zines, and the children’s story, The Awakening of Sharyn: A Shy and Brown Super Gyrl.
DongWon Song studied English and economics at Duke University and worked at Hachette Book Group and Zola Books before becoming a literary agent at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency. He seeks submissions from writers of science fiction, fantasy, science, food writing, and pop culture. Song is also an instructor of editing at Portland State University’s graduate degree in Book Publishing.
Alicia Tate is a Multnomah County librarian with a focus on youth and children’s librarianship. Tate graduated from the Information School at the University of Washington. She is the recipient of a Charity Cantey Endowed Scholarship. As a member of the Multnomah County Library system, Tate has posted book reviews and blog posts focused on YA fiction and graphic novels, especially in the genres of horror and scientific fiction, and curated lists from “For all of the outsiders” and #weneeddiversebooks to “That’s what I call hip-hop.”
Scheduled for January 28, 2016, “Transmit Culture: Diversity and Inclusion in Young Adult and Children’s Literature” will begin at 7:30 p.m. in room 102 of University Pointe at 1955 SW 5th Ave, Portland, OR 97201.
Transmit Culture: A Series of Conversations about Publishing is hosted by the graduate program in Book Publishing at Portland State University and Ooligan Press, a nonprofit trade publishing house staffed by students in the graduate program. The lecture series features professionals from all areas of the publishing industry. Lectures are free and open to the public, with a suggested donation of $5–10.
For more information about the Transmit Culture lecture series, Portland State University’s graduate program in Book Publishing, and Ooligan Press, visit www.publishing.pdx.edu.
Women in Writing and Publishing – October 27, 2015
Please join us for a panel discussion with bestselling author Karen Karbo, managing editor of CALYX literary journal Alicia Bublitz, and director of rights and publicity at Tin House Masie Cochran. Rhonda Hughes, publisher and editor at Hawthorne Books, will moderate the discussion.
Karen Karbo is the bestselling author of twelve books, including the internationally bestselling Kick Ass Women series. Her essays have appeared in Elle, Vogue, Esquire, Outside, O, More, The New Republic, The New York Times, salon.com, and others.
CALYX is a nonprofit literary journal committed to introducing a wide audience to high quality literature and art by women, and providing a forum for diversity and underrepresented writers and viewpoints. Alicia Bublitz is an activist, cultural critic, women’s studies scholar, Vagina Warrior, and lifelong Girl Scout.
Tin House is an independent press publishing a dozen titles a year. Its authors have garnered attention from the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, and O. Masie After working for Inkwell Management, a literary agency in New York City, Masie Cochran moved to Portland with her husband and son. She is now an editor at Tin House.
Hawthorne Books is an independent literary press focused on literary fiction and nonfiction with innovative and varied approaches to the relationships between essay, memoir, and narrative.Hawthorne has published literary fiction and nonfiction to consistent critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the Oregon Book Award, Barnes & Noble’s Discover Great New Writer Award, The Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award, the Langum Prize for Historical Fiction, and many others.
The event will begin at 7:30 p.m. in room 102 of University Pointe. You can RSVP on Facebook.
University Pointe 1955 SW 5th Ave. Portland, OR 97201A Conversation with Georgia Frances King, Editor of Kinfolk – May 14, 2015
The latest installment of Transmit Culture will feature a conversation with Georgia Frances King, editor of Kinfolk, facilitated by Julie Falk, executive director of Bitch Media.
With a circulation of 75,000, Kinfolk has grown into a global brand with a distinct aesthetic. Based in Portland, the quarterly lifestyle magazine produces international editions in Japan, China, Korea, and Russia, and organizes monthly community gathering events that take place around the world. Julie Falk of Bitch Media will interview Kinfolk editor Georgia Frances King about the magazine’s success since its inaugural 2011 issue.
Bitch Media is a Portland-based nonprofit organization that has been publishing the magazine Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture since 1996. Julie Falk was hired as Bitch Media’s first executive director in June 2009.
The event will begin at 7:30 p.m. in room 102 of the Shattuck Hall Annex. You can RSVP on Facebook.
Shattuck Hall Annex 1914 SW Park Ave. Portland, OR 97201The Changing Landscape of Bookselling – February 19, 2015
The latest installment of Transmit Culture, “The Changing Landscape of Bookselling,” will examine the evolving business, and uncertain future, of how books are bought and sold.
Panelists will include: Michael Powell, owner of Powell’s City of Books and a driving force behind Portland’s thriving literary culture; Gary Lothian, a long-time sales representative with Ingram Content Management, the largest book distributor in the United States; and Marcia R. Johnston, a successful self-published writer through Amazon and author of Word Up!: How to Write Powerful Sentences and Paragraphs. The panel will be moderated by Kent Watson, executive director of PubWest and adjunct professor in the graduate program in Book Publishing at Portland State University.
The event will begin at 7:30pm, and will take place in room 102 of the University Pointe building at Portland State University.
University Point at College Station 1955 SW Fifth Ave., Portland, Oregon 97201 Portland, OR 97201MFA vs. NYC – Thursday, October 23, 2014
The next event in our Transmit Culture lecture series, MFA vs. NYC will feature a debate centered around the two current distinct writing and literary cultures in the United States: the MFA track and the world of New York publishing. Featuring panelists like Betsy Amster, Lee Montgomery, and Eliot Treichel, it’s sure to be an enlightening discussion. All are welcome!
The event will begin at 7:30pm, and will take place in room 102 of the University Pointe building at Portland State University.
University Point at College Station 1955 SW Fifth Ave., Portland, Oregon 97201 Portland, OR 97201From Book to Big Screen – Thursday, May 15, 2014
Many of today’s biggest box office hits began as books. Join us for the next event in our Transmit Culture lecture series, Transmit Culture: From Book to Big Screen! We’ll be learning about the mysterious and exciting process of adapting books for film. Panelists include:
- Charles Deemer, an esteemed screenwriter, playwright, author, and PSU screenwriting professor.
- Fiona Kenshole, a literary agent, former editor and publisher, and former Vice President of Development Acquisitions at LAIKA (the studio responsible for Coraline, ParaNorman, and the forthcoming Box Trolls).
- The panel will be moderated by Michael Clark, a PSU Associate Professor of English and Coordinator for the Minor in Film Studies at PSU.
The event will begin at 7:30pm, and will take place in room 102 of the University Pointe building at Portland State University. Light refreshments will be provided.
University Point at College Station 1955 SW Fifth Ave., Portland, Oregon 97201 Portland, OR 97201Publishing Comics and Graphic Novels: Thursday, May 16, 2013
Panelists include distinguished figures in the vibrant Oregon comics scene: Chris Ross, the Director of Digital Publishing and in-house book designer for Top Shelf Comix; Sarah Mirk, the Online Editor of Bitch Media and the force behind the Oregon History Comics; Spencer Newlin-Cushing, the Assistant Editor at Dark Horse Comics; and Jason Leivian, owner and curator of Floating World Comics. The panel will be moderated by Todd Sattersten, PSU professor and author of Every Book is a Startup.
This panel is free and open to the public, with a suggested donation of 5-10$.
5th Avenue Cinema 510 SW Hall St. Portland, OR 972017:30-9:00pm, doors open at 7:00pm
Kat Topaz: April 29, 2013
Kat Topaz will speak on her experiences in the design and publishing worlds, starting with her early work designing in NYC pre-desktop. Moving through her transition to desktop publishing, and redesigning alt-weeklies across the county, and into her current work designing interactive tablet based publications.The conversation will culminate in a look at the differences between designing for print and tablets, and the challenges to that transition. With over 25 years of experience, Topaz brings a unique perspective on where publication design was, where it is, and where the industry is going.
About Kat Topaz
Katherine “Kat” Topaz founded Topaz Design in 2000, after a decade of racking up awards for her design work. Well known in the publication world, she has designed or redesigned over 50 titles nationwide. Her ability to use design as a tool to effectively reposition and launch publications in their markets is well documented; Dig Boston, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Oklahoma Gazette, and the Oregonian’s Mix (Portland’s Food and Drink magazine) are recent examples.
Beyond print, Topaz expanded into branding for business clients in the Portland area, focusing on annual reports, websites, logos and marketing material. Greenlight Greater Portland, Pivotal Leaders, and Hotlips Pizza and Soda have all excelled in reaching their target audiences with her creative solutions.
Topaz is now the Creative Director at Storycode, where she uses her background to create mixed-media products for the digital marketplace and next generation devices. This past year she launched a DPS app for “Stratford Behind the Scenes” which is being described as one of the year’s best. Adobe recently chose the Storycode agency, as one of ten globally, to be an Adobe DPS preferred partner.
An alumnus of Parsons School of Design, Topaz has taught Design Strategies and Typography for over a decade at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, and speaks regularly around the country.
This panel is free and open to past and future students of the writing program at PSU.
Neuberger Hall, Room 407 724 SW Harrison St. Portland, OR 972015:30-6:30pm