Pool Party Presents! Back to Where We Started, an Anniversary Reading

Pool Party Presents: Back to Where We Started, a one-year anniversary reading at Grand Gesture Books featuring Portland writers Chelsea Bieker, Jon Raymond, and Camille McDaniel, and visiting authors Adam Deutsch (San Diego), Luke Goebel (L.A./PDX), and Lauren Lavín (Seattle)!

Tuesday, Feb. 10 | 6pm | Grand Gesture Books, 814 SW 10th Ave.

It's hard to believe it's been more than a year since we came up with the idea for a reading series on the floor of Kevin's apartment, just a few blocks down the street from mine. We were falling in love and wanted to do something bit together. In no time at all, Pool Party was born and we had our first reading a couple months later at Grand Gesture Books.

We're so happy to be returning to Grand Gesture to celebrate our one year anniversary, and with so many talented people on deck! Everybody reading either has recent or upcoming releases to read from and Lauren Lavín is doing this reading as part of her book tour for The Third Beat (Autofocus, 2026) which will still be hot off the press by the reading.

RSVP for the reading and book signing and learn more about the authors below!

CHELSEA BIEKER

Chelsea Bieker is the California Book Award winning author of three books, most recently the national bestselling novel, Madwoman, a Book of the Month club pick that was named a best book of the year by NPR, Oprah, and Elle. Her first novel, Godshot, was longlisted for The Center For Fiction’s First Novel Prize, and her story collection, Heartbroke was a New York Times Best Book of the year. Her writing has appeared in The Paris Review, People, The Cut, Wall Street Journal, and others. She is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Writers’ Award and an Oregon Literary Arts Fellowship, as well as residencies from MacDowell and Tin House.
Raised in Hawai’i and California, she now lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two children where she is the co-creator of The Fountain with the writer Kimberly King Parsons, writes about creative practice at her substack, Make Up Your Life, and is at work on a new novel. (Read full bio at her website)

ADAM DEUTSCH

Adam Deutsch is the author of a full-length collection, Every Transmission (Fernwood Press). He has work recently in Poetry International, Thrush, Puerto Del Sol, Alchemy, Broken Lens Journal, and South Dakota Review, and has a chapbook called Carry On (Elegies). He's a Professor in the English Department at Grossmont College and is the publisher of Cooper Dillon Books. He lives with his spouse and child in San Diego, CA. AdamDeutsch.com

LUKE GOEBEL
Luke Goebel is an author, screenwriter, and writer-producer based between Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon. He’s the author of K*ll Dick, coming out April 14, and Fourteen Stories, None of Them Are Yours.

He co-wrote Causeway for A24 and Eileen for Neon. He runs Omniscient Productions with Ottessa Moshfegh, and hosts Luke Likes Glue, a loose conversation series with writers, artists, and other interesting people.

LAUREN LAVÍN

Lauren Lavín is a writer and musician with work in Triangle House Review, Rejection Letters, Farewell Transmission, and elsewhere. Her first essay collection, The Third Beat (Autofocus Books) will be published in 2026. She was made in Mexico, born in Oakland, and currently lives in Seattle.

CAMILLE MCDANIEL

Camille is a Portland, Oregon-based poet, book editor, and the founder of Benniefairy Books. Her poetry has been published in Black Fox Literary Magazine, Currency, Sundress Publications and more. In 2023, she received nominations for the Pushcart Prize and Best New Poets Anthology. Her debut book—Blood, Skin, and Water—is available online through World Stage Press and at Broadway Books in Portland.

JON RAYMOND

Jon Raymond is the author of the novels God and Sex, The Half-Life, Rain Dragon, and Freebird, and the story collection Livability, winner of the Oregon Book Award. He has collaborated on six films with director Kelly Reichardt, numerous of which have been based on his fiction. He also received an Emmy Award nomination for his screenwriting on the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce directed by Todd Haynes and starring Kate Winslet. He was the editor of Plazm Magazine, associate and contributing editor at Tin House magazine, and a member of the Board of Directors at Literary Arts. His writing has appeared in Zoetrope, Playboy, Tin House, The Village Voice, Artforum, Bookforum, and other places. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

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