Events
Ooligan Press and the Book Publishing Master’s program host book launches and publishing how-tos!
CEPKA: A Memoir In Beaded Essays by Leah Altman
$20.00Born Baby Girl Black Feather, Leah Altman was removed from her tribal community through placement by the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), to be adopted and raised by a family in Portland, Oregon. At twenty-one, she journeys across the West twice to rediscover her roots—to her birth father’s Lakota family in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and to her mother’s Persian relatives in Denver, Colorado.
As an adoptee, Leah felt the hole in her heart where her cekpa was missing. Lacking this tradition so essential to Lakota culture manifested in a troubled youth of reckless decisions, substance abuse, and struggling to fit in at school after school. A child without a cekpa is left unanchored, and without hers, Leah was at a loss in life. In an intimate portrayal of self-discovery, Leah’s memoir tells a painstaking construction of her search for identity, written to ensure her own children grow up with an understanding of their roots.
In this collection of personal essays dedicated to her two daughters, Altman masterfully weaves together her own literary cekpa in a coming-of-age story about transracial adoption, tribal enrollment, motherhood, and what it truly means to be connected to one’s culture, homeland, and family.
The Blue Line Letters by Steven Christiansen
$16.95Colorful locals, a smart girl from school, and an enigmatic character known as the Prophet. Seventeen-year-old Ty is stuck riding Portland’s MAX Blue Line every day of the summer before his senior year, but what could be a boring commute turns into a discovery of human nature, an exploration of Ty’s own inner thoughts, and opportunities to make new friends. Equipped with official summer assignments—to read Jane Eyre and write about what he learned over the summer—Ty also picks up a few unofficial assignments, including making astute observations about his fellow MAX riders and the colorful world around him, and recording what he sees in a series of letters addressed to his teacher Ms. Warne. Now, if he could only capture the attention of his high school classmate Janie who also rides the Blue Line.
From one end of the Blue Line to the other, from old wounds to new love, and all the stops in between, Ty gains a deeper understanding of human behavior, community, and even the inner workings of his own heart. The Blue Line Letters is a coming-of-age story, a love letter to mass transit (and Portland), and a comical, heartfelt ride that readers won’t want to disembark.
Supersymmetry by S.R. Schulz
$18.00“For every particle, there is a hidden one that fits perfectly together with it. Balances it out. Makes the laws of the universe work.” In this one-of-a-kind story, a young woman struggles through faltering relationships to find meaning in her identity and in love.
Getting pregnant at nineteen was never Lisa’s plan. Postpartum depression, single parenthood, her own childhood trauma, and her son’s increasingly violent outbursts make Lisa feel like she’s unraveling. Alone, with guilt weighing heavy on her mind and her path shrouded in uncertainty, she leaves her hometown in Oregon and ventures to Croatia, hoping for a fresh start.
Lisa’s present in Croatia and her past in Oregon collide in this dramatic story of a young woman looking to make her life into something more. Can Lisa run away from her problems forever, creating a new life, identity, and love for herself? Or will the pull of family prove stronger than the thousands of miles that separate them?
The Pacific Northwest Disaster Guide by Henry Latourette Miller
$16.95Disaster preparedness doesn’t have to be scary. Use this valuable resource and start preparing today! Do you know the warning signs for a tsunami? Where to shelter during an earthquake? Or where your nearest designated evacuation spot is? With the increase in extreme weather, it’s more important than ever to be ready for earthquakes, tsunamis, winter storms, flooding, landslides, droughts, heatwaves, and wildfires.
The Pacific Northwest Disaster Guide focuses on specific natural disasters, and provides precise and helpful preparation skills through illustrations, quizzes, and guided activities fit for all ages.
The Legend of Sensei Tsinelas by Jason Tanamor
$18.00POW! BANG! WHAM! Victor, a superhero-obsessed teen, might work for Portland’s newest vigilante. As he grapples with bullying and isolation, a social studies project becomes Victor’s path to self-discovery, acceptance, and pride in his Filipino heritage.
Between a tsinelas-wielding superhero, a major social studies project, and take-out boxes of adobo and lumpia, seventeen-year-old Filipino American Victor Dela Cruz isn’t sure how to get through high school without the help of a radioactive spider. Despite his attempts to assimilate into his mostly white Portland high school, Victor has always felt like an outsider. He likes to think high school is his superhero origin story, and all he needs now are some superpowers.
Thorn City by Pamela Statz
$18.00Suspected murder, eclectic food trucks, and artisanal cocaine: just another day in Thorn City.
It’s the night of the Rose City Ripe for Disruption gala—a gathering of Portland’s elite. Dressed to kill in sparkling minidresses, best friends Lisa and Jamie attend as “paid to party” girls. They plan an evening of fake flirtations, karaoke playlists, and of course, grazing the catering.
Past and present collide when Lisa stumbles across Ellen, a ruthless politician who also happens to be Lisa’s estranged mother. Awkward… When Lisa was sixteen, Ellen had her kidnapped and taken to the Lost Lake Academy—a notorious boarding school for troubled youth.
Continuum: French Science Fiction Short Stories Edited by Annabelle Dolidon with Tessa Sermet
$24.95This unique collection of newly translated short stories offers a taste of classic and contemporary French science fiction to English-language readers. These stories cover a range of fascinating topics including simulated reality, speciesism, ecology, and transhumanism—all while exploring universal themes of belonging, death, and identity. Some of the authors featured in this anthology, like Julia Verlanger, Sylvie Denis, or Jean-Claude Dunyach, have shaped the history of French science fiction after World War II. Curated by Annabelle Dolidon and Tessa Sermet, French language and literature professors who share a love for the genre, these nine stories showcase some of the brilliant mid- to late twentieth and twenty-first century French contributions to science fiction.
A Family, Maybe By Lane Igoudin
$20.00In his candid and emotional memoir, Lane Igoudin shows the human side of public adoption as he and his partner Jonathan seek to adopt their foster daughters from the Los Angeles County child welfare system. Desperately wanting to be fathers, they enter into a complicated legal process that soon becomes a tangle of drama-filled birth parent visits and children’s court hearings. Lane and Jon spend years not knowing whether they will be able to officially adopt the girls, or if the county will reunite the sisters with their birth mother, Jenna, a teenager in the state’s custody herself.