Bookaversary Author Reading: Jan Baross

BOLD is thrilled to host Bookaversary, an author reading with Jan Baross, author of Jose Builds a Woman. Authors Gigi Little, Laura Stanfill, and Dian Greenwood will also be reading for the occasion.

YOUR BOOK’S ANNIVERSARY! Bookaversary!

Dear Lovely Local Writers,

Come celebrate the joyful publication of your book with an anniversary party at Bold Books. Has it been out for one month, one year, ten years? All dates, approximate and otherwise, and all genres are welcome including poetry. Anything goes! We will be hosted by Jan Baross who is celebrating the twentieth anniversary of her award-winning book, Jose Builds a Woman. You will have five to ten minutes, depending on how many we are. Share the story of your book’s publication, and/or read an excerpt and we will sing its praise.

Jan Baross is an award-winning novelist, documentary filmmaker, photographer, screenwriter, playwright, librettist, film critic and taught filmmaking at Oregon State University. Jose Builds a Woman, her debut novel, published by Ooligan Press, received first place for fiction. Ursula Le Guin gave it a thumbs up review.

Gigi Little is the author of Who Killed One the Gun?, a noir detective novel with a time warp. Her essays and short stories have appeared in journals and anthologies including Portland Noir, Spent, and The Pacific Northwest Reader. She's the editor of the collection City of Weird and co-editor/co-designer of the book The Untold Gaze, alongside her husband, fine artist Stephen O'Donnell. She's also a freelance book cover designer and the staff designer for Forest Avenue Press.

Once upon a time, Laura Stanfill lived in a New Jersey house filled with music boxes, street organs, and books. She grew up to become the publisher of Forest Avenue Press and the author of Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary. Her short-form work has appeared in Shondaland, The Rumpus, Catapult, The Vincent Brothers Review, Santa Fe Writers Project, and several print anthologies. She believes in indie bookstores and wishes on them like stars from her home in Portland, Oregon, where she resides with her family and Waffles the dog.

Dian Greenwood studied writing (emphasis on poetry) at San Francisco State University. She later studied novel writing with Janet Fitch (White Oleander) and Tom Spanbauer (In the City of Shy Hunters). Dian published About the Carleton Sisters (2023, She Writes Press) at age 81 and, a year later, Forever Blackbirds (2024). The Blackbird sequel, Blackbird Whistling came out in September 2025, both books from Traveler’s Moon Press. Dian previously published essays in the online magazine, The Big Smoke, America. Her Substack essays can be found at It’s Never Too Late. Dian lives in Portland, Oregon, where she writes and works as a family therapist.

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

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