Over at some little bookstore downtown tonight, Literary Arts will try to drum up excitement for their upcoming season of Portland Arts & Lectures. While the lineup is nothing to sniff at it, it’s hardly inspired and seems so far removed from last year’s crackerjack lineup, which included George Saunders, Mary Gaitskill, Joan Didion (who had to cancel, unfortunately), Jonathan Lethem, Suzan-Lori Parks, wildcard Stephen King, and cashcow David Sedaris. For an organization whose median audience seems more Barbara Kingsolver than Fortress of Solitude, this was something to sit up and take notice of.

For this approaching season, they’re not skimping on the name recognition factor, but the roster is far less focused and reliable. There’s Orhan Pamuk, who is a big deal, having a Nobel Prize and all; Diane Ackerman, whose Zookeepers Wife looks promising; Colson Whitehead, who seems like the token hat-tip to the younger audience; Mary Oliver, who seems like the token hat-tip to the nature poetry-loving audience; Marjane Satrapi, whose Persepolis is about to be released as a motion picture; and Frank Rich in conversation with Stephen Sondheim. It’s not an terrible lineup by any means, but if I missed every single reading, I probably wouldn’t feel too bad about it (which is presumably not the reaction they were going for.)

Literary Arts’ Executive Director Elizabeth Burnett talks about the upcoming season at Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside, tonight at 7:30 pm.