"It is the first mild day of March: / Each minute sweeter than before..." - William Wordsworth
Hello to all of our friends in Littsburgh!
We’ve been on the road for our day jobs for the past couple of weeks but we’re still going strong with our Talk Pittsburgh Book of the Month picks and we’re adding events Littsburgh’s event calendar almost every day!
Also in this email: Nick on writing with aphantasia! A Pittsburgh Cab Story! 50 years of Hemingway’s Poetry Series! PulpFest 2024! Expanded hours at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh! Excerpts, interviews, and more!
Yours in books,
The Littsburgh Crew
P.S. Thanks to everyone who’s pledged their support and donated to Littsburgh—and whether or not you’re able to donate, we always appreciate your support!
Littsburgh on KDKA: Talk Pittsburgh Book Club - March Pick!
Littsburgh’s co-founder Rachel Ekstrom Courage was in New York for work this month, but we’re still going strong with the Talk Pittsburgh Book of the Month. This month: Millions of Suns: On Writing and Life by Sharon Fagan McDermott and M. Christine Benner Dixon!
Littsburgh’s Nick Courage on Writing Without a Mind’s Eye…
“Every once in a while, I’ll see a post about ‘aphantasia’ and just the thought of it takes over my life for a couple of days. A negation of the Greek word phantasia (or imagination), aphantasia literally means ‘without imagination. More specifically, it’s a rare-ish ‘inability to create mental imagery’…”
Q&A: Howie Ehrlichman (author of Not a Bad Trip: A Pittsburgh Cab Story)!
“In 1977, Howie landed a summer job to offset college expenses. Forty years later, he finished his shift. Not a Bad Trip: A Pittsburgh Cab Story takes you along for the ride, offering an intimate view inside this often maligned and misunderstood profession.
These stories provide snapshots across each decade from the era of iconic Checker dinosaurs ruling city streets, through the inevitable transformation into today’s Uber economy. Readers encounter people from all walks of life, uncovering the humanity inside high-profile celebrities, while discovering the extraordinary within ordinary folks...”
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Plans Major Hours Expansion!
“Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh announced that, beginning Sunday, March 10th, it will begin a major hours expansion, adding 93 more hours of service per week across its system. The increase, one of the largest in the Library’s history, will improve access and engagement for families, working adults, students, and patrons with busy schedules…”
Hemingway’s Summer Poetry Series Celebrates 50 Years and Moves to Hop Farm Brewing Company in Lawrenceville!
“This summer the Hemingway’s Summer Poetry series, founded by poet Jimmy Cvetic, will celebrate its 50th Anniversary season and move to a new venue, Hop Farm Brewing Co., for eight evenings on the second and fourth Tuesdays of May, June, July and August.
The series was generously hosted by White Whale Bookstore in recent years, but the new venue at Hop Farm Brewing will allow us to expand programming, bring back the open mic, and provide a setting with outstanding brews and other beverages, delicious food and a larger space…”
Excerpt and Interview: Janet Roberts (author of What Lies We Keep)!
“Stretching from Pittsburgh’s urban skyline to the beautiful ranch country of Montana, What Lies We Keep is a moving story of corporate ambition that shakes the very foundations of a marriage and asks: What happens when we embrace the life we think we should have, rather than the life we have?”
Interview: Salvatore Pane (The Neorealist in Winter) with Avery Bauer!
“I grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, which was very much an Italian American enclave. But I didn’t realize this as a kid. It all just felt normal, and it wasn’t until I moved for college and then later to Pittsburgh when I realized Scranton was a pretty particular place. The characters, then, are wrestling with their own murky sense of identity. What does it mean to be Italian American today?”
Don’t miss out: Salvatore Pane will be in conversation with Robert Yune at White Whale on March 22nd!
Q&A: Susan Helene Gottfried (author of Safe House)!
“A deadly virus is bearing down on the world and Emerson Mackenzie, CEO of PharmaScience Technologies—now back in its ancestral home of Port Kenneth, Tennessee—opens up the historic Mackenzie house on the family’s defunct sheep farm to six people: himself, his wife Tess Cartieri, his house manager, two members of his board of directors, and his executive assistant, Taylor Alexander…”
Don’t miss out: Susan Helene Gottfried will be appearing at a number of local book events in the fall, including Northland Library’s Local Author Fair on March 23 and Authors in the Steel City on September 28!
PulpFest is Returning to Mars in August 2024!
“For over 50 years, PulpFest has celebrated mystery, adventure, science fiction, and other popular fiction. The pulp magazines of the early twentieth century — cheaply-priced all-fiction magazines printed on pulpwood paper — were the vessel where the hardboiled detective, science fiction, and sword and sorcery genres developed and flourished. The pulps gave us Buck Rogers, Conan the Barbarian, Cthulhu, Doc Savage, Hopalong Cassidy, John Carter of Mars, Sam Spade, The Shadow, Tarzan, Zorro, and many other pop culture icons.
At PulpFest 2024, we’ll be celebrating 'Spice, Spies, Shaw, and More’…”
Littsburgh on KDKA: Talk Pittsburgh Book Club - February Pick!
Three Poems from South of Pittsburgh: Poems from Northern Appalachia by Michael Comiskey…
Registration Is Now Open For Writers Conference of Northern Appalachia® (WCoNA) 2024!
New Placemaking Grant Seeks Creative Projects to Activate Downtown Public Spaces…
Q&A: Nancy McCabe, author of The Pamela Papers: A Mostly E-pistolary Story of Pandemic Academic Pandemonium!
Q&A: Catherine Gammon interviewed on her forthcoming collection The Gunman and the Carnival: Stories by Baobab Press managing editor Danilo John Thomas!