The Latest from Littsburgh: Early Spring Edition!
Creative grants, bookstore birthdays, writers' conferences, Appalachian poetry, interviews, excerpts, a ton of literary events, and more!
This is a really big update, so we’re keeping our intro short!
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 - February Pick!
Littsburgh’s co-founder Rachel Ekstrom Courage (also a literary agent and author) joined Heather Abraham on Talk Pittsburgh again this week alongside Damon Young, author of What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker!
As always, thanks so much to Talk Pittsburgh and KDKA for letting us use these spots to help spread the word about local literary events—this month we were able to highlight “An Afternoon with Terrance Hayes,” Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures’ Made Local with Cameron Barnett, and the Writers Conference of Northern Appalachia®!
New Placemaking Grant Seeks Creative Projects to Activate Downtown Public Spaces…
“Local individuals, non-profit organizations and civic groups are all encouraged to apply for $1,000 – $5,000 grants for creative projects and activities that help us create vibrant and welcoming experiences in places around the Golden Triangle.”
Registration Is Now Open For Writers Conference of Northern Appalachia® (WCoNA) 2024!
“Join us as at the premier writers conference dedicated to the literature of northern Appalachia as we bring you our region’s foremost professionals on the craft of writing.
Featuring keynote speaker Maxwell King, author of the New York Times-bestselling biography, The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers, and American Workman: The Life and Art of John Kane; former President and CEO of The Pittsburgh Foundation; and former editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer…”
Featured Event - One Year Anniversary Party for Stories Like Me (Children’s Bookstore in Greenfield): “Feed Your Neighbor Feed Your Mind”!
“As part of the event, we are excited to welcome Erin Frankel, author of A Plate of Hope: The Inspiring Story of Chef José Andrés and World Central Kitchen, who will be reading and signing books on the day, beginning at 1:30pm.
P.S. If you love kid lit, pick up one of Nick’s books while you’re there! :)
Q&A: Nancy McCabe, author of The Pamela Papers: A Mostly E-pistolary Story of Pandemic Academic Pandemonium!
“Like Black Mirror and The Twilight Zone, Nancy McCabe’s latest book, The Pamela Papers, hits so close to life in our brave new world it’s hard to call it satire. Yet The Pamela Papers is a brilliant, timely, hysterically funny, disturbing, and poignant glimpse into university life during and after the pandemic…. The world of The Pamela Papers is, in short, bonkers. McCabe is devoted to telling the truth about academia and the capitalist, anti-intellectual, anti-human fires that are unjustly raging there. This is a book of and for our strange times.”—Lori Jakiela, author of They Write Your Name on a Grain of Rice
Q&A: Catherine Gammon interviewed on her forthcoming collection The Gunman and the Carnival: Stories by Baobab Press managing editor Danilo John Thomas!
“[I]t was after moving to Pittsburgh, in 1992, that I understood for the first time what it meant to be from L.A. I didn’t see it right away. I moved here from New York to join the Pitt faculty, and most of the faculty were transplants like me, as were many of the grad students and some undergrads. But after a few years I began to understand: people from Pittsburgh, really from Pittsburgh, lived where their families had lived for generations.”
Q&A: Kelley McNeil, Author of Mayluna!
“Kelley McNeil is the critically acclaimed author of Mayluna and A Day Like This. She was born and raised in Pittsburgh and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh. She worked in the music and entertainment industry for over a decade, which helped inspire her latest novel…”
Three Poems from South of Pittsburgh: Poems from Northern Appalachia by Michael Comiskey…
“This volume of Northern Appalachian poetry employs many traditional and modern poetic forms to survey the human and natural landscapes of that unique and often overlooked region. Featured forms include the sonnet, ballad, haiku, ode, villanelle, elegy, found poem, epigram, narrative poem, and blank and free verse. Topics are as varied as the delicacy of the region’s wildflowers, the devastation wrought by mountaintop removal mining, Northern Appalachian folklore, and the state of the region’s working class…”
Littsburgh Spotlight: Prime Stage Theatre presents “And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank”
“‘People know the general story of Anne Frank and her family spending two years hiding from the Nazis,’ says Prime Stage Theatre artistic director Dr. Wayne Brinda, ‘but this play reveals very personal viewpoints from Ed Silverberg and Eva Schloss that bring a new depth and understanding to who they were as individuals, especially Anne…”
Don’t sleep on literary Pittsburgh - visit our literary events calendar!
Littsburgh Interviewed in The Triskelion (from Carlow University’s MFA in Creative Writing Program)!
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Celebrates Black Culture and Influence in the Arts
Start reading a short story from House Parties by Lynn Levin…
Start Reading The Last Caretaker by Jessica Strawser (Our Talk Pittsburgh Book Club Pick for December)!