Jazz Poetry Month 2025, May 1–22, features 50+ artists, new and returning, making their way to our stage from near and far. Jazz Poetry Month is a tradition that traces back to the very heart of City of Asylum. At its core, it is a celebration of experimentation, collaboration, and connection between art forms and between artist and audience. All performances can be viewed in person or online on our streaming platform.
Jazz Poetry Month 2025 Lineup
Thursday, May 1 @ 7 PM
Thumbscrew, Mahogany L. Browne, Oleksandr Frazé-Frazénko, Camille Rankine
The 21st annual Jazz Poetry festival kicks off with “One of the most spellbinding trios in contemporary improvised music” (Echoes magazine). Jazz trio Thumbscrew travels to Pittsburgh to launch their latest album, Wingbeats, which germinated during the band’s last trip to Pittsburgh in 2023. Joining the trio on stage for a series of unique, improvisational collaborations are poets Mahogany L Browne, a Kennedy Center’s Next 50 fellow and author of the collection Chrome Valley; Oleksandr Frazé-Frazénko, a filmmaker, writer, and musician from Ukraine and City of Asylum Writer-in-Residence since 2023; and Camille Rankine, whose chapbook, Slow Dance with Trip Wire, was selected by Cornelius Eady for the Poetry Society of America’s New York Chapbook Fellowship.
Wednesday, May 7 @ 7 PM
Nicole Mitchell Quintet, Chen Chen, Cameron Lovejoy, Roya Marsh, Ajibola Tolase
Keeping the celebratory energy going, the second night of Jazz Poetry Month welcomes Nicole Mitchell, the former Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, playing tribute to a selection of Pittsburgh Greats, including Geri Allen, George Benson, and Erroll Garner. Nicole and her quintet are accompanied by poets Chen Chen, whose debut collection, When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities, was longlisted for the National Book Award; Cameron Lovejoy, a printer and poet who operates the slow press Tilted House; Roya Marsh, author of the poetry collection dayliGht, which was nominated for the 2021 Lambda Literary Award for Poetry; and Ajibola Tolase, a Nigerian poet & essayist, whose collection 2000 Blacks won the 2024 Cave Canem Poetry Prize.
Thursday, May 8 @ 7 PM
Stephanie Chou Quintet, Jan Beatty, Olena Boryshpolets, Mubanga Kalimamukwento
New York City–based composer, saxophonist, and singer Stephanie Chou takes to the jazz poetry stage for the first time. Stephanie blends Chinese musical influences with Western jazz and pop to create a unique and vibrant musical world. Pairing with Stephanie and her band are renowned poets Jan Beatty, whose eighth book, Dragstripping, takes readers to dragstrip (in all its forms) where the ecstatic is rescripted; Olena Boryshpolets, a Ukrainian poet (and City of Asylum Writer-in-Residence) who recently released her moving and beloved collection Orpheus and Eurydice in New York; and Zambian writer and winner of the 2024 Drue Heinz Prize Mubanga Kalimamukwento, who returns to Pittsburgh to share her debut poetry collection, Another Mother Does Not Come When Yours Dies.
Tuesday, May 13 @ 7 PM
Reginald Dwayne Betts, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, Volodymyr Rafeyenko, Anouar Rahmani
This performance puts the spotlight on incredible poets Reginald Dwayne Betts, MacArthur genius, poet, lawyer, and founder of Freedom Reads; Volodymyr Rafeyenko, a writer, poet, translator, and literary critic from Kyiv, Ukraine, who became a Writer-in-Residence at City of Asylum following the outbreak of Russian aggression in Ukraine in 2022; LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, a poet and sound artist whose latest work, Village, is described by Camille Dungy as “part instruction manual, part celebration, part dance party, part garden tour”; and Anouar Rahmani, an Algerian novelist, journalist, and activist (and a Writer-in-Residence at City of Asylum) whose literary work boldly challenges societal norms and advocates for freedom of expression, LGBTQ+ rights, and social justice. These four poets will share the stage with an incredible, soon-to-be-announced band, so stay tuned for further details!
Thursday, May 15 @ 7 PM
House of Waters ft. Priya Darshini, Safia Elhillo, Haleh Liza Gafori, Rania Mamoun, Nathan Osorio
City of Asylum hosts the renowned musical group House of Waters, featuring Priya Darshini. Nominated for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album in 2024 and described as “one of the most unique groups you will ever come across” (The Bubble), House of Waters incorporates elements of West African, psychedelic, indie rock, and classical and world music in their style to be at the forefront of jazz innovation. Sharing the stage with the group are Safia Elhillo, the Sudanese author of The January Children (Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets, Arab American Book Award); Haleh Liza Gafori, Persian poet and musician whose acclaimed translations of Rumi (Gold and Water) have given new audiences insight into the mind of the 13th-century poet; Rania Mamoun, Sudanese activist and poet (and City of Asylum Writer-in-Residence) who beautifully captured the early days of the pandemic in her collection Something Evergreen Called Life; and Nathan Osorio, poet and scholar whose debut poetry collection, Querida, was selected by Shara McCallum as the winner of the 2024 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize.
Tuesday, May 20 @ 8 PM
Jerome Jennings & iLL Philosophy, Carly Inghram, Montaser Abdel Mawgoud, Bo Mima
This program welcomes sextet Jerome Jennings & iLL Philosophy. The brainchild of drummer and Emmy Award–winning composer Jerome Jennings, the group performs original compositions that fuse jazz with blues, bebop, Afrobeat, and hip hop, featuring turntables courtesy of DJ OOOChild. This performance is a collaboration and improvisation with talented poets from all over the world, including former ICORN resident Montaser Abdel Mawgoud; Bo Mima, the newest City of Asylum Writer-in-Residence; and Carly Inghram, a poet from Atlanta whose 2021 collection, The Animal Indoors (Autumn House Press), was selected by Terrance Hayes as the winner of the Book Prize of the Center for African American Poetry & Poetics.
Thursday, May 22 @ 8 PM
James Brandon Lewis Quintet ft. Chad Taylor, Haile Bizen, Doralee Brooks, Huang Xiang
Celebrated saxophonist James Brandon Lewis takes to the stage for his fifth year as festival headliner. His performance gives audiences a sneak peek of his next project: a suite of songs in tribute to American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and bandleader Eric Dolphy. This program will feature poetry collaborations with residents from visiting European ICORN cities, including Eritrean poet Haile Bizan; Poet Laureate of Allegheny County (2022–2024) Doralee Brooks; and City of Asylum’s first-ever Writer-in-Residence, Huang Xiang, who was the inspiration and original poet for our (now annual) Jazz Poetry Month Festival. In contemporary Chinese literature, Huang Xiang is one of the earliest and most prolific liberal poets and writers in the “underground literature” scene.
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