City of Asylum
Giving Voice.
Pittsburgh's importance as a Jazz city involves many different facets and the history of the Jazz guitar is well represented here. On September 24, we will celebrate this aspect of Pittsburgh Jazz by featuring three talented, up-and-coming guitarists from the city's Jazz scene. From Barry Galbraith and Jimmy Ponder to George Benson and Joe Negri,... more →
The songwriting team of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart created many masterpieces for the Great American Songbook. Vocalist Grace Elliott, one of Pittsburgh's best young singers, will present her interpretations of some of Rodgers and Hart's classic songs on October 1. Featured Musicians: Grace Elliott: vocals Joseph Seman: tenor saxophone Alton Merrell: piano Leon Boykins:... more →
Ocean Vuong. Photo Courtesy: Yona Harvey. Join Khirsten Scott for a conversation with Yona Harvey on her upcoming collection Leap & Grow Feathers, which publishes on September 15, 2026. Both an instruction and a divination, Leap & Grow Feathers is an extraordinary transmission. In her third full-length collection, Yona Harvey listens—to her predecessors, her instincts, and her environment—gleaning sense from the static... more →
Photo Credit: Phelia Barouh. Photo Courtesy: WW Norton From the International Booker Prize–winning Georgi Gospodinov comes a volume of his finest short stories gathered over three decades. Exhibiting a world-renowned author at his most playful and profound, The Man with Many Names captures the peculiarities of existence across forty tales set in and around his beloved Bulgaria, in and... more →
Internationally acclaimed pianist Alton Merrell and trio members Jeff Grubbs and David Throckmorton present a combination lecture and performance demonstrating the legendary artist McCoy Tyner’s lasting impact on jazz.
Photo Credit: Leonor Grave. Photo Courtesy: Simon and Schuster. From Pulitzer and National Book Award finalist Anand Gopal comes Days of Love and Rage: A Story of Ordinary People Forging a Revolution, an epic and enthralling account of six Syrians fighting for a better world, in the tradition of classic works by Philip Gourevitch and Katherine Boo. Anand Gopal... more →
Photo Courtesy: Dr. Raj Panjabi When crisis hits—a sudden illness, a global disruption, or a career upheaval—our instinct is to retreat. Yet decades of research prove that our greatest protection isn’t isolation, it’s connection. From high-stakes decisions in the White House Situation Room and hospital emergency room to dramatic shocks of violence and illness his family... more →
City of Asylum presents the premiere of the musical-poetic performance Bride. "Writing the poem Bride was a logical continuation of exploration of the feminine principle, the role of the modern woman in society, her strength and powerlessness, and her potential spheres of influence on the world’s disheartening events. The poem Bride will allow the reader to see the world through the... more →
Photo Credit: Jeff Swensen Theresa Brown worked as an oncology nurse for years before finally burning out, but instead of leaving the healthcare system behind entirely, she set out to find places where it’s actually working. This richly drawn portrait of four nurses in four different sectors of our broken healthcare system reveals where solutions are... more →
From the minds of Andrew Swensen and Yan Pang, City of Asylum hosts an expanded showcase of “Shelter,” the story of scars carried from childhood into adulthood, how pain can distort our perception and damage our relationships, and how we find our strength through it.
Photo credits: Ruby Waldo, Centa Schumacher, Karen Lue If I asked you “What is a book for?”, you might also ask: What is a book anyway? What is reading? What is writing? What is publishing? What is a story? What is knowledge? What is language? On November 18, we will ask (but not answer) these... more →
All-new compositions inspired by the work of artists such as Henry Threadgill, Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.
Photo Courtesy: Joel Dias-Porter Join us as we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the International Poetry Forum, a local, independent nonprofit organization dedicated to spoken poetry and poetry education. Founded by Dr. Samuel Hazo in 1966, the International Poetry Forum has hosted hundreds of the world's most celebrated poets and performers in its reading series and educational outreach programs,... more →
Prolific author and essayist Jamaica Kincaid shares new PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay–winning collection in conversation with Anderson Tepper.
