The Free Association Reading Series returns for this year’s sixth installment of intimate readings. This month’s program features exceptional local writers Richard Hamilton, T.N. Eyer, Inga Lea Schmidt, Christina Fisanick. This series is co-curated by Pat Hart and Marc Nieson. 

About the Authors:

Richard Hamilton (he/they) was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey and raised in the American south. He received an MFA in poetry from the University of Alabama and an MA in Arts and Politics from New York University. Hamilton is the author of Rest of Us (Re-Center Press, 2021). His book, Discordant (Autumn House Press, 2023), was the winner of the 2022 Center for African American Poetry and Poetics’ book prize. He has received fellowships and awards from Oscar and Gene Derwood, the Chautauqua Writers’ Festival, the Cave Canem foundation, the Vermont Studio Center, among others. He holds the 2023-2025 post-doctoral creative writing fellowship at the Center for African American Poetry and Poetics. Hamilton lives in Pittsburgh, PA.

T.N. Eyer graduated from Yale College and Yale Law School. She practiced corporate law in London and in Los Angeles before happily transitioning to writing fiction full time. Her first novel, Finding Meaning in the Age of Immortality, was published by Stillhouse Press in November. Her short fiction has appeared in a number of literary magazines, among them december, Hayden’s Ferry Review, and Water~Stone Review, and in two anthologies: Heresy Press’ Nothing Sacred and Coolest American Stories 2024. Her story “Date of Death” was listed as a Distinguished Story in Best American Short Stories 2022. She is an avid reader, hiker, and traveler. She has gone caving in Vietnam, horseback riding in Mongolia, and sand sledding in Namibia, but when she’s home she gets most of her exercise playing Dance Dance Revolution in her garage. She lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and daughter. 

Inga Lea Schmidt is a poet and public library worker in Pittsburgh. She proudly serves as a union officer for Local 9562 which represents several workplaces, including Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and the Carnegie Museums. She won an AWP Intro Journals Project Award, the Enoch Pratt Poetry Prize, and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Hollins University. Her poems can be found in Kenyon Review, Forklift, Ohio, Black Warrior Review, HOBART, Puerto del Sol, and elsewhere. Find more at ingaleaschmidt.com.

Christina Fisanick is the editor or author of more than thirty books, including the memoir The Optimistic Food (MSI 2016) and Digital Storytelling as Public History (Routledge 2020) with co-author Robert Stakeley. In addition, her poems, essays, and articles have appeared in a broad range of publications, including academic journals, literary magazines, and community papers. She is passionate about small town history, especially the history of her hometown, Wheeling, WV, where she lives with her son and two cats. When not writing or making art, Christina teaches expository writing, creative nonfiction, and digital storytelling to college students. Learn more about her work at christinafisanick.com.