LitFest 2025: Books From My Country You Should Know with Olena Boryshpolets (Ukraine), Bertony Louis (Haiti), Anouar Rahmani (Algeria) & Mukhtar Shehata (Egypt)

It’s no secret that classic works of American literature like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, as well as more contemporary works like Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch, are familiar to US audiences. Whether we’ve read them or not, we’ve seen them on school syllabi or else referenced in other creative works, and we understand and recognize them as big names in the literary canon. But what are we missing when we limit the canon to American works? What books from outside of the US should we be putting at the top of our lists?

In this program, four City of Asylum Writers-in-Residence share the books and writers from their home countries—Algeria, Egypt, Haiti, and Ukraine—that all readers should know about. The writers will read excerpts from these iconic works, provide context for why each story is so important in their country, and share how the literary lineage of their home country shows up in their own work.

Come ready to learn about the incredible literary worlds of four different countries—and add a new stack of books to your reading list.

About the Artists:

Olena Boryshpolets is originally from Odesa, Ukraine. They say you can leave Odesa, but Odesa will never leave you. Thus, Olena brought Odesa with her when she came to Pittsburgh and is ready to share this incredible city with all of us. Olena is a poet, writer, journalist, actress, cultural manager, and author of the short story book Ukrainian Detox and the book of poetry Orpheus and Eurydice in New York. Olena is also a member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, a co-founder of the public organization Creativity Without Borders, and a member of PEN America. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Olena traveled to Poland, where she spent a year acting in the Polish-Ukrainian play Life in Case of War. Since March 2023, she has been a Research Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh and a Writer-in-Residence at the City of Asylum Fellowship for Ukrainian Writers.

Bertony Louis is a Haitian poet whose work bridges cultures, languages, and continents. He is the author of Recovering the Horizons (L’Appeau Strophe, 2022) and the widely anthologized poems “Cradle of My Vitality” and “Smile Gone Up in Smoke” (Harvard Review, 2025). Winner of thirteen international poetry awards—including the Castello di Duino Poesia Special Jury Prize and the École de la Loire First Prize—his poetry has been recognized across Europe, North America, and the Caribbean. Bertony has been the recipient of prestigious fellowships and residencies, including Harvard University’s Scholars at Risk Program, the Artist Protection Fund at the University of Glasgow, the SafeMuse program in Norway, and a Carnegie Mellon University Fellowship (2025–2027). He has held residencies in Germany, Hungary, and Spain, and he is currently a Writer-in-Residence at City of Asylum.

Anouar Rahmani is an Algerian novelist, journalist, and human rights defender whose literary work boldly challenges societal norms and advocates for freedom of expression, LGBTQ+ rights, and social justice. He has published four novels, each igniting critical discourse and controversy. As a pioneering advocate for human rights, Anouar was the first to publicly demand the legalization of same-sex marriage in Algeria, breaking one of the country’s most significant taboos. He is also a prominent figure in the women’s rights movement in Algeria and the broader Arab world. Anouar’s commitment to literature and human rights has earned him prestigious international recognition. In 2021, he was shortlisted for the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award and honored by the German Bundestag’s “Parliamentarians for Parliamentarians” initiative. He is a 2022 Artist Protection Fund Fellow and a City of Asylum Writer-in-Residence.

Mukhtar Shehata is a novelist and ethnographer from the Egyptian Delta whose work explores social change, class, gender resistance, and urbanism in rural Egypt. He has published more than 15 books in Arabic, including novels, short stories, and research papers, and his book, Diary of an Arab in the Land of the Samiba, won the 2019 Ibn Battuta Award for Travel Literature. Mukhtar graduated from the University of Bahia in Brazil and works as a Research Fellow in the Department of Languages, Cultures, and Applied Linguistics at Carnegie Mellon University. Since 2024, he has been a Writer-in-Residence at City of Asylum Pittsburgh.

About Your Visit: 

The in-house restaurant, Cucina Alfabeto, is open for brunch from 9:30 to 2 p.m. and for dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. Please visit OpenTable or call 412-435-1111 to make a reservation.