LitFest 2025: Bringing the Classics to Today with MacArthur Genius Anne Carson (“Cassandra Float Can,” “Antigonick”)

Anne Carson is one of the most celebrated classicists of our times. Her translations and essays have transported the texts of Aeschylus and Sophokles through time and space to bring them to today’s modern audiences. She has gained both critical accolades and a wide readership over the course of her “unclassifiable” publishing career. In addition to her many highly regarded translations of classical writers such as Sappho and Euripides, and her triptych rendering of An Oresteia (2009), she has published poems, essays, libretti, prose criticism, and verse novels that often cross genres. 

In the spirit of collaboration and community, this program features staged readings of two of Anne’s works: Cassandra Float Can (based on Aeschylus’s Cassandra) and Antigonick (based on Sophokles’s Antigone). Following the readings, audience members will be able to participate in a Q&A with the renowned classicist. 

You can purchase Antigonick and a selection of Anne’s other works at City of Asylum Bookstore.

About the Author:

Anne Carson was born in Canada and lives in Iceland.

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.