PGHwrites: Free Association Reading Series

The Free Association Reading series, founded by Pat Hart and Mark Nieson, showcases local writers sharing newly written work and works in progress. This month’s reading spotlights writers Varun Ravindran, Sakena Jwan Washington, Karen Dwyer, and Scott Silsbe. 

“Free Association readings began in 2016 for established and emerging writers of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction,” explains Pat. “As the name implies, Free Association is not affiliated with a university or writing program but is for all, for established and emerging writers of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.”

Pat was inspired to start this series after watching a low-quality recording of a Flannery O’Connor reading on YouTube. “You couldn’t even really see Flannery, but the audience reaction was gripping, they laughed with her when it was funny and they went dead silent at the horror. It was such a powerful experience for the audience and for her as well,” said Pat.

Pat is no stranger to the fact that writing can be very isolating. She knows how hard it is to tell what works and what doesn’t. With Flannery O’Connor’s reading in mind, the Free Association Reading Series seemed like the natural choice to help bring community—and fun—back into writing.

About the Artists:

Varun Ravindran‘s work has appeared in Denver Quarterly, mercury firs, Kenyon Review Online, and elsewhere. A full-length collection, Betweenness, is forthcoming from Baobab Press in the fall of 2025.

Sakena Jwan Washington is a Pittsburgh boomeranger, creative nonfiction writer, and the 2024-25 Emerging Black Writer-in-Residence at Chatham University. Her work has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, Huffington Post, Jellyfish Review and others. In 2021, her flash essay, “The Blood Remains.” was nominated for the 2021 Best of the Net anthology. She is also one of five Pittsburgh-based storytellers who documented the public art project, “Art in Parks” in the city’s Allegheny Regional Asset District parks. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles. More of her work can be found at sakenajwan.com

Karen Dwyer, a graduate of the University of Illinois-Chicago’s Program for Writers, teaches fiction writing and literature at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her short stories and essays have appeared in BrainChild, Gettysburg Review, Arts and Letters, Red Mountain Review, Jet Fuel Review, and Other Voices, among other publications.

Scott Silsbe was born in Detroit in 1978. He did his undergraduate studies at Western Michigan University and obtained an MFA in Poetry from the University of Pittsburgh. His poems and prose have been published in magazines and online publications, including Third Coast, Nerve Cowboy, and Lilliput Review. Scott is the author of four poetry collections: Unattended Fire (Six Gallery Press. 2012), The River Underneath the City (Low Ghost Press, 2013), Muskrat Friday Dinner (White Gorilla Press, 2017), and Meet Me Where We Survive (Kung Fu Treachery Press, 2022). He is at work on a new collection of poems, as well as a book of music essays. Scott is also currently an editor at Low Ghost Press. With Don Wentworth and Jason Baldinger, he runs the OddMonth Poetry Series at Bantha Tea Bar in the Garfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh. He works as a bookseller and lives in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania.

About Your Visit: 

The in-house restaurant Cucina Alfabeto is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, but a cash wine bar will be available.