City of Asylum
Giving Voice.
The Free Association Reading series showcases local writers sharing newly written work and works in progress. This month’s reading spotlights Varun Ravindran, Sakena Jwan Washington, Karen Dwyer, and Scott Silsbe.
Acclaimed author Caryl Phillips returns to City of Asylum for a reading and discussion of his new book "Another Man in the Street."
City of Asylum celebrates new works from Eulalia Books, with translators Edith Adams, Laura Cesarco Eglin, and Lauren Shapiro.
The Free Association Reading series, founded by Pat Hart and Mark Nieson, showcases local writers sharing new writing and works in progress. This month’s reading spotlights writers Malcolm Culleton, Donna Wojnar Dzurilla, Catherine Gammon, and Camille Rankine.
In this reading and discussion, Yoko Tawada lights up the Alphabet City stage and guides us through this second installment in her Scattered series.
Whiting Award-winner Marcia Douglas visits City of Asylum to discuss her forthcoming book "The Jamaica Kollection of the Shante Dream Arkive."
The Free Association Reading series, founded by Pat Hart and Mark Nieson, showcases local writers sharing new writing and works in progress. This month’s reading spotlights writers Ally Bair, Elizabeth Hoover, Deena November, and Steffan Triplett.
Opening night of Jazz Poetry 2025 features jazz trio Thumbscrew and poets Mahogany L. Browne, Camille Rankine, and Oleksandr Frazé-Frazénko.
City of Asylum welcomes jazz musician Nicole Mitchell and poets Chen Chen, Cameron Lovejoy and more for a collaborative, improvisational Jazz Poetry concert.
Jazz musician Stephanie Chou and poets Jan Beatty, Olena Boryshpolets, and Mubanga Kalimamukwento share the stage for a collaborative and improvisational Jazz Poetry performance.
Grammy Nominated band House of Waters and poets Safia Elhillo, Haleh Liza Gafori, Nathan Osorio, and Rania Mamoun collaborate in this improvisational Jazz Poetry concert.
Award-winning Irish novelist, Colum McCann discusses his nonprofit work and upcoming empathy-building novel 'Twist."
Jazz musician Jerome Jennings and his group iLL Philosophy perform in a signature jazz poetry collaborative, improvisational concert and reading.
Mohamedou Ould Slahi, Larry Siems, and Adriana Ramirez discuss creativity, resistance, the ongoing dark legacy of the prison camp in Guantánamo, and our never-finished, collective journey to freedom.
Author Colum McCann discusses forgiveness and understanding with Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan, as well as their lives since the release of Colum's "Apeirogon" and the current climate in Israel and Palestine.
Four City of Asylum and ICORN residents highlight their respective and collective journeys and resilience.
Musician James Brandon Lewis and poets Huang Xiang, Doralee Brooks, and Haile Bizen present a jazz poetry concert of improvisational and collaborative performance.
For over a decade, City of Asylum has hosted Cave Canem’s annual Faculty Reading each June, coinciding with their week-long retreat at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, Pennsylvania. This year’s reading presents esteemed faculty and world-class poets A. Van Jordan, Matthew Shenoda, and Joy Priest.
A writer without a country. A city with no off switch. A memory that keeps looping back at the worst possible time. Don't miss this discussion of Oleksandr Frazé-Frazénko's "Nothing Is Under Control."
From the award-winning author of 2007’s "The Slave Ship," we celebrate the book launch of Marcus Rediker’s latest work: "Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea."
Teju Cole shares "Tremor," a startling work of realism and invention that engages brilliantly with literature, music, race, and history as it examines the passage of time and how we mark it.
This reading concludes Nabila’s two-week residency cohosted by City of Asylum and CAAPP. In this program, Nabila will share the newly composed work that came out of her residency, as well as insights into her writing process and her residency experience.
In a combination reading and inside scoop full of insights into his process, Damon gets personal with City of Asylum audiences to discuss the very subject that drove his hilarious and unique anthology of Black voices: humor.
This reading features nine of the poets from the Keystone Poetry anthology’s “The Allegheny Highlands” and “Three Rivers and Old Mills” sections sharing their poems about Pennsylvania, for Pennsylvanians.
Writer-in-Residence Mukhtar Shehata shares newly written work and reflects on his time in Pittsburgh.
A life laid bare, a wandering search for meaning, an immersive portal into history and its accompanying reverberations. All this and more can be found in Aatish Taseer’s "A Return to Self: Excursions in Exile."
This second installment of our On Topic series welcomes esteemed legal scholar Michelle Adams to explore class and race in a discussion of her new book, "The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North."
City of Asylum Writer-in-Residence Volodymyr Rafeyenko discusses three of his works with his translator Mark Andryczyk, exploring the process of translation and the relationship between writer and translator.
Author Nina Sharma shares her debut memoir, “The Way You Make Me Feel: Love in Black and Brown,” a hilarious and moving story of her interracial relationship, told in essays.
Praised as a “gripping…lush and suspenseful summer read” (Al Dìa) with echoes of the pop culture phenomenon The White Lotus (Crime Reads), "The Grand Paloma Resort" grabs readers and refuses to let go.
