Reading

Jade Song shares her visceral debut novel, "Chlorine." This chilling and addictive work blurs the line between a literary coming-of-age narrative and a dark unsettling horror tale, creating a shrewd commentary on the trials of growing up in a society that puts monstrous pressure on young women and their bodies. 

For this night of subversive and subaquatic verse, award-winning poet Ed Roberson shares new poems from his latest collection, "Aquarium Works." This reading is followed by a moderated conversation with Allegheny County’s Poet Laureate Doralee Brooks.

To live is to tell stories. Embracing that truth, Story Club Pittsburgh (created by the former producers of The Moth Pittsburgh), organizes and hosts a monthly nonfiction storytelling series at City of Asylum. The theme for April 2023 is "Late Bloomer."

Lifelong activist Ruchira Gupta shares her debut novel, "I Kick and I Fly." This outstanding work of young adult fiction draws inspiration from Ruchira's experience making the Emmy-award winning documentary "The Selling of Innocents."

In this virtual fourth installment of our International Reading Series curated by Anderson Tepper, City of Asylum welcomes Yanick Lahens and Lyonel Trouillot. Yanick, Lyonel, and Anderson will discuss the authors’ recent novels and explore the concept of Haitian literature as a whole.

This program welcomes author Andrey Kurkov, whose books are often full of black humor and are mostly set in post-Soviet reality. This is the third installment of our Ukrainian Artist Series.

Join us for a conversation on intersecting marginalized identities in Appalachia with Lambda Literary Award Finalist Neema Avashia, author of "Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place," and Namita Dwarkanath, a University of Pittsburgh law student and prior advocate for gender-based violence prevention. 

Debut author Amelia Possanza asks: How could lesbian love help us reimagine care and community? What would our world look like if we replaced its foundation of misogyny with something new, with something distinctly lesbian? The result is "Lesbian Love Story," an intricate tapestry of lesbian histories, seamlessly cinched together with threads of Amelia’s own story. 

As many of you know, since 2010, June at City of Asylum means the return of one of the most popular annual poetry events in the city—Cave Canem’s Faculty Reading. This coincides with the week-long Cave Canem Retreat, their long-standing flagship program.

Story Club Pittsburgh (created by the former producers of The Moth Pittsburgh), organizes and hosts a monthly nonfiction storytelling series at City of Asylum. The theme for June 2023 is Moving On or Moving Out. 

In this fifth installment of our International Reading Series curated by Anderson Tepper, City of Asylum welcomes Ani Kayode Somtochukwu and Roxane Gay. In this program, Kayode, Roxane, and Anderson will discuss Kayode’s debut novel And Then He Sang a Lullaby.

New for 2023, the Alphabet City Kids series features quarterly visits from authors writing books for elementary-aged children. July’s program introduces Vicki Johnson, author of debut children’s book, Molly’s Tuxedo.