City of Asylum
Giving Voice.
Story Club Pittsburgh mixes the spontaneity of an open mic with the experience of live theater. Every show includes volunteer storytellers and featured performers who all take the stage to share stories based on a theme. The theme for July 2023 is Into the Wild.
This program welcomes poet and scholar Camille T. Dungy for a reading and conversation surrounding her essay collection, "Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden." "Soil" is a seminal work that expands how we talk about the natural world and the environment as Camille tends her garden to reflect her heritage.
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 August 2023 is Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow.
This program presents award-winning journalist Prachi Gupta’s debut memoir, "They Called Us Exceptional: And Other Lies That Raised Us." Prachi’s debut is a probing, heartfelt exploration of the psychological harm caused by the model minority myth, and what it takes to break free from its constraints.
This program presents a combination reading and musical performance with author and ethnomusicologist, Shalini R. Ayyagari. In Shalani’s book, Musical Resilience: Performing Patronage in the Indian Thar Desert, she shows how professional low-caste musicians from the Thar Desert borderland of Rajasthan, India have skillfully reinvented their cultural and economic value in postcolonial India
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 September 2023 is Back to School.
In this program, retired UE Director of International Affairs Robin Alexander presents a reading and conversation surrounding her new e-book International Solidarity in Action (ISIA).
Featuring quarterly visits from authors writing books for elementary-aged children, the Alphabet City Kids series continues this month with Marika Maijala, sharing her newly translated book "Rosie Runs."
Rachel Aviv discusses her book "Strangers to Ourselves," which illuminates the startling connections between diagnosis and identity.
Each year we gather at Alphabet City to honor an international writer or artist who shares our mission to promote and honor creative freedom for all. This year we honor Booker Prize winning poet, novelist, essayist, and playwright, Ben Okri.
This program presents a conversation between two female Sudanese writers, Caine Prize winner Leila Aboulela and City of Asylum writer-in-residence Rania Mamoun.
This delightful panel introduces four authors, two from Brazil and two from Pittsburgh, writing queer contemporary young adult (YA) literature.
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