“Bebop Fairy Tales: On Jazz, Intolerance, and Baseball”

City of Asylum @ Home

Mark Ruffin, known as the afternoon drivetime DJ for SiriusXM's Real Jazz channel, joins us virtually live to read from his collection of “jazz short stories,” "Bebop Fairy Tales."  A scintillating blend of historical fiction with jazz and, yes, baseball—the collection weaves connections between the two great and uniquely American pastimes, and explores how both are an expression and arbiter of race in America.

Free

POSTPONED: Aaron Johnson’s AJFive: Songs for Tomorrow*

*This concert has been postponed to winter 2022. New date coming soon. An evening of original music composed by Dr. Aaron J. Johnson.  Dr. AJ's music reflects a wide spectrum of the black experience. Ranging from the Carnival to field hollers and from fellowship to desperate longing, this music is drenched with blues and funk, but also expresses the hopes and strength of the struggle for social justice and human rights.

Free

Actors Talk August Presented by August Wilson House: Todd Kreidler (2)

City of Asylum @ Home

August Wilson House celebrates America’s greatest playwright with substantial insider interviews, with leading August Wilson actors, directors and artists, national and regional. Hosted and moderated  by Chris Rawson, veteran Pittsburgh Post-Gazette theater critic who chronicled Wilson’s career and became a friend. The goal is to capture the memories, anecdotes and insights of those who know Wilson’s epic American Century Cycle from the inside.

Free

“The Pastor” w/Hanne Ørstavik & translator Martin Aitken

City of Asylum @ Home

Hanne Ørstavik is best known to the English-speaking audience for her novel "Love", a 2019 finalist for the National Book Award in Translated Literature and winner of the PEN Translation Prize. Hanne joins us live from her home in Norway (at 11pm at night) to discuss her most recent English translated novel "The Pastor," also joining the conversation is translator Martin Aitken, whose translation of this extraordinary novel rings with the brilliance and rigor of a master.

Free

Live Reading w/ Porochista Khakpour: “Brown Album”

Alphabet City 40 W. North Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Novelist Porochista Khakpour joins City of Asylum live for a reading and conversation centering her collection of essays "Brown Album." From the much-acclaimed novelist and essayist, this beautifully rendered, poignant collection of personal essays chronicles immigrant and Iranian-American life in our contemporary moment.

Free

Bell’Art Ensemble: TREASURES

Alphabet City 40 W. North Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

With flexible instrumentation, guest musicians and eclectic programming, the Bell’Art Ensemble commits to breaking down preconceived ideas about classical music in order to connect chamber music with a new audience. They produce the Living Room Chamber Music Project, a decade-long series of concerts designed to bring classical music out of the concert hall and into intimate spaces.

Free

Actors Talk August Presented by August Wilson House: Sala Udin

City of Asylum @ Home

August Wilson House celebrates America’s greatest playwright with substantial insider interviews, with leading August Wilson actors, directors and artists, national and regional. Hosted and moderated  by Chris Rawson, veteran Pittsburgh Post-Gazette theater critic who chronicled Wilson’s career and became a friend. The goal is to capture the memories, anecdotes and insights of those who know Wilson’s epic American Century Cycle from the inside.