City of Asylum
Giving Voice.
In an exciting return to the Alphabet City stage, Thumbscrew (Tomas Fujiwara, Michael Formanek, and Mary Halvorson) debut a program of original compositions, developed and rehearsed over the course of their 5th biennial residency at City of Asylum.
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.
This workshop, led by memoirist and medical professional Theresa Brown, R.N., will guide participants through a process of breaking down medical documents & rearranging the given words, thus allowing them to examine the interplay between a medicalized and a personal understanding of their bodymind’s experience.
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.
All sharing stories in the theme of Lost & Found in Translation, the program features eight high school students who traveled abroad (Ecuador, France, Italy, Japan, South Korea, and Spain) this past summer through the World Affairs Council’s global Travel Scholars program.
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 panel offers conversations with artists who focus on translating the work of Indigenous creators. The panelists include Mathilde Magga, Arthur Malcolm Dixon, and Wendy Call.
This delightful panel introduces four authors, two from Brazil and two from Pittsburgh, writing queer contemporary young adult (YA) literature.
This panel presents a moderated conversation between three distinguished women in the literary field, Ebru Ojen, Yu Miri, and Marit Kapla, as they discuss what goes into writing the experiences of women and what it’s like to have those experiences be translated into different languages.
This workshop offers a Masterclass in literature with author Marit Kapla. Marit will discuss how she wrote her book Osebol, which has been translated into four languages including Spanish, its most recent translation.
This program features a stop on author K Patrick’s limited United States book tour, promoting their new book Mrs. S—a sensual slightly obsessive sapphic romance set against the backdrop of an all-girls boarding school.
In this reading, we welcome acclaimed Zimbabwean author Novuyo Rosa Tshuma to discuss her latest novel, Digging Stars.
This special program presents a jazz concert featuring Mat Maneri (performing with the ASH Quartet). The jazz set is followed by a jazz and poetry collaboration with poet Denver Butson and four poets from our partnership with the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program, Busisiwe Mahlangu, Saba Hamzah, Yashika Graham, and Tammy Lai-Ming Ho.
The talented minds of our very own writers-in-residence and some of the writers from the University of Iowa’s International Writers Program come together for a one night only collaboration featuring readings and performances, across genres.
In this program, we welcome back the #notwhite collective as they express the hybridized and multifaceted aspects of self-defined liberation. They will be celebrating their recently released book A Future Artefact of the Global Majority: a book that catalogs the #notwhite collective’s journey, vision, members, and work spanning their first six years— 2016–2022.
Following along with our ongoing Alphabet City Kids series, this youth centered program offers story time with Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Winning author/illustrator Jack Wong, as he celebrates the release of his new picture book The Words We Share. The story hour will be followed by an engagement activity and a Q&A with Jack.
This hybrid program welcomes masterful author Ariel Dorfman, who will be joining virtually, as he discusses his most recent novel, The Suicide Museum.
This conversation between Pittsburgh political cartoonist Rob Rogers and Nicaraguan cartoonist and illustrator Pedro Molina will explore political cartooning and the challenge of cartoonists facing censorship.
This hybrid program features acclaimed author Guy Gunaratne, who will be livestreamed in for the reading and conversation. They will discuss Guy’s latest novel Mister, Mister, a blazingly propulsive novel following a captured jihadist and poet-preacher as he recounts his path to international notoriety.
This unique collaboration is a mixture of avant garde jazz and ethno music from Hungary, like a cultural bridge between the USA and Eastern-Europe.
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 October 2023 is Unexpected.
In this concert we welcome Oscar Peñas and his quartet as they share Oscar’s new album, Chicken or Pasta. This is Oscar’s sixth self-produced album as a leader and features Sara Caswell, Motohito Fukushima, and Richie Barshay, as well as special guests Mike Stern and Greg Leisz.
Reel Stories is a free monthly film series dedicated to showcasing international queer cinema presented in partnership with Reel Q, Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ+ Film Festival. October’s screening presents León, a film by Andi Nachon & Papu Curotto.
Our Off Minor series continues with an ode to Thelonious Monk.
For this combination concert and reading, author Nicole Mitchell shares with us her new book, "The Mandorla Letters: for the hopeful."
We welcome back the HarmoniZing Ensemble, directed by Yang Jin, for a performance featuring musicians from different cultures, all with the mission of “nurturing cross-cultural understanding through the arts.”
As our Healthcare and Humanity Reading Series continues, we welcome Greg Marshall to share his debut memoir Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It.
