Curated by ASL Poet Laureate of Allegheny County Mj Shahen, City of Asylum is thrilled to host a series of three ASL slams to celebrate Deaf artists performing in American Sign Language (ASL). Hearing folks are welcome! ASL interpretation provided.

Zambian Afropop musician Mathew Tembo presents his latest album, "Mtendere" (Peace). Prominently feauturing the kalimba, the album is a fusion of indigenous Zambian music, reggae, and jazz.

Sonny Sharrock was a one-of-a-kind musician: a jazz guitarist who incorporated elements of metal and punk into his playing, too. Pittsburgh musicians pay homage, performing in entirety Sonny Sharrock’s final album, "Ask the Ages."

Please note that in-person tickets are sold out, but you can still tune in virtually. In this monthly series hosted by the former producers of The Moth Pittsburgh, volunteer storytellers and featured performers take the stage at Alphabet City to share stories based on a theme.

The Free Association Reading Series returns with intimate readings featuring exceptional local writers co-curated by Pat Hart and Marc Nieson.

Bushra Rehman visits City of Asylum for the first time in celebration of her highly anticipated debut novel, "Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion"—an unforgettable story about female friendship and queer love in a Muslim-American community.

In celebration of the Pittsburgh premiere of "FANNIE: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer" at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center from January 13–16, 2023, author Jacqueline Hamer Flakes stops by City of Asylum to share her latest book, "Mama Fannie: Growing Up the Daughter of Civil Rights Icon Fannie Lou Hamer."

Lighthouse Arts, Inc., a Pittsburgh-based organization established to improve the quality and accessibility of jazz education, celebrates the release of their latest album, "The Past is The Present."

City of Asylum celebrates the 2022–2023 Allegheny County Youth Poet Laureate and Youth Poet Ambassadors with a teen-curated program in observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The program features poetry readings from teens followed by a panel discussion on youth and arts activism.

Organized and hosted by the former producers of The Moth Pittsburgh, Story Club Pittsburgh hosts a monthly nonfiction storytelling series at City of Asylum. The theme for January 2023 is "Fresh Start." 

In this second concert exploring the relationship between music, visual art, and mental health, City of Asylum regular Thomas Wendt pairs the music of Thelonious Monk with the paintings of Norman Klenicki.

The Tree of Life tragedy led Ari Mittleman to write "Paths of the Righteous," which profiles eight individuals who have gone above and beyond for Israel and the Jewish people. As we mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day only a few days after this program, the stories of those shared in Ari’s book can inspire us all.

This program celebrates the release day of Aleksandar Hemon’s new novel, "The World and All That It Holds." A grand, tender, sweeping story that spans decades and continents, the novel cements Aleksander as one of the boldest voices in fiction.

Reel Stories is a monthly film series dedicated to showcasing international queer cinema. Presented in partnership with ReelQ, January’s screening presents "Temblores," Guatemalan film director Jayro Bustamante’s deeply personal followup to his landmark debut, "Ixcanul."

Discover a world of creativity and tradition through a picture book program with Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, author of "Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky." This program includes a story time, an interactive activity about color, and a book signing. Children and families are encouraged to wear the color blue in celebration of the program. 

City of Asylum celebrates the release of "Relations: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices" edited by author Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond. Fresh and electrifying, "Relations" features stories, poems, and essays by African and diaspora writers.

The Free Association Reading Series is back for this year's second installment of intimate readings featuring exceptional local writers Clare Beams, Jim Daniels, Lisa Slage Robinson, and Damian Dressick. This series is co-curated by Pat Hart and Marc Nieson. 

Karel Berman. Hans Krása. Viktor Ullmann. Pavel Haas. The Clarion Quartet honors these four musicians from Terezín with a poignant evening of music. Selections include Haas’s String Quartet No. 2, Klein’s String Trio, and Ullman’s Piano Sonata No. 1.

City of Asylum hosts a night of American Sign Language (ASL) and Visual Vernacular performances featuring Lisa McBee, and others. This is the second installment of our ongoing City of ASL series curated by ASL Poet Laureate of Allegheny County Mj Shahen.

Following their recent performance of "AKUTAGAWA," City of Asylum welcomes puppeteers Koryū Nishikawa V and Tom Lee, as well as Pittsburgh-based puppeteer David English, for an insightful conversation on the art of puppetry. This panel examines the ways in which puppetry can be a vehicle to express art and literature in addition to exploring cultural differences in the medium.

In her first visit to City of Asylum, Selby Wynn Schwartz shares her ode to The Poetess. Longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize, Selby’s debut novel, "After Sappho," connects a myriad of women inspired by the ghost of Sappho to wrest their freedom and desire from the page.

Nothing quite compares to that Friday feeling, and no one captures that feeling quite like Jason Kush. For this concert, Jason shares His latest project, "Finally Friday," expressing the communal feeling of relief and short-term survival that so often comes at the end of trying times.

Since the founding of AppalAsia in 2009, they have followed their passion for artistic collaboration between different cultures and disciplines beyond race, religion, and gender. In this performance, AppalAsia shares selections from a recent project in which the group was asked to develop original music for the 1919 silent film "Broken Blossoms."

Pittsburgh jazz scene legends Yoko Suzuki, Roger Humphries, Dwayne Dolphin, and Max Leake return to the Alphabet City stage for a special Valentine's themed concert celebrating the romance of John Coltrane’s "A Love Supreme."

Ukrainian theater company, Slovo. Theater Group returns (virtually) to the City of Asylum stage for a moderated discussion centering on the creation of their work "Mothermotherland." This program is a combination  "where are they now" and behind the scenes style discussion with the artists, moderated from the Alphabet City stage by Alexis Jabour.

In this exciting and inspiring reading, we welcome one of the most important poetic voices of our time, Mahogany L. Browne, to share her highly anticipated collection, "Chrome Valley." Simultaneously spanning the course of her own life while embodying centuries of virulent history, this collection pays solemn tribute to the women who came before her.

Co-presented with the University of Pittsburgh Press, we are excited to welcome Drue Heinz Literature Prize winner, Ramona Reeves, to Alphabet City. In this reading, Ramona invites us into a world of humor, hustle, and human tenderness.