Mar 29 Readings set for ‘Pittsburgh Live/Ability’ and ‘Flash Fiction America’
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – Six local authors with disabilities will share their work in a free reading at the University Pittsburgh on Friday from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in room 548 of the William Pitt Union in Oakland.
Ava C. Cipri, Selene dePackh, Alana Gibbs, Cristina Hartmann, Emilio Rodriguez and Heather Tomko will read from the e-/audiobook anthology, “Pittsburgh Live/Ability: Encounters in Poetry and Prose.”
The collection includes interviews and collaborations involving 11 Pittsburgh authors, more than half of whom identify as disabled. The book, published in September 2022 by City of Asylum, is free and available at cityofasylum.org.
Ellen McGrath Smith is the artistic director and editor of “Pittsburgh Live/Ability.”
In the collection’s Afterword, poet Sheila Black calls the anthology “a nuanced and complex articulation of some of the values and practices of what I’d like to call disability culture.
“Most importantly, it suggests how the values and ideas that have informed disability experience can be an important force in revitalizing and rebuilding our sense of community.”
At the reading, live captions and access copies of works to be read will be available. Masking is mandatory and masks will be available at the entrance.
This event is funded by the University of Pittsburgh Year of Emotional Well Being, the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Office of the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies/College of General Studies, the Institute for Writing Excellence and the Pitt Department of English. Access support is provided by Pitt’s office of Disability Resources and Services.
Light refreshments will follow the reading.
Major supporters of the project include The Heinz Endowments, FISA Foundation, Queequeg Foundation and Staunton Farm Foundation.
Flash fiction reading
Co-editor Sherrie Flick and contributors Tyrese Coleman, Bergita Bugarija, Dave Housley, Chauna Craig, Gwen Kirb, and Terese Svoboda will read from the book “Flash Fiction America: 73 Very Short Stories” (W.W. Norton & Co., $16.95) from 7-8 p.m. Thursday at White Whale Bookstore in Bloomfield. Information or registration: whitewhalebookstore.com.