Pittsburgh City of Asylum Hosts its First International Literary Festival
City of Asylum/Pittsburgh has a long history of collaboration with ICORN and supporting local and international writers from its home on Sampsonia Way in Pittsburgh’s Northside neighborhood. When it joined the ICORN network in 2015 it already had a remarkable 10-year history as a city of refuge and had hosted visionary writers from China, El Salvador, Burma and Venezuela. Since then, City of Asylum/Pittsburgh has led the way in exploring partnerships with other potential cities of refuge in the United States and the Americas.
Given its commitment to protecting and celebrating creative free expression both locally and globally, it is fitting for City of Asylum/Pittsburgh to bring forth the first of its kind Pittsburgh International Literary Festival (LitFest). The 10-day program features a broad range of formats including live music, bilingual readings, conversations about the craft of translation, and discussions of the intersection of translation and social justice. With more than 30 writers involved, the festival also boasts the participation of Pulitzer Prize winners Viet Thanh Nguyen and Forrest Gander, and the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature recipient, Olga Tokarczuk. The ambitions of the City of Asylum/Pittsburgh team is for this inaugural festival to become an annual meeting point for literature and creativity in Pittsburgh.
“Pittsburgh is a city with a rich literary tradition. This festival — the first of its kind in the city — celebrates that tradition while cementing City of Asylum’s role as a regional hub for global and marginalized voices,” said Andrés Franco, executive director of City of Asylum to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
All of the LitFest events are free and online. Most events are being held in the evening in the US, but will remain on-demand for international audiences to access and watch the following day.
To learn more about the festival and see the full program, please visit the festival website. Streaming can be accessed in the following platform: https://www.crowdcast.io/coa.
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