Pittsburgh is home to an incredible range of authors, publishing professionals, literary event organizers and opinion leaders.
Our city nurtures well-known and emerging literary talent and is the inspiration for many works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. In addition to the authors you may recognize, Littsburgh’s evolving literary roster features some of the passionate people who work behind the scenes to find local and national audiences for this work, and who help make Pittsburgh a haven for writers and readers.
If you would like to suggest yourself or someone you know (who currently lives in Pittsburgh) for inclusion in this directory, please email us with a biographical sketch, and any relevant website and social links.
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Michael Albright
Biography
Michael Albright is the Managing Editor of the Pittsburgh Poetry Review, and curates the “Under the Sign of the Bear” reading series. He has published poetry in numerous online and print journals. His first book of poems, In the Hall of Dead Birds and Viking Tools was published in 2015 by Finishing Line Press. He lives on a windy hilltop near Greensburg, PA. with his wife Lori and an ever-changing array of children and other animals.
Kelly Andrews
Biography
Kelly Andrews’ poems have appeared or are forthcoming in PANK, Prick of the Spindle, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Menacing Hedge, Lime Hawk, IDK Magazine, Rogue Agent, and Weave Magazine, among others. Her chapbook “Mule Skinner” is available from Dancing Girl Press (2014). She is a poetry coeditor for the online journals Pretty Owl Poetry and Hot Metal Bridge, and has a hand in creating B.E. Quarterly, a community-based Pittsburgh zine. She also curates the Pretty Owl Poetry Spotlight reading series held at Classic Lines bookstore. More information about her publications and literary endeavors can be found at her website.
Joan E. Bauer
Biography
Jan Beatty
Biography
Jan Beatty is the author of four books of poetry, all published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. The Switching/Yard won the 2014 Paterson Award for Literary Excellence. Library Journal named it one of …30 New Books That Will Help You Rediscover Poetry. Beatty’s work was featured in The Huffington Post as one of ten women writers for “required reading.” Other books include Red Sugar, finalist for the 2009 Paterson Poetry Prize; Boneshaker, finalist for the Milt Kessler Award; and Mad River, winner of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize. Her chapbook, Ravage, was published by Lefty Blondie Press in 2012. Beatty’s limited edition chapbook, Ravenous, won the 1995 State Street Prize.
Awards include a $10,000 Regional Artists Grant from the Pittsburgh Foundation, the $15,000 Creative Achievement Award from the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, a finalist for the Discovery/The Nation Award, and two fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Individual poems have appeared in journals such as TriQuarterly, Gulf Coast, and Court Green, and Best American Poetry, with work forthcoming in POETRY. Her essays on writing have appeared in anthologies by Autumn House Press, Creative Nonfiction, and The State University of New York Press.
Beatty worked as a waitress for fifteen years, and as a welfare caseworker, an abortion counselor, and a social worker and teacher in maximum-security prisons. She is the managing editor of MadBooks, a small press that has published a series of books and chapbooks by women writers. She has toured at venues such as the Los Angeles Times Book Festival and the Geraldine R. Dodge Festival. For twenty years, Beatty has hosted and produced Prosody, a public radio show on NPR-affiliate WESA-FM featuring national writers. Jan Beatty directs the Madwomen in the Attic writing workshops at Carlow University, where she is also director of creative writing and teaches in the low-residency MFA program.
Jennifer Jackson Berry
Biography
Jennifer Jackson Berry’s first full length collection of poetry The Feeder is forthcoming from YesYes Books in 2016. She is also the author of the chapbooks When I Was a Girl (Sundress Publications) and Nothing But Candy (Liquid Paper Press). Her poems have appeared in journals such as Booth, The Emerson Review, Harpur Palate, Moon City Review, Stirring, and Whiskey Island, among others. Poems also appeared in various anthologies, including New Poetry from the Midwest (New American Press, 2015), We Will Be Shelter (Write Bloody Publishing, 2014), and By the Slice (Spooky Girlfriend Press, 2014). She has been featured on Prosody, a public radio show on the NPR affiliate WESA-FM showcasing the work of national writers. She holds degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and Indiana University’s MFA program. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Pittsburgh Poetry Review and an Assistant Editor for WomenArts Quarterly Journal. She lives in the Braddock Hills neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
Stephanie Brea
Biography
Stephanie Brea is a writer, teacher, copy editor, and event organizer. She has 10+ years of experience facilitating creative writing workshops for local schools and non-profit organizations including Pittsburgh Public Schools, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Literary Arts Boom, The Warhol, and Penn Trafford High School. Her work has been published in Pear Noir!, The Legendary, Nerve Cowboy and the Pittsburgh City Paper. She also spent time as a technical writer for an invention company and as copy editor for Alternative Press magazine.
Way back in 1998, she helped organize her first event: a series of motorcycle rides through the Arizona desert to support her father’s business. Then came a monthly literary series called Get Lit. She still vacillates between literary and non-literary happenings including: Bayardstown Social Club, Weather Permitting, Pittsburgh Abides (a Lebowski fest), Pittonkatonk, Rec Room: Winter Games, Girls Get Lit, and Bah Humbug: Writers Wrestle the Holiday Spirit.
She mostly uses Twitter for cat pictures, but you can contact her @wordfarm.
Danielle Chiotti
Biography
Danielle Chiotti has worked in publishing for thirteen years. Formerly an editor, she joined Upstart Crow in 2009, specializing in young adult and middle grade fiction, upmarket women’s fiction, and cookbooks and select nonfiction. Thanks to her extensive editorial background, she enjoys working closely with authors to develop projects. She welcomes first-time authors with a unique voice and point of view.
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