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.
We no longer require a photograph.
Contact Us
To begin using Littsburgh’s Literary Roster, select a category below…
This page will refresh after your category is selected.
Caitlyn Luce Christensen
Biography
Caitlyn Luce Christensen is Associate Editor of SampsoniaWay.org, an online publication of City of Asylum Pittsburgh. Her Pushcart Prize-nominated essays have appeared in Blunderbuss Magazine, Diagram, Gigantic Sequins, Columbia Journal, and elsewhere. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh’s writing program in 2011.
Anissa Clay
Biography
Anissa Clay is the teenaged author of the The God Conception (“it is rare to see such maturity and skill in storytelling from a first-time novelist” – Dwight Jon Zimmerman). She is currently a sophomore vocal major at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School in Midland PA. The God Conception is Clay’s first book in a planned trilogy, and was published by Red Engine Press (Cranberry Township PA) on August 15, 2015.
The God Conception is primarily set in Pittsburgh, PA with several chapters occurring in Clay’s hometown of Clarksburg, WV. “The God Conception” is the ability to see events in one’s future, a talent acquired by the book’s teenage heroine, Delilah Danton, after she is the first to undergo an experimental procedure to achieve this ability. The novel follows Delilah’s life as she learns to deal with this new gift all the while living with the knowledge of the struggles, losses, and triumphs that are to come. In the pages of this novel, we learn Delilah possesses an angelic singing voice and she lands a recording contract. Clay, a talented musician herself, shares her musical abilities through four original songs that are displayed in the novel.
Clay has experienced a whirlwind of activity around her recent publication, including a book launch party and signings at local fairs and library events.
Clay was recently awarded the TAZ Pittsburgh Emerging Author Award and was a finalist in the young adult fiction category. Anissa was also awarded an Honorable Mention at the New York Book Festival.
Anissa Clay is available for interviews and appearances. For booking presentations, media appearances, interviews, and/or book signings, contact thegodconception@gmail.com. The book can be ordered on Clay’s website: http://www.anissaclay.com, Amazon or your local Barnes and Noble.
Casey Clipper
Biography
Amazon Top 100 Bestselling Contemporary Romantic Suspense Author Casey Clipper is from Pittsburgh, PA. She’s a noted sports fanatic, chocolate addict, and has a slight obsession with penguins. She’s an avid romance reader and loves to lose herself in a good book, like we all do, right? Casey currently serves as president of the Contemporary Romance Writers of America. Casey is an active member of the Romance Writers of America, Three Rivers Romance Writers, Kiss of Death, North Eastern Ohio Romance Writers of America, and ASMSG. Casey is the recipient of the 2016 JABBIC HBARWA Short Contemporary Romance Readers’ Choice Award.
Sign up for Casey’s Newsletter for updates on new releases, special content, appearances, cover reveals, giveaways, and so much more by texting CaseyClipper to 66866 or go to http://eepurl.com/TZBh5.
Joel W. Coggins
Biography
Joel W. Coggins is an award-winning editor, writer, and book designer. He is the Design & Production Editor of the University of Pittsburgh Press.
Robyn Coggins
Biography
Robyn K Coggins is a writer and associate editor at Pitt Med magazine by day and a freelancing fiend by night and weekend. She also curates great, long nonfiction for Longform.org. If you’re an experienced science or medical writer in the ‘Burgh, please get in touch! Ditto if you’re a young writer getting your career off the ground—always glad to talk shop.
Her work has appeared in Pacific Standard magazine, Slate, Wilson Quarterly, The Reject Pile, at CNF online, and more. Previously, she taught nonfiction writing at Pitt and worked for Creative Nonfiction. Her next big project is co-editing a food writing anthology with Acquired Taste founder Marissa Landrigan.
B. A. Colella
Biography
B. A. Colella, who holds a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, is a lifelong resident of Western Pennsylvania. He blends his expertise in the aviation and firefighting fields to craft Out of the Fire, a fast-paced, high-stakes tale of courage and determination.
An avid runner, history buff, amateur photographer, classic rock fan, and 2nd generation Camaro enthusiast, he enjoys visiting Pittsburgh’s many parks, coffee shops, libraries, and bookstores with his wife, Karen.
W. Stephen Coleman
Biography
W. Stephen Coleman has spent most of his adult life as a professor of theater at the University of Pittsburgh. Post-retirement, however, Dr. Coleman discovered a new interest: The Civil War, and especially, the defining battle between North and South at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Today, Coleman channels the discipline and research he once devoted to his work on over 300 shows into writing. A specialist in Shakespeare, acting, directing and stage combat, he taught for more than 30 years and practiced his craft on stage and screen, including roles in Silence of the Lambs, where he had the pleasure of being literally defaced by the epicurean Hannibal “the Cannibal” Lecter and, the PBS Series, The War That Made America, where as the ill-fated General Braddock he was shot from the back of a horse.
Kristofer Collins
Biography
Kristofer Collins is the Books Editor at Pittsburgh Magazine, as well as being a frequent contributor to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He is the publisher of Low Ghost Press and Coleridge Street Books. He also manages Caliban Book Shop in Oakland (and owns Desolation Row Records located inside). Collins is the former co-director of the TNY Presents Performance Series and was the managing editor of The New Yinzer online literary journal from 2005-09. A book of his poems entitled King Everything was published in 2007 by Six Gallery Press, and The Liturgy of Streets was published by them in 2009. The chapbook Last Call was published by Speed & Briscoe in 2010. Pennsylvania Welcomes You (2013) was followed by his latest poetry collection Local Conditions in 2015. He lives in Stanton Heights, a hidden gem in Pittsburgh’s east end with his wife Dr. Anna Johnson and their three cats.
Michael Comiskey
Biography
In 2024, Michael Comiskey published his first full-length poetry collection, titled South of Pittsburgh: Poems from Northern Appalachia. His poems have appeared in The Northern Appalachia Review, The Lyric, Rune, and Prize Poems 2023 (Pennsylvania Poetry Society, Inc.). A lifelong southwestern Pennsylvanian, he’s a retired professor of political science and economics.
His website is http://www.michaelswriting.com.
Kelly Conroy
Biography
Picture book writer and poet, Kelly Conroy, is 50% silly, fun-loving, never-grow-up big kid and 50% hard-working, focused, analytical former actuary. She loves all things magical, whimsical, and numerical, and her goal in life is to make people smile.
She was initially inspired to write by her cousins, Stan and Jan Berenstain, creators of the Berenstain Bears, and continues to be inspired by her two rambunctious sons and mini goldendoodle, Chewy.
To learn more about her, please visit http://www.kellyconroy.com or follow her on Twitter @ConroyBooks. Kelly is represented by Sarah Stephens.
I’m also on Instagram: Kelly Conroy (@kellyconroybooks) • Instagram photos and videos
Andrew Conte
Biography
Andrew Conte’s latest book, The Color of Sundays, explores the role of race in the National Football League and how the Pittsburgh Steelers used the league’s prejudice to the team’s advantage. Andrew previously wrote the best-selling sports book Breakaway. He works as an investigative reporter at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He teaches journalism at Point Park University as the founding director of its Point Park News Service. And he occasionally appears as a guest host for Essential Pittsburgh, a daily current events show on Pittsburgh’s NPR station, WESA-FM.
Andrew is a graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and Dickinson College.
Paola Corso
Biography
Paola Corso is proud to be included on The Pennsylvania Center for the Book’s Literary and Cultural Map. She is the author of four books of poetry and two books of fiction, all set in her native Pittsburgh where her Southern Italian immigrant family found work in the steel mills. Her recent poetry books include The Laundress Catches Her Breath, winner of the Tillie Olsen Award in Creative Writing and Once I Was Told the Air Was Not for Breathing, featuring Pittsburgh steelworkers and garment workers in The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and sweatshops today. Her novel, Catina’s Haircut is on the Public Library Association’s “Best Books for General Audiences” List. Giovanna’s 86 Circles and Other Stories is a John Gardner Fiction Book Award Finalist. She coedited Politics of Water: A Confluence of Women’s Voices with Dr. Nandita Ghosh. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The New York Times, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Women’s Review of Books, Writer’s Digest, The Progressive, U.S. Catholic, and numerous anthologies. Her writing honors include a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant, a New York Foundation for the Arts poetry fellowship, and the Sherwood Anderson Fiction Prize. A literary activist, Corso is a co-founder and resident artist for Steppin Stanzas, a new poetry project celebrating Pittsburgh city stairs, and a poetry editor for Pittsburgh’s Thomas Merton Center for Peace and Social Justice and a book reviewer for Group Against Smog and Pollution in Pittsburgh. She is a lecturer in Chatham University’s Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing. Her website is http://www.paolacorso.com/.
K. N. Corwin
Biography
K. N. Corwin lives in the mountains of the Laurel Highlands in southwestern Pennsylvania, with her intended and a little fur abyss named Wizard. When she isn’t in service to the crown, K. N. Corwin passes time convincing herself it’s time to write… drinking wine, and eating charcuterie.
May it also be known that she is prone to crossing oceans for love, and trekking through marshy highlands in leaky shoes
Nick Courage
Biography
Nick Courage is an author and publishing professional whose work has recently appeared in The Paris Review Daily, Story, Writer’s Digest and elsewhere. Having spent over a decade promoting authors for New York publishing houses like Picador and Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, Nick works as a publishing and book marketing consultant when he’s not writing. His first two novels, The Loudness and Storm Blown, are available where books are sold… and Snow Struck is coming soon!
For more about Nick, visit: http://www.nickcourage.com
Further reading:
“Contaminated,” Paris Review Daily (Best of 2014)
Rachel Ekstrom Courage
Biography
Rachel Ekstrom Courage was born and raised in Pittsburgh, where she fell in love with the work of Margaret Hodges, Annie Dillard, and Michael Chabon. She worked for over a decade in the publicity departments of St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, and Penguin’s Dutton and Gotham imprints and is the founding agent at Courage Literary. Rachel is also an author. Delacorte Press / Random House has scheduled her debut Young Adult novel, Nothing Bad Happens Here, to publish in 2025 (and she also has an unannounced adult mystery novel that will be coming out around the same time). For more about Rachel, visit: http://www.courageliterary.com and http://www.rachelekstromcourageauthor.com
Rachel is also the founder of Littsburgh!
Hannah Craig
Biography
Hannah Craig is the author of “This History That Just Happened” (Parlor Press, 2017) which was selected as the winner of the 2015 New Measure Poetry Prize by Yusef Komunyakaa. She won the 2016 Mississippi Review Prize and her manuscript was a finalist for the Akron Poetry Prize, the Fineline Competition, and the Autumn House Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared widely in such publications as Smartish Pace, North American Review, Fence, Mississippi Review, Prairie Schooner. She lives in Stanton Heights with her husband and daughter.
Gwyn Cready
Biography
Gwyn Cready is the author of eight romance novels and the winner of the RITA Award, the most pretigious award given in romance writing. Booklist called her “the master of time travel romance.” She’s also the co-founder of Women Read/Women Write, Pittsburgh’s largest book festival. Many of her books are set in Pittsburgh.
Patrick Crossen
Biography
Tyler Crumrine
Biography
Tyler Crumrine is a Pittsburgh-based designer and dramaturg and the author of Adventure Hooks (Cool Skull Press, 2018). Tyler is also the founding editor of Plays Inverse Press. Past design and dramaturgy credits include: The Kennedy Center, Signature Theatre Company, Bricolage Production Company, City Theatre Company, Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre, Hotel Amerika, Switchback Books, and The Lettered Streets Press.
Jim Daniels
Biography
Jim Daniels’ most recent poetry books are Rowing Inland (Wayne State University Press) and Street Calligraphy (Steel Toe Books). His previous book, Birth Marks, was the recipient of the Milton Kessler Poetry Book Award, and the Poetry Gold Medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards. His fifth book of short fiction, Eight Mile High, was a Michigan Notable Book and a finalist for the Paterson Fiction Prize. “The End of Blessings,” the fourth film he wrote and produced, appeared in film festivals around the world in 2016, including the Black Maria Film Festival, an international touring festival. His poems have been featured on “Prairie Home Companion,” Garrison Keillor’s “Writer’s Almanac,” in Billy Collins’ Poetry 180 anthologies, and Ted Kooser’s “American Life in Poetry” series. He has received the Brittingham Prize for Poetry, the Blue Lynx Poetry Prize, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. His poems have appeared in the Pushcart Prize and Best American Poetry anthologies. A native of Detroit, Daniels is a graduate of Alma College and Bowling Green State University. He is the Thomas Stockham University Professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University.
Annette Dashofy
Biography
Annette Dashofy is the USA Today best-selling author of the Zoe Chambers mystery series about a paramedic and deputy coroner in rural Pennsylvania’s tight-knit Vance Township. Circle of Influence, published by Henery Press, was a finalist for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel and for the David Award for Best Mystery of 2014. The second in the series, Lost Legacy, was released in September 2014 followed by Bridges Burned in April 2015. Her short fiction includes a 2007 Derringer Award nominee featuring the same characters as her novels. Annette is vice president and past president of the Pittsburgh Chapter of Sisters in Crime. She serves as vice president of Pennwriters, as well as being their 2013 recipient of the Meritorious Service Award. She also belongs to Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers. Annette and her husband live on part of what used to be her grandfather’s dairy farm in Washington County, Pennysylvania with one very spoiled cat.
Brooklynn Dean
Biography
Living inside her imagination and backed up by a BA in English from Penn State, Brooklynn Dean is only storytelling. She is an avid reader, an award-winning author, and lover of linguistics in any form. However, she is not a fan of traditional heroes, traditional characters, or traditional endings. Fair warning to those who like Happily Ever After, you typically won’t find it here. Instead, Brooklynn uses her writing to explore various aspects of humanity, and she allows her characters to tell her their stories. She goes as far as to claim they’re real people she’s mentally connected to; people who exist, just not in this realm. Reality be as damned as her characters!
Douglas Debelak
Biography
Douglas Debelak has lived his entire life in western Pennsylvania. He currently lives with his wife in a beautiful old house, in a wonderful historic neighborhood on the North Side of Pittsburgh. When weather permits, he loves sitting on the front porch with a bottle of wine, inciting parties or tailgating with Steelers fans on their way to the game.
Douglas has asked questions since he began to speak, often more than the adults around him could or cared to answer. He was given an encyclopedia set in grade school and was told, if you have questions, read this. He did. Cover to cover, even the parts that were beyond his ability to comprehend at the time.
He later studied theology, with the intent of becoming a Presbyterian minister, until his questions led him to doubt much of what he’d been taught and believed. His questions then lead him to philosophy, in which he has a degree from Youngstown State University.
Determining that he did not want a career in academia, after a short stint in a PhD program in philosophy, writing seemed the next logical choice for someone who continued to ask questions, especially when his favorite questions began with “What if…?” and, of course, the ubiquitous “Why?”
He put his literary aspirations on hold when he became a father and taught himself to write software to help support his family. He’s had a successful career as a software engineer, but always promised himself he’d return to his dream of writing a novel.
His debut novel, The Involuntary Ghostwriter, was published in December 2016 by Dark Ink Press. The Ghostwriter’s Wife, the second book in the series The Word of God, is scheduled for release in May of 2017, is. The Ghostwriter’s Legacy, the conclusion of The Word of God is near completion.
Ria Dimitra
Biography
Ria Dimitra is the author of four paranormal romance novels, The Blood Waltz (Writers Club Press, 2000), Fiend Angelical (Ragnell Press, 2004), The Visconti Devils (Ragnell Press, 2006), Selena’s Requiem (Aventine Press, 2016), and Heaven’s Irregulars (Aventine Press, 2018). Fiend Angelical was rated a “Top Pick” by Romantic Times Magazine and nominated for Best Small Press Paranormal Romance for 2005. A romantic wanderer by heart, she has lived in five states, settling in Pittsburgh in 2013 with her two cats, Morticia and Felix.
Carrie Ann DiRisio
Biography
Carrie, although not a native Pittsburgher, has called the city home long enough to root for the sports teams and to develop a strong belief that crossing any river constitutes an arduous journey.
She is a Young Adult fiction writer, represented by Melissa Edwards of the Aaron Priest agency.
She is also the creator of the viral parody Twitter account, @broodingYAhero, which lovingly mocks over-used tropes of young adult literature. The account has been featured on Buzzfeed, Hellogiggles, and many other sites.
You can follow Brooding YA Hero’s tweets here: https://twitter.com/broodingYAhero
Carrie’s blog can be found here: http://creativelycarrie.com/
M. C. Benner Dixon , Ph.D.
Biography
Kathleen Dixon Donnelly
Biography
Kathleen Dixon Donnelly has been involved in writing and the creative process for over 40 years. Her dissertation for her Ph.D. in Communications from Dublin City University, “Such Friends,” was on the creative development of writers in early 20th century salons, including the Irish Literary Renaissance, the Bloomsbury group, the Americans in Paris in the 1920s, and the Algonquin Round Table.
Kathleen posts regularly about “The Literary 1920s” at http://www.suchfriends.wordpress.com and on Twitter, @SuchFriends. The blog postings have been published as a series, “Such Friends”: The Literary 1920s. Volumes I through III are available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk in both print and e-book formats.
Kathleen’s thesis for her MBA from Duquesne University was Manager as Muse: A Case Study of Maxwell Perkins’ Work with F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Thomas Wolfe. A version of Manager as Muse is also available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk in both print and e-book formats.
She also has a BA in English, Theatre and Art from Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA, and an MA in Education from Birmingham City University [BCU] in the UK.
Kathleen recently retired as a senior lecturer at BCU. She has done presentations to many lifelong learning groups in the UK and the US, including the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes at Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, as well as The Southbank Center, the English-Speaking Union, and The Florida Center for the Book.
Kathleen and her husband Tony Dixon recently relocated from the UK to her hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where they live in Highland Park with their two cats, Gertrude Stein and Robert Benchley.
Kate Dopirak
Biography
Kate Dopirak is a Diet Coke addict and a wannabe runner (okay, fine—she much prefers skiing because it feels closer to flying). She has a writer’s crush on Mo Willems and can’t get enough of David Sedaris. She loves walking her puppy, watching her sons play basketball, and convincing her husband to share a cheese plate instead of wings. Oh, and she LOVES to write—even ‘thank you’ notes give her a thrill. Her first picture book, You’re My Boo, will be published Summer 2016 by Beach Lane Books (Simon & Schuster). Another picture book, Snuggle Bunny, will be published Spring 2017 by Cartwheel Books (Scholastic).
Visit her at http://www.katedopirak.com
Follow her on Twitter @katedopirak
Jennie Dorris
Biography
Jennie Dorris is a writer, percussionist, and interdisciplinary artist based in Pittsburgh. She has written for Boston Magazine, Real Simple, Entrepreneur, Pittsburgh Magazine, Pittsburgh Quarterly, and Public Source. She has pioneered a Musical Storytelling performance technique that she has performed across the country and is now used in schools, cancer centers, and nonprofits to help people share their life stories set to music.
A. K. Downing
Biography
A. K. Downing grew up in the hills of southwestern Pennsylvania and spent her summers exploring the fields, woods and orchards of her grandparent’s farm. Her young-adult adventure novel, Into the Air, was self published in September 2016. The story follows character Mia Bryn and her father as they leave the safety of their underground compound and travel into a world no one has inhabited for over a hundred years.
Ms. Downing studied graphic design at Kent State University and currently works as a Creative Director in Pittsburgh. She enjoys history, camping, and walking through fields of tall grass, and feels there is no better way to see the world than from the top of a horse.
She currently lives in the woods with her husband, daughter, two cats and five chickens. Into the Air is her first novel.
Visit A. K. Downing online: AKDowning.com
Find her on Twitter: twitter.com/AKDowning111
Like her on Facebook: facebook.com/AKDowning111
Explore her Goodreads page: goodreads.com/AKDowning
Patrick Doyle
Biography
Patrick Doyle is a writer and editor who covers politics, urban development, the environment, and technology; he also teaches writing at the University of Pittsburgh. He’s written for publications such as Outside, MIT Technology Review, Backpacker, and Mountain, and is a contributing writer for Pittsburgh Magazine. He previously worked as the executive editor for Boston Magazine and the digital/senior editor of 5280, Denver’s city magazine.
Rebecca Drake
Biography
Rebecca Drake’s debut hardcover psychological thriller, Only Ever You, will be released by St. Martin’s Press in 2016. Her first novel, Don’t Be Afraid, was Kensington’s lead title in September 2006. The Next Killing followed in September 2007 and was selected by four national book clubs including The Literary Guild. The Dead Place came out in September 2008 and was an Independent Mystery Booksellers Association (IMBA) bestseller. In 2011 “Loaded” appeared in Pittsburgh Noir, one of Akashic Books’ award-winning collection of noir anthologies. A graduate of Penn State, Rebecca is an instructor in Seton Hill University’s MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction. She lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and two children. More about Rebecca can be found at RebeccaDrake.com or find her on Facebook and Twitter.
Doris Dumrauf
Biography
Doris Dumrauf’s nonfiction articles have been published in Pennsylvania Magazine, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Philadelphia Inquirer, Pennsylvania Pursuits, Country Discoveries, Atlantic Flyer, and Vögel Magazine.
Her novel Oktober Heat is set in 1958 Germany (her native country) at the onset of the Cold War. She is also an award-winning wildlife photographer. Her experiences inspired her to publish a picture book entitled Create Your Own Backyard Wildlife Habitat.
Frederic S. Durbin
Biography
Frederic S. Durbin is the author of Dragonfly, The Star Shard, and most recently, A Green and Ancient Light. A native of rural central Illinois, he taught writing and ESL at Japan’s Niigata University for over twenty years. His short fiction has appeared often in Cricket Magazine as well as in other publications for adults and children. He is a learning facilitator at CCAC and a frequent presenter of workshops for writers of all ages.
Michael D. Durkota
Biography
Michael D. Durkota holds a master of fine arts degree from the University of Pittsburgh. His debut novel, Once in a Blue Year, follows two friends during the Persian Gulf War as they struggle with their navy service, adulthood, and relationships. Durkota lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with his wife. You can follow him on twitter (@durk13) or on his website (durkota.net).
Barbara Edelman
Biography
Barbara Edelman’s poetry collections include All the Hanging Wrenches (2022) and Dream of the Gone-From City (2017), both from Carnegie Mellon University Press, and the chapbooks Exposure and A Girl in Water . Her poems and short prose have appeared in Pleiades, Prairie Schooner, Raleigh Review, Rattle, and Spillway, among other journals, and in several anthologies. Her one-act play, “Charades” was produced by the Pittsburgh New Works Festival. A professor emerita and current part time instructor of English at the University of Pittsburgh, Edelman has taught courses in creative writing, literature, and composition, and served as co-coordinator of the Writerś Café for ten years. She has worked locally as a freelance editor and grant writer and has held the teaching positions of Poet in Residence at the Ellis School, Adjunct Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon, Poetry and Playwriting Instructor at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, and Visiting Writer at Waynesburg University. Her website is barbaraedelman1.wordpress
Marisette Edwards
Biography
Marisette Edwards van-Linden van den Heuvell was born in the Netherlands and is currently a Pittsburgh-based software engineer who has managed to survive 30 years longer than nature apparently intended. Today, Marisette is an avid rower, competing nationally. She is the mother of two sons, her pride and joy. Marisette’s love of writing is inspired by her vivid memories and in-depth research of life and family. In her own words, “Such information seems too interesting to keep to myself.”
Ziggy Edwards
Biography
Ziggy Edwards is friendly. She knocks herself out as editor/co-founder of Uppagus and as a poetry editor and co-founder of Pittsburgh Poetry Review. Her chapbook, Hope’s White Shoes, was published by Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange in 2006. Her poems and short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in publications such as 5 AM, After Happy Hour Review, Dreams and Nightmares, Illumen, Main Street Rag, and Paper Street.
Matt Eidson
Biography
Matt Eidson is a writer and MFA candidate at West Virginia University living in Pittsburgh. He’s also a Marine veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Matt writes a lot about his time in the military, both fiction and nonfiction. He also writes about running, living with bulimia, and birds. You can find his work in Bull, Ploughshares, and Collateral. Or you can just visit his website, matteidson.com.
Angele Ellis
Biography
Angele Ellis is author of Arab on Radar (Six Gallery Press), whose poems won her an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Spared (A Main Street Rag Editors’ Choice Chapbook), and coauthor of Dealing With Differences (Corwin Press), named as an outstanding multicultural resource by The Christian Science Monitor. Her poetry, short fiction—including excerpts of a novel in progress–and book reviews have appeared in fifty journals and ten anthologies. She is a Contributing Editor for Al Jadid Magazine. A longtime writer, editor, and community activist, Ellis lives in the Friendship section of Pittsburgh, both a neighborhood and a state of mind.
Timons Esaias
Biography
Timons Esaias is a satirist, writer and poet living in Pittsburgh. He taught in Seton Hill University’s MFA in Writing Popular Fiction Program for 20 years, and his mentees have published more books than he can afford to buy.
His works, ranging from literary to genre, have been published in twenty-two languages. He has also been a finalist for the British Science Fiction Award, twice won the Asimov’s Readers Award, and won the Winter Anthology Contest for 2020. His story “Norbert and the System” has appeared in a textbook, and in college curricula. He was shortlisted for the 2019 Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Prize. His full-length Louis-Award-winning collection of poetry — Why Elephants No Longer Communicate in Greek — was brought out by Concrete Wolf.
In recent years, his stories have included a PSA warning about the dangers of werepandaism, a flash fiction about snuff poetry, a story with a pillow as the protagonist, and another with Concord grape jelly packets as the antagonist.
People who know him are not surprised to learn that he lived in a museum for eight years.
He collects chess sets and elephants, and he visits far too many coastal fortifications.
It is alleged that he goes on and on when asked a question.
Dana Faletti
Biography
Dana Faletti is the author of Beautiful Secret, to be released by Pandamoon Publishing in 2016. This women’s fiction romance is set in the scorched hills of Calabria, and tells the tale of a woman who rediscovers her soul through a journey to her Nana’s homeland in Italy. Dana also wrote The Whisper Trilogy, a young adult paranormal romance that is currently available on Amazon. Dana can frequently be found in her hometown of Pine Richland, writing her food and family inspired blog posts at a crowded Starbucks. She lives with her husband and three young daughters, a teddy bear dog named Dolce, and a hypo-allergenic Siberian forest cat named Fluffy G.
Sabrina Fedel
Biography
Sabrina Fedel’s debut novel, Leaving Kent State, was published by Harvard Square Editions in November of 2016. A young adult historical fiction, Leaving Kent State tells the story of a young artist trying to leave her small town only to be swept up in it’s most tragic day. The novel garnered a five star review from Litpick.com, and has been praised by authors Tony Abbott and Pat Lowry Collins.
Sabrina holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University. She is a 2017 Pushcart Prize nominee, as well as a 2016 storySouth Million Writers Award nominee and a Sundress Publications Best of the Net ’16 nominee. You can visit her at http://www.sabrinafedel.com or follow @writeawhile on Twitter. She really loves pictures, so Instagram is a favorite hangout, too, where you will find her under her name.
Donald Firesmith
Biography
Donald Firesmith is a multi-award-winning author of speculative fiction including science fiction (alien invasion), fantasy (magical wands), and modern urban paranormal novels.
Prior to recently retiring to devote himself full-time to his novels, Donald Firesmith earned an international reputation as a distinguished engineer, authoring seven system/software engineering books based on his 40+ years spent developing large, complex software-intensive systems.
He lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with his wife Becky, his son Dane, and varying numbers of dogs and cats.
Hattie Fletcher
Biography
Hattie Fletcher has been the managing editor of Creative Nonfiction since 2004. With Lee Gutkind, founding editor of Creative Nonfiction, she co-edited True Stories, Well Told: From the First 20 Years of Creative Nonfiction Magazine.
Sherrie Flick
Biography
Sherrie Flick is author of the novel Reconsidering Happiness, the flash fiction chapbook I Call This Flirting, and the forthcoming short story collection Whiskey, Etc. (Queen’s Ferry Press, March 2016). She teaches in the MFA and Food Studies programs at Chatham University, is the Co-Director of Chautauqua Writers’ Festival, and serves as Fiction Editor for Burnside Review.
Kelsey Ford
Biography
Kelsey Ford is the creator and director of Bookish in the ‘Burgh, Pittsburgh’s Teen Book Festival, which is a production of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. She is also a contemporary fantasy author. Originally from a small in town in Northwest Pennsylvania, she received her Bachelor of Science in advertising and public relations from Florida Southern College in Lakeland, FL and her Master of Arts Management from Bath Spa University in Bath, England. Kelsey has a decade of event and festival planning experience and a deep passion for mentoring young people and creating diverse and accessible arts and literary events for teens and children. Her journey as a writer and book festival creator was featured on the podcast 88 Cups of Tea with Yin Chang. When she’s not writing or event planning, you can find her visiting museums and libraries, nerding out over color-coded spreadsheets and to do lists, or reading in her cozy, book-filled apartment in Bellevue. You can learn more about Bookish in the ‘Burgh, Pittsburgh’s Teen Book Festival, at http://www.TrustArts.org/Bookish and connect with Kelsey at http://www.kelseylynnford.com, on Twitter @kelseylynnford, or on Instagram @kelseylynnford.
Lisa Fox
Biography
Lisa Fox is a multi-published author of contemporary, paranormal, and fantasy romance. An avid traveler, she has celebrated New Year’s Eve in Times Square, collected beads at Mardi Gras parades, sipped wine at Randyland, and once flogged a man for charity at the Folsom Street Fair. She also likes coffee.
Erin Frankel
Biography
Erin Frankel is a children’s book author. She loves telling stories of hope and wonder. Her picture book biographies include A Plate of Hope – The Inspiring Story of Chef José Andrés and World Central Kitchen (Random House Studio, 2024) as well as forthcoming titles: Mary Oliver, Holding On To Wonder (Calkins Creek, 2025) and Piece by Piece – How Stephen Sondheim Made Musical Puzzles Come Alive (Calkins Creek, 2026). Her other books include the Weird! series (Free Spirit, 2012) and Remembering Barkley(Albert Whitman & Company, 2020). Erin lives in Pittsburgh, where she writes, teaches, and hopes. Connect with Erin at http://www.erinfrankel.com or on Instagram @erinfrankelwrites.
Kit Frick
Biography
Founded by three publishing professionals in 2015, Littsburgh showcases Pittsburgh as a hub of literary talent and activity while serving as a resource to foster further collaboration and connection within Pittsburgh’s vibrant literary community.
Littsburgh is a passion project and has been since inception.
Because we’re self-powered, we’ve been able to continue promoting literary Pittsburgh without having to compromise our vision or our mission — and without having to close up shop because of lack of funding. Our goal is for Littsburgh to be here for the long haul… and we’re only getting bigger and better every year!
As our audience has grown, however, so have our operating costs: hosting is increasingly expensive, spreading the word about literary Pittsburgh to our readers via social media channels requires paid “boosts,” and we’re investing literally hundreds of volunteer hours into the site every year.
With a small donation, one time or (even better!) recurring, you can help ensure that Littsburgh continues to grow and thrive.
Help us spread the word about literary Pittsburgh!
We say this all the time, but Pittsburgh really is a special place when it comes to books and writing. Read more
If you're reading Littsburgh right now, chances are you know Nick Courage. Since 2015, when Littsburgh launched, Nick has been Read more
Via the Broadcast Podcast ("The Broadcast PGH is a podcast by, for and about women in Pittsburgh and beyond"): Rachel Read more
We were so happy to have been asked to spread the good word about Littsburgh - and literary Pittsburgh - Read more
Littsburgh sat down with Nuria Marquez (WPTS) and Hot Metal Bridge's [in brackets]podcast crew during the annual WPTS fundraiser Read more
“[In] the process of building Littsburgh, I found out that the Pittsburgh literary scene is so much bigger than I Read more
We're so pumped that our Littsburgh mixer was #SEENintheCity by the Post-Gazette! All of our photos from the event are Read more
Our very own Katie Kurtzman tells her Littsburgh story in Literary Hub! "Throughout my near decade of a New York Read more