1st Pittsburgh International Literary Festival to get people talking, reading
May 5—The Pittsburgh International Literary Festival, known as "LitFest," hopes to get people talking through reading.
Hosted by the City of Asylum @ Alphabet City based on Pittsburgh's North Side, the virtual event will feature authors from all over the world discussing topics that encompass Black, Indigenous and all people of color, the LGBTQIA+ community and the politics of publishing.
Abby Lembersky, director of programs for City of Asylum @ Alphabet City, said planning's been underway since January. This isn't its only online happening but is the first 10-day festival the organization has done.
It will be held May 12-18 on the organization's virtual programming channel.
Most programs are an hour to an hour and 15 minutes long. They will be captioned and available online seven days after the original air date.
The festival will showcase readings of books written in other languages and translated into English. The translators will read the works making sure to convey the flavor and rhythm of the publication, Lembersky said. That person needs to know the pacing of the book so that when it's read, it makes sense to the audience.
"There is definitely an art to being a literary translator," Lembersky said.
A challenge in setting up the festival was compiling the schedule based around multiple time zones.
"A positive definitely is we are able to feature authors from all over the world, including a Nobel laureate," Lembersky said. "We will connect so many people and foster conversations."
Olga Tokarczuk of Poland won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature.
She, with translator Jennifer Croft, earned the 2018 Man Booker International Prize for the book "Flights." They will be on at 7 p.m. May 20.
Tokarczuk will also discuss her forthcoming "The Books of Jacob." She and Croft will have a conversation about their work together, including how it took seven years to get "Flights" published in the U.S.
At 8 p.m. May 18, Japanese novelist Mieko Kawakami will be launching the English version of her book "Heaven." She is one of Japan's best-selling contemporary writers.
She and translators Sam Bett and David Boyd will discuss her first novel in English, "Breast and Eggs," which was rated one of Time Magazine's 10 best books of 2020.
Here is the full schedule.
The event is free. Register here.
City of Asylum @ Alphabet City describes itself as "building a just community by protecting and celebrating creative free expression." It provides sanctuary to endangered literary writers and offers a range of free literary, arts, and humanities programs.
"We work to amplify marginalized voices from around the world," said Lembersky, who worked in partnership with literary journalists and publishers. Partners include Archipelago Books, Chautauqua Institution, Europa Editions, Eulalia Books, Global Wordsmiths, Music on the Edge, New Directions Publishing, University of Pittsburgh and Words Without Borders.
For many of the 160 programs they do, they receive funding both locally and nationally. There wasn't any specific monetary support for this event. But Lembersky said it was important to offer it for free like the other events.
People can donate here.
"It's important to be accessible to everyone," Lembersky said. "It's about sharing space with people of different backgrounds and starting a conversation."
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact JoAnne at 724-853-5062, jharrop@triblive.com or via Twitter .
