April 23, 2024 • 7 mins
Immerse yourself in the magic of literature at the 2024 Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books! The third annual event will take place on May 11 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, located at 616 North Highland Ave., Pittsburgh, PA. The Festival is FREE for all ages and will feature author talks, poetry readings, workshops, book signings, children’s and young adult activities, performances and much more. The Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books is dedicated to enhancing education and literacy in our communities while celebrating its love for reading. Visit www.pittsburghbookfestival.org to learn more. Volunteer opportunities are also available at www.pittsburghbookfestival.org/volunteer.
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(00:09):
And welcome in This is the Heartof Pittsburgh podcast. I'm your host,
Johnny Hertwell, and we've got aspecial event coming up on May eleventh.
To talk about it, we haveMary Monahan. Good morning, Good morning.
Carnegie Libraries has a special event.So we're going to be talking about
this is this is your third annual, right, this will be the third
(00:30):
annual Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books.All right, tell us everything we need
to know about. Oh my gosh. So this is a really exciting event
on Saturday, May eleventh at thePittsburgh Theological Seminary ten years That is in
East Liberty. It's on Highland Avenue, right across from Pittsburgh Obama School.
And there'll be plenty of parking thereif anybody's ever worried about parking. It
(00:52):
is our third annual event of abrand new literary tradition in the cities.
Pittsburgh has always been known as oneof the most literate cities in the country,
and so we're proud to bring festivalthat is only about books, only
about authors, only about poets tothe city for free, so that people
can come and hear their favorite folksread to them. They can interact with
(01:15):
them, and they can do alot of really fun activities as well.
All right, we know it startson May eleventh, But what's the time
ten two five, ten to five, and then what are some of the
events that you have, like inthe morning and throughout the day. Oh
my gosh. So we have somefantastic authors. Let me just kind of
tell you our headliners. So wehave Sebastian Younger, who a lot of
folks will probably know. He wroteThe Perfect Storm. You remember they made
(01:36):
the movie out of that, right, So his new book, In My
Time of Dying, is coming outand he will be coming and having a
conversation with Steve Drummond, who willalso be there talking about his book about
President Truman during World War Two.They'll be talking about Sebastian's new book,
which is really about a near deathexperience he had and what he learned from
(02:01):
it. And so the book actuallydoesn't come out until after the festival,
but if you register ahead of timeand by his book, you can get
it before anybody else in the world. You can get his book. We
also have Benjamin Harold, who isor was a local guy, a local
reporter. He's still a reporter.He wrote a book called Disillusioned about the
(02:21):
suburbs, and particularly one of thesuburbs he focused on was Penhills, which
is where I live. He isgoing to be in conversation with local author
Damon Young and one of the familiesthat he wrote about in his book,
Bethany Smith, will be there aswell. So on the not so nonfictiony
and a little bit more fun side, we have Eloisa James, who is
(02:42):
well known as the Queen of historicalRomance. She has over thirty historical romances.
People love Eloisa James's books and she'sgoing to be there. And then
finally, for poetry, we haveRoss Guae. Ross Guae is a poet
who is all about joy. Allright, Well, if somebody needs more
information on the authors and the events, do you have a website? Absolutely,
(03:05):
it's a Pittsburgh Bookfestival dot org.You can find all of the authors
there, adult, teen, children'sand our poets. We talked about some
of the authors just a few minutesago. But this is a family friendly
event. You got food, trucksand everything else. What else do you
have for the family. So wehave a fantastic children's section. Children and
family section that we are that hasbeen organized by Helen Campbell of Stories like
(03:28):
Us Bookstore along with some of ourlibrarians. So we have some great story
times. Britney Thurman, who wasa librarian for US many years ago and
has become a prolific children's authors,going to do a story time. Pat
Lewis who is an illustrator children's bookillustrator and right now he illustrates for the
Investigators series, which is alligators whoSolve crime. So he is going to
(03:51):
do a draw like in Investigator Workshop. So you'll be able to learn.
Kids will be able to come andlearn how to draw, just like Pat
Lewis from one of their favorite bookseries. You know, the Karnaky Libraries
in Pittsburgh is such a treasure.It's such we have we take it for
granted here in Pittsburgh. What awhat a fabulous organization. But you know
it's worldwide. You have you havelibraries everywhere. I just found out just
(04:15):
minutes ago there's one in Fiji.There is I love to read and I
would love to read in fej Iwould too if they had a transfer program.
I would be on the plane tomorrow. So this festival is an opportunity
to kind of introduce people to somelike a fun event that kind of introduces
everything that you guys do and youdo so much for the community. So
what's the goal. What is thegoal of the festival? I mean,
(04:39):
it's just that the goal is tocelebrate Pittsburgh's uh literary heritage, to bring
adults, kids, families together allaround the joy of reading, all around,
the joy of that discovery that kidshave. You know, when they
find their book. That's one ofthe most special moments in a library life,
(05:00):
when they help a kid find theirbook. What about some of the
authors that you have participating. Oneof the things that we're really excited about
this year is how many Pittsburgh authorswe have. Pittsburgh has such a strong
literary tradition. So we have RobRock, we have Ellen Cottman, we
have Rachel Lippencott, we have BritneyThurman. If you know what Pittsburgh author,
chances are they're going to be there. Well, tell us a little
(05:21):
more about those the authors. Sowe're doing a bunch of panels, really
fun panels. We have a panelon Pittsburgh True crime that Jason Kieran and
some other folks are in. Wehave a panel on Pittsburgh jazz. A
lot of folks have written about thejazz history in Pittsburgh. Will have one
of those. We'll have a Pantburghhistory Josh, Yes, absolutely it is.
(05:42):
Yeah, and so tell us more. Okay, okay, okay.
We have Pittsburgh Sports. We havePittsburgh social justice. We have Pittsburgh authors
who are speaking independently. We havePittsburgh authors who are doing story times and
activities for the kids. Pittsburgh hasa lot of them, amazing authors and
poets. And you have poetry readings, book signings, you have workshops,
(06:03):
food trucks. It's a family friendlyevent. But what else do you have
coming up this summer? Oh mygosh, I'm so glad you ask.
So. Carnegie Library Pittsburgh, alongwith all the libraries in the county,
does summer reading, which is away that we help combat summer slide during
when kids are not in school.What summer slide. Summer slide is when
kids are not in school and they'renot reading, and they're not they're not
(06:28):
retaining as much of what they learnedfrom the school year, so they start
the next school year at a littlebit of a deficit. So our way
to help that in all libraries,way to help that is to encourage reading
and reading and reading over the summer. So our Carnegie Library Pittsburgh is going
to have our summer reading program whichis called read a Palooza Book Bowl,
which will be a competition between allof the libraries in our system against each
(06:51):
other to see who reads the mostbooks and is amazing. You guys do
so much for the kid. Thankyou so much for everything that you guys.
Oh, thank you. All right. The Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books
coming up in two weeks, thirdannual event. It's going to be held
at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in EastLiberty. If somebody wants more information on
the event and anything that's going on, where do they go. They go
(07:12):
to Pittsburgh Book Festival dot org.And if they need more information on the
summer reading program, they go toCarnegie Library dot org. That's simple and
easy enough. Thank you, Mary, it's been a pleasure. Thank you
so much, and good luck withthe festival. Okay, once again,
if you want more information, thewebsite it's Pittsburgh Book Festival dot org.
This has been the Heart of PittsburghPodcast. I'm your host, Johnny heart
(07:33):
Well, thank you so much forlistening.
And welcome in This is the Heartof Pittsburgh podcast. I'm your host,
Johnny Hertwell, and we've got aspecial event coming up on May eleventh.
To talk about it, we haveMary Monahan. Good morning, Good morning.
Carnegie Libraries has a special event.So we're going to be talking about
this is this is your third annual, right, this will be the third
(00:30):
annual Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books.All right, tell us everything we need
to know about. Oh my gosh. So this is a really exciting event
on Saturday, May eleventh at thePittsburgh Theological Seminary ten years That is in
East Liberty. It's on Highland Avenue, right across from Pittsburgh Obama School.
And there'll be plenty of parking thereif anybody's ever worried about parking. It
(00:52):
is our third annual event of abrand new literary tradition in the cities.
Pittsburgh has always been known as oneof the most literate cities in the country,
and so we're proud to bring festivalthat is only about books, only
about authors, only about poets tothe city for free, so that people
can come and hear their favorite folksread to them. They can interact with
(01:15):
them, and they can do alot of really fun activities as well.
All right, we know it startson May eleventh, But what's the time
ten two five, ten to five, and then what are some of the
events that you have, like inthe morning and throughout the day. Oh
my gosh. So we have somefantastic authors. Let me just kind of
tell you our headliners. So wehave Sebastian Younger, who a lot of
folks will probably know. He wroteThe Perfect Storm. You remember they made
(01:36):
the movie out of that, right, So his new book, In My
Time of Dying, is coming outand he will be coming and having a
conversation with Steve Drummond, who willalso be there talking about his book about
President Truman during World War Two.They'll be talking about Sebastian's new book,
which is really about a near deathexperience he had and what he learned from
(02:01):
it. And so the book actuallydoesn't come out until after the festival,
but if you register ahead of timeand by his book, you can get
it before anybody else in the world. You can get his book. We
also have Benjamin Harold, who isor was a local guy, a local
reporter. He's still a reporter.He wrote a book called Disillusioned about the
(02:21):
suburbs, and particularly one of thesuburbs he focused on was Penhills, which
is where I live. He isgoing to be in conversation with local author
Damon Young and one of the familiesthat he wrote about in his book,
Bethany Smith, will be there aswell. So on the not so nonfictiony
and a little bit more fun side, we have Eloisa James, who is
(02:42):
well known as the Queen of historicalRomance. She has over thirty historical romances.
People love Eloisa James's books and she'sgoing to be there. And then
finally, for poetry, we haveRoss Guae. Ross Guae is a poet
who is all about joy. Allright, Well, if somebody needs more
information on the authors and the events, do you have a website? Absolutely,
(03:05):
it's a Pittsburgh Bookfestival dot org.You can find all of the authors
there, adult, teen, children'sand our poets. We talked about some
of the authors just a few minutesago. But this is a family friendly
event. You got food, trucksand everything else. What else do you
have for the family. So wehave a fantastic children's section. Children and
family section that we are that hasbeen organized by Helen Campbell of Stories like
(03:28):
Us Bookstore along with some of ourlibrarians. So we have some great story
times. Britney Thurman, who wasa librarian for US many years ago and
has become a prolific children's authors,going to do a story time. Pat
Lewis who is an illustrator children's bookillustrator and right now he illustrates for the
Investigators series, which is alligators whoSolve crime. So he is going to
(03:51):
do a draw like in Investigator Workshop. So you'll be able to learn.
Kids will be able to come andlearn how to draw, just like Pat
Lewis from one of their favorite bookseries. You know, the Karnaky Libraries
in Pittsburgh is such a treasure.It's such we have we take it for
granted here in Pittsburgh. What awhat a fabulous organization. But you know
it's worldwide. You have you havelibraries everywhere. I just found out just
(04:15):
minutes ago there's one in Fiji.There is I love to read and I
would love to read in fej Iwould too if they had a transfer program.
I would be on the plane tomorrow. So this festival is an opportunity
to kind of introduce people to somelike a fun event that kind of introduces
everything that you guys do and youdo so much for the community. So
what's the goal. What is thegoal of the festival? I mean,
(04:39):
it's just that the goal is tocelebrate Pittsburgh's uh literary heritage, to bring
adults, kids, families together allaround the joy of reading, all around,
the joy of that discovery that kidshave. You know, when they
find their book. That's one ofthe most special moments in a library life,
(05:00):
when they help a kid find theirbook. What about some of the
authors that you have participating. Oneof the things that we're really excited about
this year is how many Pittsburgh authorswe have. Pittsburgh has such a strong
literary tradition. So we have RobRock, we have Ellen Cottman, we
have Rachel Lippencott, we have BritneyThurman. If you know what Pittsburgh author,
chances are they're going to be there. Well, tell us a little
(05:21):
more about those the authors. Sowe're doing a bunch of panels, really
fun panels. We have a panelon Pittsburgh True crime that Jason Kieran and
some other folks are in. Wehave a panel on Pittsburgh jazz. A
lot of folks have written about thejazz history in Pittsburgh. Will have one
of those. We'll have a Pantburghhistory Josh, Yes, absolutely it is.
(05:42):
Yeah, and so tell us more. Okay, okay, okay.
We have Pittsburgh Sports. We havePittsburgh social justice. We have Pittsburgh authors
who are speaking independently. We havePittsburgh authors who are doing story times and
activities for the kids. Pittsburgh hasa lot of them, amazing authors and
poets. And you have poetry readings, book signings, you have workshops,
(06:03):
food trucks. It's a family friendlyevent. But what else do you have
coming up this summer? Oh mygosh, I'm so glad you ask.
So. Carnegie Library Pittsburgh, alongwith all the libraries in the county,
does summer reading, which is away that we help combat summer slide during
when kids are not in school.What summer slide. Summer slide is when
kids are not in school and they'renot reading, and they're not they're not
(06:28):
retaining as much of what they learnedfrom the school year, so they start
the next school year at a littlebit of a deficit. So our way
to help that in all libraries,way to help that is to encourage reading
and reading and reading over the summer. So our Carnegie Library Pittsburgh is going
to have our summer reading program whichis called read a Palooza Book Bowl,
which will be a competition between allof the libraries in our system against each
(06:51):
other to see who reads the mostbooks and is amazing. You guys do
so much for the kid. Thankyou so much for everything that you guys.
Oh, thank you. All right. The Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books
coming up in two weeks, thirdannual event. It's going to be held
at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in EastLiberty. If somebody wants more information on
the event and anything that's going on, where do they go. They go
(07:12):
to Pittsburgh Book Festival dot org.And if they need more information on the
summer reading program, they go toCarnegie Library dot org. That's simple and
easy enough. Thank you, Mary, it's been a pleasure. Thank you
so much, and good luck withthe festival. Okay, once again,
if you want more information, thewebsite it's Pittsburgh Book Festival dot org.
This has been the Heart of PittsburghPodcast. I'm your host, Johnny heart
(07:33):
Well, thank you so much forlistening.
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