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Rivers. Steel. Neighborhoods. Industry. Art. Football.
Can words explain a city like Pittsburgh, with its rich history, complicated geography and diverse communities? Over the years, countless writers--who grew up here, moved here or were just passing through--have taken up the challenge. Many wrote with love; some, with faint praise. (Will the city ever live down being compared in 1868, by journalist James Parton, to "hell with the lid taken off"?)
Now, in celebration of Pittsburgh's 250th anniversary, we've invited seven writers to tell new stories about the city and its people. The resulting collection--CNF's first devoted entirely to its hometown as a subject--contains memories of teenage trips and family businesses, tales of immersion into unfamiliar communities and accounts of early mornings on the river, as well as thoughts about what it all means. One thing's for sure--it's more than just words.
And don't forget to visit the Pittsburgh in Words website for more classic Pittsburgh stories!
Table of Contents
M. Berger Co.
Jeremy Smerd
Double Joy: Myron Cope and the Pittsburgh Sound
Elena Passarello
Rowing Through the Ruins
Erin E. Tocknell
Immigrant Stories
Mark Kramer
940
Kathleen Rooney Mara
Pod City
Anjali Sachdeva
In Pursuit of Puppets: A Pittsburgh Romance
Missy Raterman
Reviews
"Writing about Pittsburgh" is a fraught enterprise. You either get tangled in clichés – don't make me repeat them – or spend half your time denying the clichés have snared you.
So what's surprising about Pittsburgh in Words, the 250th-birthday offering to the city from the locally based Creative Nonfiction Foundation, is that some of its most successful essays do accept the challenge of defining the place. ...
The collection's strongest work engages very particular subject matter as a way to explore larger issues including – but not limited to – what Pittsburgh's all about. Probably not by coincidence, this also tends to be the work that gives the best sense of a writer venturing, if not out of his or her comfort zone, at least into a wider world beyond family and friends.
--reviewed by Bill O'Driscoll, for Pittsburgh City Paper (read the whole review)
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"I have 33 years worth of journals of which I've written in every single day so I have a lot of nonfiction to try and get creative with, and this journal helps!"
