“But This Too Is True: Stories Can Save Us”: 25th Anniversary of the Pitt-Greensburg Writers Festival Celebrates the Healing Art of Storytelling

With the end of the semester quickly approaching, all students’ stress levels are at an all-time high with an endless list of responsibilities to keep track of: final exams, essays, projects, etc. The 25th annual Writers Festival is meant to provide relief from such stressors by giving students the opportunity to relax and listen to the works of many talented writers. 

Writing Professors Lori Jakiela and Dave Newman will be organizing the event, which will occur from Tuesday, April 15 until Tuesday, April 22. It will take place in several locations around campus. All events are free and open to the public.

Perhaps one of the most important events that will happen during the festival is the Capstone Book Launch, taking place on Thursday, April 17 at 6 p.m. in McKenna Hall. During the event, senior students in the writing program will present and read from the books they have created.

“Capstone is my favorite night. I just love seeing students read from their books,” said Dave Newman, who is teaching the Capstone class this semester. 

Newman has also shown much excitement at the variety of writers that will be at the various events during the festival. This includes many Pitt-Greensburg student writers, but it also includes many important writers from all around the country.

“It’s a really cool combination of national writers and students. We have legendary working-class writer Jim Daniels Zoom-ing in from France. We have Joy Priest, who is a poet and a professor at Pitt. Then we have Jason Baldinger, an old-school traveling poet who works on a record to make his living,” Newman said. 

Writing Major-Mentor Sone Ekukole-Sone is also greatly looking forward to the Writers Festival. As a student himself, he is particularly fond of the opportunities that it provides for student writers.

“I have gone to the festival before, and it’s a really great way to connect with other writers and share your pieces during live readings. It gives writing students good exposure and helps them become comfortable sharing their work in front of an audience,” he said. 

Newman explained that a great deal of effort goes into making the festival enjoyable for the students as well as making it successful in terms of upholding it as a worthwhile experience.

“It’s an endless amount of work and budgeting and begging, but I am so happy with how it turns out every year. It’s a really good opportunity for our students to interact with professional writers from so many different walks of life,” he said.

For more information about the festival, please email loj@pitt.edu or dpn15@pitt.edu.

The dates and times of the events are listed here.