Tag Archives: pittsburgh bloggers

Have a drink with Littsburgh next Tuesday!

Writing is a lonely activity. Reading is solitary pursuit. That is why Littsburgh is hosting an inaugural happy hour next week to bring those who share those two isolated passions together.

Littsburgh, a website launched by a trio of booklovers in August, is designed to connect the literary community in Pittsburgh.

The website is a hub for booksellers, authors, media outlets, and nonprofit organizations who share a love for books. Littsburgh hosts a calendar of author readings, book signings, and posts sample chapters of new books.

“We love Pittsburgh and we know the scene is awesome,” Said Rachel Ekstrom, Littsburgh co-founder. “But we want the world to know, we want people to think of Pittsburgh as a literary destination. This site is a big tool for that.“

Pittsburgh is a social city and one of the top 10 literary cities in America (according to one of those random rakings).

Ever since the launch of the site earlier this year, eager readers have been asking when they’ll host an event. They answered with an email this week:

Citizens of Littsburgh, please join us at Spirit Lodge (242 51st Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15201 – http://www.spiritpgh.com/spiritlodge/; CASH ONLY) on Tuesday, November 10th from 5:30 to 8:00 pm for $3 drafts and $10 cheese pizza! Pin a limited edition Littsburgh button to your jacket, tell us if you’re reading or working on anything good, and — most importantly — join us in raising a frosty glass of I.C. Light to literary Pittsburgh!

Ekstrom and her Littsburgh co-founders Katie Kurtzman and Nick Courage each have backgrounds in publishing. All three re-located to Pittsburgh from New York City within the past year or so.

”What struck us is not just the wonderful writers and books that come out of Pittsburgh, but there’s publishing professionals. Katie is a book publicist, Nick is a book marketer and author. I’m a literary agent,” said Ekstrom.

She says there are book jacket designers, editors, literary magazines like Creative Nonfiction, wonderful non profits like City of Asylum. That’s on top of the numerous writers, MFA students and professors, independent bookstores, chain bookstores, university bookstores, comic bookstores, publishers, libraries, little free libraries, zines, university presses, poets, journalists, and author readings…the list goes on.

“As a literary agent I want a bird’s eye view of the whole scene here,” said Eckstrom.

She and co-founder Nick Courage conceived of the website. Courage put it together and operates it. He says Pittsburgh always felt like a literary town and that the overwhelming positive response to the website proves it

“It was gratifying. It was something that was already in the air, “said Courage, who is constantly updating the site with people submitting book events and links to book related organizations.

Just this week there are 12 events on the calendar, and 30 book-related events in the area so far for the month of November.

“There are pillars, like the Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures series to living room readings,” said Kurtzman. “Hopefully people who only go to small things will start going to the big stuff and there will be cross pollination.”

The three of them plan to use their connections with New York publishing scene to bring more attention to Pittsburgh in the form of author tours and big-name author signings.

They say perhaps down the road it can grow into something bigger.

“If this leads to, perhaps, a wonderful world-class book festival that’s set in Pittsburgh. If other opportunities arise for the literary scene, we would love to be a part of that and make that happen,” said Ekstrom

For now, the site is a labor of love and runs no paid advertisements. They told City Paper in September they’d consider ads that were literary-related.

“We know Pittsburgh has great football, and great technology, we have this cool food scene emerging,” said Ekstrom. “A lot of people know Annie Dillard or Michael Chabon, August Wilson, and David McCullough, but there’s so much beyond that too.”

Littsburgh is a great place to start exploring the literary scene, big and small, blossoming across Pittsburgh.

Littsburgh is a new online hub of local literary resources (pghcitypaper.com)

Halloween in Pittsburgh: Local Bloggers Offer Treats to Read

Embed from Getty Images

I was just planning on putting up a blog post that highlights some of the best photos and tweets about Halloween from around town (you can find all of that stuff below). I have spent this week writing about Halloween parties and I have spent this afternoon writing about Halloween apps over here. All fun and fluffy stuff. I clicked over the the Pittsburgh Bloggers Facebook group to add my links to the Friday link share post and I stopped to read what some of the other bloggers have shared this week.

While tricks and treats are fun, these bloggers have written some incredibly thoughtful posts about Halloween, giving, kindness and just being good people. I think all of these posts are worth a read. I really like the idea of thinking about Halloween and giving. I sort of think of Halloween as the unofficial end of fall and beginning of the holiday season. I’ve included a small quote from each of these three posts, but I would encourage you to click through and visit each of these blog posts and learn more about these writers and Pittsburghers. In the middle of all of the candy fueled craziness, it is nice to be reminded about some things that really matter.

The Spirit of Giving: Light the Sky by Chelle Stein @Chelle_stein – be sure to check out the video she made of her journal, part of the Journal52 project.

Today is Halloween, and for me, this day is not so much about ghosts and those kinds of spirits as much as it is about the spirit of giving.

It begins a time of year when we are on the brink of our darkest days with no sunshine, yet the spirit of giving lights the way all through now until the end of the year.

Pittsburgh Plays It Forward With Holiday Toy Project by The Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents @PghLesbian24 – a great post offing an in-depth look at Play It Forward Pittsburgh, local nonprofit that I did not know about. I think Sue’s idea to share this on Halloween is brilliant – another great idea at the beginning of the holiday season.

I’m publishing this on Halloween because I know a lot of families set aside costumes as playthings so you might consider doing that this year and sharing those items with neighbors.

A Real Mensch by Rabble Raiser @FunkyDung – this real Pittsburgh dad share a story about how his son has shown friendship to one of his preschool classmates.

That small gesture, that might have meant a lot to that little girl, is just the kind of thing he does. He’ll play with anyone. He can make friends with anyone. He’s not a loud, boisterous personality, though. He’s a quiet, silly, bouncy kid that is as comfortable doing his own thing in class or on the playground as he is cooperating and playing with a big crowd.

On several occasions, Joel has said, “I love everyone in the whole world”. I think I believe him.

Voter Guides and Election Day Links for Pittsburgh

Tuesday, November 6 is election day – in addtion to voting for the President – there are lots of other races on the ballot that should be on your radar. But just as importantly for Pittsburgh – May 21, 2013 is the primary election for Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh and even-numbered city council seats. If you aren’t registered to vote – please take a moment to register so you are ready for the Primary election in May. Click here to fill out a voter registration form.

Below are some links to voting resources as well as local voting guides and endorsements from Pittsburgh bloggers. We are posting links to guides and blog posts from both democrats and republicans.

Find Your Poling Place & Voting Info

Poling Place Locator:

Vote411.org – a non-partisan polling place locator run by the League of Women Voters
VotesPA.com – PA Department of State’s Voting Info Website

Election Protection

866ourvote.org or call 1-866-687-8683
Additionally the Post-Gazette would like to be notified of any voting issues from their Facebook page “Also, please notify the Post-Gazette about irregularities by sending an email to localnews@post-gazette.com with subject line ‘Voting Problems.'”