The Bridge Series is a new series uniting the Pittsburgh literary and activist communities to raise awareness and funds for local organizations fighting the good fight in these troubling times. Each installment will feature Pittsburgh’s finest writers and a special guest organization, with proceeds from the evening going directly to that organization.
The August 16th installment of The Bridge Series featuring the writers Christopher Jon Heuer, Toi Derricotte and Katie Booth — and the guest organization for the evening, The Center for Hearing & Deaf Services, Inc. (HDS) — was curated by writer and Bridge advisory board member Ellen McGrath Smith.
Ellen McGrath Smith teaches at the University of Pittsburgh and in the Carlow University Madwomen in the Attic program. She holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Pittsburgh and a PhD in Literature from Duquesne University. Her full-length poetry collection, Nobody’s Jackknife, was published in fall 2015 by the West End Press.
How does writing relate to activism? How has activism influenced or affected your writing?
I have not found it possible to separate politics from my writing, ever. One of the beautiful things about writing is its holistic nature: virtually all of one’s experience filters into the work. I know that my sense of what is right and fair comes from my reading; very few media provide such full access into others’ consciousnesses, and that lays fundamental ground for empathy. Activism and writing are inseparable.
What are the goals of The Bridge Series? How does it fit into the local literary scene?
The Bridge Series commits to yoking writing with the amazing work being done in the area to promote equality, equity, and diversity of identity & experience. I like that, as the series has progressed, we come to see the work people do to improve the lives of others as art, and to see art as a means to improving the lives of others.
Why did you invite HDS to be the guest organization this month? Tell us a little about their mission.
HDS has been helpful to me in helping me to identify ways to manage my disability in my role as a teacher. Whenever I visit for a test, I see young D/deaf and hearing-impaired children engaged in group activities; I see young adults being prepared for the work world. HDS meets every individual where they are and doesn’t privilege one means of navigating hearing loss over the other. It provides assistive devices and ASL training, and makes these resources accessible to everyone, regardless of how much money one has. As a poet with hearing loss, few things are more important to me than access to the spoken word.
Is there a particular writer, book, or poem that has influenced you as a literary activist that you’d like to shine some light on?
There are so many!
Adrienne Rich has been an important voice for me since I was very young, as she utterly refused to make a distinction between her creative work and her activism—and often was criticized for that by so-called literary purists. The work of Toni Morrison, Dorothy Allison, and more recently Ocean Vuong and Jenny Johnson, bring me into a deeper sense of the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality. And the vibrant work of writers in the disability literature community have enlivened my sense of how our bodies frame our experiences and the way we reflect those experiences; a good sampling of such work can be found in two anthologies by Cinco Puntos Press — Beauty Is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability and The Right Way to Be Crippled and Naked: The Fiction of Disability (this latter collection includes a compelling story by Christopher Jon Heuer, who will be reading on Aug. 16).
What advice would you give to local writers who want to have their voices heard?
Go to readings, check out Littsburgh for listings. Find or form workshops where you can share feedback. Also, seek small groups of writers who want to free-write together. The Internet can help you to expand your community, too. Remember that, despite differences in style and thematics, all writers share an openness to difference, or should share that, anyway. So don’t just gravitate to events and workshops involving “like-minded writers.”
What do you hope the audience will walk away with after this event?
I hope those in the audience who are D/deaf or hard-of-hearing will be pleased to be offered means for enjoying the reading, which just doesn’t happen often enough. For those who sign, there will be an ASL interpreter. For those who have hearing aids with FM loops, City of Asylum has a limited number of receivers for that. City of Asylum also has a system that works with the wi-fi Hearing Hotspot app. Download the free app before coming to the event; then, on site you’ll receive instructions for using it—bring headphones or earbuds.
From the Publisher: "In this “smart, irreverent secret history” (Stewart O’Nan) Sewickley set novel by highly praised Pittsburgh native author Anna Read more
From the Publisher: "In his debut collection of nonfiction, Jim Daniels writes about trees, backyard swing sets, above-ground swimming pools, Read more
New York, NY — The Community of Literary Magazines & Presses (CLMP), the national nonprofit organization that for 58 years Read more
From the Publisher: "Imagine that you are a child who was born in a large family, and during your childhood, Read more
From Mt. Lebanon Magazine by way of Facebook: "On February 18, the Mt. Lebanon Public Library Board of Trustees passed Read more
"The City of Pittsburgh, with funding through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), is launching the Support for Artists Grant Read more
Littsburgh's founder Rachel Ekstrom Courage (now a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author!) recently stopped by KDKA to Read more
"The Drue Heinz Literature Prize recognizes and supports writers of short fiction and makes their work available to readers around Read more
"Applications are now open for Read Local Eat Local 2025! This is event is on Saturday, September 6, from 11 Read more
PITTSBURGH — Prime Stage Theatre celebrates its 29th season with three world premieres commissioned from three Pittsburgh playwrights: Nov. 7-16, 2025 – Mr. Read more
PITTSBURGH, PA – It’s time to book your spot! Registration for the 2025 Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books is officially Read more
From the Publisher: "The Mackenzies and the Flahertys, two of the founding families of Port Kenneth, TN, have been feuding Read more
"The Northern Appalachia Review welcomes submissions of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction written about, representing, or engaging with the experience of Read more
But this too is true: stories can save us The writer Tim O’Brien calls storytelling an essential human activity. "The Read more
"'Where do you end and I begin?' is the question which haunts Shaheen Dil’s remarkable memoir-in-poems. Dil’s journey is at Read more
"A poignant memoir exploring small town baseball as a lens into what’s right and wrong with modern America—written by an Read more
City of Asylum Pittsburgh and International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) collaborate to present 30+ free,transformational events over 4 days Read more
From the Publisher: "In 1958, a midwestern family was uprooted from Canton, Ohio to Bukavu in the Belgian Congo during Read more
"From New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict and Courtney Sheinmel comes a historical adventure about a young girl plucked Read more
From the Publisher: "It’s Anny’ s first day of middle school and, after years of being homeschooled, her first day Read more
