PITTSBURGH, PA — Beginning Thursday, May 2nd, 2024 at 7:00 PM at Alphabet City, City of Asylum presents the 20th annual celebration of Jazz Poetry Month. Jazz Poe
Originally held outdoors on Sampsonia Way, and attracting audiences of up to 1,000 people, the event has evolved over time and this year’s celebration features more than 50 regional, national, and international musicians and poets coming together on stage at Alphabet City.
Jazz Poetry Month 2024 brings together never-before-seen collaborations between writers and musicians, both new and returning to the Alphabet City stage. Among the celebrated artists is fan favorite and award-winning saxophonist, James Brandon Lewis, who will be headlining the festival for his fourth year in a row. City of Asylum will also be welcoming artists including JUNO Award-winning jazz pianist Andy Milne, Spanish flugelhorn player Milena Casado, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Rae Armantrout, and the University of Pittsburgh’s 2023–2025 Center for African American Poetry & Poetics fellow, Richard Hamilton.
“For 20 years, City of Asylum’s Jazz Poetry Month has championed creative partnership and cultural exchange, offering audiences stunning collaborations between writers and musicians,” says Caro Llewellyn, Executive Director of City of Asylum. “I am thrilled to welcome the people of Pittsburgh who join us in person for this year’s programs— and people from all over the country who can join us online—to celebrate the 20th anniversary of this one-of-a-kind festival that has grown so beautifully with the community that created it.”
Jazz Poetry 2024 features artists from India, Jamaica, Ukraine, Suriname, Algeria, Argentina, Sudan, Mexico, Romania, Palestine, Vietnam, Cuba, Spain, Canada, and more.
“This year, we’re also looking forward to special performances in visual vernacular and ASL by Deaf poets and storytellers Jeremy Lee Stone and Justin Perez,” says Darin Lee, Program Manager at City of Asylum. “Our 2024 lineup showcases the magic that occurs when Pittsburgh’s rich local talent and extraordinary artists from all over the world come together to create something new.”
All Jazz Poetry Month programs are free to the public and will take place across the month of May at City of Asylum’s Alphabet City venue in the North Side, with both in-person and livestream tickets available.
The 2024 Jazz Poetry Month lineup:
(All programs take place at Alphabet City, 40 W. North Ave., Pittsburgh, PA):
Thurs. 5/2: James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Olena Boryshpolets, Amit Chaudhuri, Shara McCallum, Toi Derricotte
Thurs. 5/9: Rakiem Walker Quartet, grace (ge) gilbert, Ladan Osman, Anouar Rahmani, Astrid Roemer
Mon. 5/13: Leslie DeShazor Quintet, Fatimah Asghar, Jeremy Lee Stone, Rania Mamoun, Andrés Neuman
Thurs. 5/16: Milena Casado Quartet, Rae Armantrout, Oleksandr Frazé-Frazénko, Richard Hamilton, Yahya Ashour
Sun. 5/19: Andy Milne’s Unison Trio, Noah Arhm Choi, Jonathan Moody, Justin Perez, Monica Sok
Tues. 5/21: Roger Humphries’ RH Factor, Mónica de la Torre, Sahar Muradi, Volodomyr Rafeyenko
Sun. 5/23: Alex Harding & Lucian Ban’s Blutopia Quintet, Quan Barry, Quincy Scott Jones, Jorge Olivera Castillo, Rajiv Mohabir
More information about the artists, upcoming performances, and reservations is available at cityofasylum.org/jazz-poetr
Jazz Poetry Month is made possible by the generous support from the Allegheny Regional Asset District, National Endowment for the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Opportunity Fund, and the Ford Foundation. Media sponsorship courtesy of WZUM.
About City of Asylum:
City of Asylum builds a just community by protecting and celebrating freedom of creative expression. We provide sanctuary to writers and artists in need of sanctuary, so they can continue to create and their voices are not silenced. We offer a broad range of free literary, arts, and humanities programs in a community setting to build social equity through cultural exchange.
From the Publisher: "In this “smart, irreverent secret history” (Stewart O’Nan) Sewickley set novel by highly praised Pittsburgh native author Anna Read more
We’ve been celebrating literary Pittsburgh since 2015 without a break, so for the ten year anniversary of Littsburgh, we decided Read more
Want to get your writing mojo back? Attend Seton Hill U’s In Your Write Mind Writers conference. $120 for the 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
"For the 2025 prize, the Autumn House staff as well as select outsider readers serve as the preliminary readers, and Read more
"Applications are now open for Read Local Eat Local 2025! This is event is on Saturday, September 6, from 11 Read more
"What: This is an annual, alumni-run writers workshop. It features writing-related classes, agent pitch sessions, a book signing, and other Read more
"Calling all plot twisters, world builders, and romance stirrers! Join fellow genre lovers, top-tier agents, sharp-eyed editors, and bestselling authors 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
From our friends at Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures: Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures’ 2025/26 roster of acclaimed authors for our Ten Read more
PITTSBURGH, PA – It’s time to book your spot! Registration for the 2025 Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books is officially Read more
"United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania hosted its seventh annual Big Book Drop event on April 15-17 at Acrisure Stadium, where 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
Press Release: Art All Night Pittsburgh is back in full force this April 26-27, 2025 starting at 4 pm and Read more
