Author: Kristofer Collins
Best of the 'Burgh 2016: Neighborhood Spots
Our editors' FRESH TAKES on our favorite Pittsburgh things, including the best stretch of the Pittsburgh Marathon and a living building.
Best of the 'Burgh 2016: Kids & Family
Our editors' FRESH TAKES on our favorite Pittsburgh things, including the best place to go glamping and an intriguing way to "Listen to Your Mother."
Book Review: Whiskey, Etc.
Sherrie Flick, who teaches in Chatham University’s Creative Writing and Food Studies masters programs, is a virtuoso of pocket-sized fiction, and her new story collection, Whiskey, Etc., makes that abundantly clear.
Book Reviews: ‘Concussion’
“Concussion” is the story of neuropathologist Bennet Omalu who, while conducting an autopsy on former Pittsburgh Steeler Center Mike Webster, found something in Webster’s brain similar to Alzheimer’s disease that he christened Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.
Book Review: 'Iconoscope: New and Selected Poems'
We celebrate National Poetry Month with a round-up of new books from a couple of our favorite local poesy-slingers.
Book Review: ‘To Brew or Not to Brew’
A woman in fictional Lawrenceville investigates the suspicious death of her head chef, all while trying to open a brew pub on schedule and find time for a little romance with an ex-hockey player.
Book Review: ‘The Color of Sundays’
One of the major architects in the Steelers' success of the 70s, Bill Nunn Jr., is the subject of the latest book from Pittsburgh Tribune-Review investigative reporter Andrew Conte.
New Book about Pittsburgh Jazz Legend Billy Strayhorn Strikes the Right Note
Strayhorn: An Illustrated Life is a gorgeous, lovingly curated coffee-table book that should serve as a much-needed reminder of Strayhorn’s signature importance in jazz history.
5 Books Which Make Great Gifts
Consider these titles when holiday shopping.
Book Review: The Pittsburgh Anthology
Editor Eric Boyd has chosen to temper all of the Most Livable City rah-rah with essays, stories and poems of a grittier, more complex nature.
Local Poet's Debut Collection Akin to Atmospheric Horror Film
Margaret Bashaar's poems offer the reader a dark, dreamlike world in which issues of gender, sexuality and artistic enterprise are put under a sort of mad scientist’s microscope.
Book Reviews: A Work about Personal Identity and Music
'If I Knew the Way' is the perfect introduction to the author's funny-sad world.
Book Review: The Workaday Speech of the Service Industry
Using the language of line cooks and dishwashers, Fred Shaw publishes his first poetry collection.
Review: Coffee-Table Book of Warhol's Remarkable Album Covers
Andy Warhol's covers for “The Velvet Underground & Nico” and the Rolling Stones’ “Sticky Fingers” are as universally recognized as any of his soup cans and Brillo Pads.
A 'Complex, Rich' Book about Baseball; A Good-Humored Gift for Dad
Make Dad smile on Father's Day with these tomes on America's pastime and everyone's favorite local everyman.
Book Reviews: A Famed Author's Final Years; Steamy Fairy Tale
Stewart O’Nan’s latest novel is a fictionalization of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s final years in California. Ellen A. Roth’s debut novella is about a brave woodsman and his love for a royal governess.
Undercover: 'sugar run road'
The writing of poet Ed Ochester may be the finest example of the Pittsburgh style.
Undercover: 'Your Life Idyllic'
Craig Bernier's first-rate debut collections depicts a blue-collar, down-at-heel Detroit, where the residents are proud and doing their damnedest to ride out the economic free fall.
Four Books That'll Hold You Over Till Steelers Season
For those who miss football, there are great new books on the subject to tide you over until next season.
Undercover: NightBallet Press Publishes the Work of 5 Local Poets
The Cleveland-based press recently put out chapbooks by Nikki Allen, Jason Irwin, Karen Lillis, Heather McNaugher and Jason Baldinger.
Undercover: 'Prague Summer'
A thirty-something rare-book dealer's storybook life is thrown into turmoil when his wife's friend's husband is arrested as a suspected terrorist.
Undercover: 'True Stories, Well Told . . .'
A collection of essays celebrates 20 years of Creative Nonfiction.
Undercover: 'Dry Land: Winning after 20 Years at Sea with the Pittsburgh Pirates'
Charlie Wilmoth is a jovial and insightful companion who suffers with the rest of Bucco Nation as the failures multiply.
Undercover: ‘The Garden’
This work of poetry "is an hallucinatory origin myth that pokes and prods at the subversiveness of a language."
Undercover: 'How Blasphemy Sounds to God'
The story follows 12-year-old Corey Gillis from his mother’s idiosyncratic home-schooling experiment to the end of the Summer of Love ’60s.
Undercover: 'The Novelty Essays'
With this work, Matcho proves himself to be as much tragedian as humorist, which is to say he is a true artist.
Undercover: 'A Man Above Reproach'
Evelyn Pryce crafts a thoroughly rousing tale with crackling dialogue — the sort that would not be out of place in an old episode of “Moonlighting.”
Braddock Avenue Books Celebrates First Birthday
The indie publishing house was founded a year ago with the intent of telling tales that examine the human condition.
Undercover: 'Sorrow'
This book, which truly delivers sadness, puts publisher Braddock Avenue Books on par with a major publishing house.
Undercover: 'Their Life's Work: The Brotherhood of the 1970s Steelers, Then & Now'
“Their Life’s Work …” is a necessary read for anyone with an interest in the Steelers and professional football.
Undercover: 'The Rustbelt Almanac: Vol. 1'
In this work, the theme of return echoes throughout the work as members of a younger generation move back to the communities where their parents or grandparents grew up.
Undercover: 'This Creature Fair'
This work by music writer and novelist Wayne Wise actually covers music fandom and the price genius artists often pay.
Undercover: ‘Unattended Fire’
In Scott Silbe’s collection, his sense of humor is his secret weapon, and prevents jadedness and mawkishness from infecting his work.
Undercover: 'The Amistad Rebellion'
Author Marcus Rediker tells the story of the Amistad by returning the focus to the Africans themselves.
Undercover: ‘The ’63 Steelers'
Rudy Dicks’ latest work is a welcome addition to Steelers literature — a book that focuses on the dark-horse could-have-beens of the pre-Super Bowl era.
Undercover: 'Last Call in the City of Bridges'
'Last Call in the City of Bridges' wants to be a compass to Millennials — a work that defines its generation and takes up residence in the national discussion.
Undercover: What to Read This Winter
Rumors of the publishing industry's demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Undercover: ‘Raymond Carver Will Not Raise Our Children’
Pittsburgh native Dave Newman’s latest work is a comedy of bad manners that shows the writer’s evolution from his debut novel.
Undercover: Lucy Leitner's 'Working Stiffs'
Shaun of the Dead meets East Carson Street in this fun zombie apocalypse horror/comedy novel.
All the Write Moves
Local publication 'The New Yinzer' celebrates a decade of literary fun.
Undercover: Remembering Lewis 'Buddy' Nordan
A tribute to the legendary University of Pittsburgh creative writing professor.
Undercover: 'Leaving the Atocha Station'
Ben Lerner's slim novel is an interrogation of an impossible question: What does it mean to be an artist?
Sharp Lit
Established in the mid-’70s, Hemingway's summer series brings together big-name local authors and up-and-coming poets.
Undercover: 'The Odds' by Stewart O’Nan
Unemployed and upside-down on their mortgage, a struggling couple heads to a casino with their savings in a duffel bag.
Undercover: ‘Watch the Doors As They Close’
Passionate writer Karen Lillis’ latest work is funny and full of musings from a relationship that has ended.
Glory Hayes
As the second-youngest recipient of the National Book Award for Poetry, Terrance Hayes is racking up accolades, yet remaining modest and calm.
Undercover: 'Building a Better Robot'
Go behind the music at the defunct (and now reborn) Mr. Roboto Project, a venue that welcomed Bright Eyes, Ted Leo and more.
Undercover: 'Breakaway: The Inside Story of the Pittsburgh Penguins' Rebirth'
Andrew Conte weaves a tale as edge-of-your-seat as any thriller, starring such larger than life characters as Mario Lemieux, Don Barden and Ed Rendell.
