Ethel Spencer, the third daughter of the seven Spencer children born between 1884 and 1895, was a curious and observant child. She wrote her childhood memoir in 1959 while she was professor at Carnegie Tech (today’s Carnegie Mellon University). It served as a memento of the joy-filled years she shared with her brothers and sisters in Pittsburgh’s affluent Shadyside neighborhood. The Spencers of Amberson Avenue, later published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in 1983, explores the family of Charles Hart Spencer, an employee of Henry Clay Frick, and his wife Mary Acheson from the viewpoint of young Ethel. Through the eyes of Ethel, the reader is…

Pittsburgh is more than just a home for author Kathleen George: the city and its people are a source of inspiration. A native of Johnstown, George has lived in the city for many years, teaches theatre arts and creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh, and has written several novels and short stories based in the Pittsburgh region, including The Johnstown Girls. Her latest, The Blues Walked In, is a period fiction novel set against the backdrop of Pittsburgh’s once-bustling Hill District. It’s 1936, and a nineteen year-old Lena Horne is walking to her father’s hotel in the Hill after a long tour with Nobel Sissel’s orchestra. Along the…

Pitt Poetry Series: New & Selected 2018 30% discount on all books. Use code PC692 at checkout to receive sale prices. Order online at www.upress.pitt.edu or call 800-62-2736. Discount applies only to books listed in our 2018 Pitt Poetry Series catalog. Sale ends April 30, 2018 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Books not yet published or temporarily out of stock will be charged to your credit card when the book is available.

It’s 1963, and a team of nineteen Americans are embarking on the first expedition that will combine high-altitude climbing with scientific research. The primary objective of the six scientists on the team is to study how severe stress at high altitudes affect human behavior. Ultimately, the expedition will land the first American on the summit of Mount Everest. Science in an Extreme Environment by Philip W. Clements, examines the relationship between extreme environment and scientific inquiry, and investigates the expeditions science program for the first time. Below, we share the introduction from Clements new book:   A frigid gale rose as night fell across Mt. Everest…

The deadline for the 2018 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize is approaching. ABOUT THE PRIZE: Awarded annually for a first full-length book of poems. Named after the first director of the Press, the prize carries a cash award of $5,000 and publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press in the Pitt Poetry Series. Winner will be announced in the fall of 2018. DEADLINE: Manuscripts must be received during March and April 2018 (postmarked on or after March 1 and on or before April 30). Each manuscript must include an entry fee of $25.00. We asked several past Starrett Prize winners to tell us what…