Pittsburgh, PA –  A celebration of the life and work of Ed Ochester will take place on September 12, 2025 at 7:30pm in the Connelly Ballroom, located in Alumni Hall on the University of Pittsburgh campus. The event will be emceed by former Pitt Poetry Series co-editor Terrance Hayes and will feature readings, remembrances, and a discussion with some of luminaries of American poetry and the Pitt Poetry Series under Ochester’s editorship: Quan Barry, Jan Beatty, Billy Collins, Denise Duhamel, Lynn Emanuel, Ross Gay, Paisley Rekdal, and Aaron Smith. The event is free and open to the public. The celebration is…

The 2025 reading period for the Pitt Poetry Series is now open. Submissions to the Pitt Poetry Series are open to any poet writing in English who has published at least one full-length poetry collection. The qualification of prior full-length publication is defined as a book of 48 or more pages, exclusive of front matter, in a recognized publisher’s print edition of at least 500 copies. Poets who have not published a book before, or only in limited editions of less than 500 copies, or who have published chapbooks, should refer to the rules for our first-book competition, the Agnes Lynch…

The Pitt Poetry Series at the University of Pittsburgh Press continues its tradition of publishing the finest contemporary poetry by announcing the forthcoming publication of the following collections: Steeplechase by Angela Ball: In a voice that is humorous, bewildered, disillusioned, hopeful, Steeplechase explores multiple landscapes, countries known and unknown, cities and inhabitants both aspirational and lost. On sale 2/10/2026   Antediluvian by Kameryn Alexa Carter: “Engaging with themes of the ecstatic, desire, mental illness, and spirituality, Antediluvian’s speaker calls on an intertextual constellation of artists as they attempt to wade through agoraphobia, parse out their relationship with God, and navigate…

Obligations to the Wounded by Mubanga Kalimamukwento has won the 2025 CLMP’s Firecracker Award for Fiction.  Obligations to the Wounded, winner of the 2024 Drue Heinz Literature Prize, was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in October, 2024. From the Judges: “Seldom does fiction so expertly capture the complications of queerness, family, dislocation, and culture. Obligations to the Wounded is a triumphant collection of unforgettable tales whose characters are as varied in identity as they are in experienced circumstances. With wit and cunning, the protagonists navigate the ever-present systems of oppression that encircle them and their relationships. Mubanga Kalimamukwento has written…

Submissions for the 2026 Drue Heinz Literature Prize are now open! Details and submission guidelines can be found here. The deadline for submission is June 30th. The Drue Heinz Literature Prize recognizes and supports writers of short fiction and makes their work available to readers around the world. • Manuscripts are judged anonymously by nationally known writers. Past judges have included Angie Cruz, Alexander Chee, Deesha Philyaw, Min Jin Lee, Margaret Atwood, Russel, Rick Moody, and Joan Didion. • Winners receive a cash prize of $15,000, publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press, and support in the nation-wide promotion of…