Pittsburgh, PA –  A celebration of the life and work of Ed Ochester took place on September 12, 2025 at 7:30pm in the Connelly Ballroom, located in Alumni Hall on the University of Pittsburgh campus. The event was emceed by former Pitt Poetry Series co-editor Terrance Hayes and featured 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. See International Poetry Forum’s footage on their Instagram feed and ours, including these of…

The University of Pittsburgh Press is deeply saddened at the passing of Ed Ochester—poet, teacher, and editor—who served as series editor of the Pitt Poetry Series from 1978 until his retirement in 2021. Terrance Hayes, Nancy Krygowski, and Jeffrey McDaniel, who took over as Pitt Poetry Series editors after Ochester’s retirement said, “As the new Pitt Poetry Series editors, having taken up Ed’s role this past spring, we will be doubling our efforts to bring attention to all Ed Ochester did for us, Pitt poets, and contemporary poetry. His role in the career of poets such as Sharon Olds, Toi…

Kate Wisel of Monona, Wisconsin, is the 2019 winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize, one of the nation’s most prestigious awards for a book of short stories. Her manuscript Driving in Cars with Homeless Men was selected by National Book Award finalist Min Jin Lee from a field of over 530 entries. Driving in Cars with Homeless Men will be published by the University of Pittsburgh Press later this year. “You can hear the crackle of heat and the roar of a powerful fire burning through these pages,” said Lee. “Young angry women, brokenhearted mothers, and men who are…