September 6, 2026 6:00 PM –8:00 PM
Blithe and Strong: Local Writers on Labor, A Curated Reading & Open Mic
Got any work-related poems or micro stories to share (either your own or by a writer you admire)? We want to hear them!
If you’re around this Labor Day weekend, come to Stay Gold (@staygoldbookspgh) to hear local writers and poets share work about…well, work. BLITHE & STRONG are words taken from Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing,” a classic (and, perhaps, romanticized) vision of American labor. We intend for this reading to be a celebratory and/or condemnatory examination of work, in all the ways it shows up in (and frequently dominates) our lives: dream jobs, day jobs, unpaid or unrecognized labor, the work we must do to survive, the brutality of capitalism, how work can offer purpose or distract from it.
🌟𝙁𝙀𝘼𝙏𝙐𝙍𝙀𝘿 𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘿𝙀𝙍𝙎🌟
🐇Cindy Crabb / @cindy_crabb
🎭grace (ge) gilbert / @g_eva__
💐Jessica Manack / @jessicamanack
🎱Lloyd Wallace / @jockeycornsilk
🐎Boen Wang / @noc.tur.a.ma
🌈PLUS an open mic (arrive early to sign up!)
Enjoy a complementary beverage while listening to these local writers’ “varied carols,” and stick around to share your own poem or story. And be sure to browse Stay Gold’s wondrous collection of books, including some by the night’s readers.
