UPWords - The Union Project

About UPWords

UPWords is a monthly reading series held on the 2nd Friday of every month (September thru May) in the Union Project’s Atrium. This free event features both local and nationally-acclaimed writers. Coffee is provided by the Union Project’s Youth Barista Program in concert with Starbucks and snacks are sponsored by Whole Foods.

Past events have featured Lori Jakiela, Stacey Waite, Keely Bowers, Jay Carson, James Harms, Jim Daniel, Sarah Williams, and Kirk Nesset.

October 10th, 7pm – 9pm

ft. author Jane Bernstein
and poet Jason Irwin

Jane Bernstein is the author of five books, most recently Rachel in the World. Her film work includes the screenplay for the Warner Brothers movie Seven Minutes in Heaven. Her essays and articles have appeared widely in such places as The New York Times Magazine, Ms., Creative Nonfiction, The Massachusetts Review, and Glamour. She is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts grants.

Jason Irwin's first full-length collection "Watering the Dead" (Pavement Saw Press) won the 2006/2007 Transcontinental Poetry Award. His poetry has appeared in Sycamore Review, Confrontation and The Paterson Literary Review among other journals.

Know the Readers - Bios

Lewis “Buddy” Nordan One of Pittsburgh’s literary treasures, Lewis Nordan’s books include Music of the Swamp, The Sharpshooter Blues, Lightning Song, and Wolf Whistle, winner of the Southern Book Award and an American Library Association Notable Book. His short stories have appeared in the Oxford American, Redbook, The Southern Review and The Greensboro Review. Publishers Weekly calls Nordan "one of the best contemporary writers to portray the South's people." Until he retired in 2005, Nordan was a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Pittsburgh.

CM Burroughs A poet based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania CM Burroughs’ poetry has appeared in journals including Runes, jubilat, PLUCK!, Bat City Review, and Tuesday; An Art Project. She has received commissions from the Studio Museum of Harlem and the Warhol Museum to create poetry in response to art installations. Burroughs is a fellow of The MacDowell Colony and Cave Canem, and a nominee for the 2009 Pushcart Prize. She received her MFA from the University of Pittsburgh, where she currently teaches poetry and creative writing. Visit her online at www.myspace.com/cmburroughs.

Jane Bernstein Born in Brooklyn, New York and educated at New York University and Columbia University, Jane Bernstein is the author of five books, most recently Rachel in the World. Her film work includes the screenplay for the Warner Brothers movie Seven Minutes in Heaven. Her essays and articles have appeared widely in such places as The New York Times Magazine, Ms., Creative Nonfiction, The Massachusetts Review, and Glamour. She is the recipient of two Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowships grants and two National Endowment for the Arts grants. Jane is a Professor of English and creative writing at Carnegie Mellon University and lives in Pittsburgh, PA

Jason Irwin grew up in Dunkirk, NY. He earned his MFA from Sarah Lawrence College in 2004. His first full-length collection "Watering the Dead" (Pavement Saw Press) won the 2006/2007 Transcontinental Poetry Award. His poetry has appeared in Sycamore Review, Confrontation and The Paterson Literary Review among other journals. Since moving to Pittsburgh from New York City with his wife Wendi Lee in 2006, Jason has worked at several temporary office jobs.

Faith Adiele is author of Meeting Faith (PEN Beyond Margins Award), a memoir about becoming Thailand's first Black Buddhist nun; writer/subject of My Journey Home, a PBS documentary about her Nigerian/Nordic/American heritage; and co-editor of Coming of Age Around the World: A Multicultural Anthology. A frequent contributor to O MAGAZINE, she is Assistant Professor of Creative Nonfiction at the University of Pittsburgh.

Barbara Edelman teaches writing at the University of Pittsburgh. Her poems and prose have appeared in several anthologies, in journals including Prairie Schooner, Rattle, 5 AM, and Arts & Letters, and in translation in the Italian journal, Nuovi Argomenti. Her poetry chapbook, “A Girl in Water,” came out from Parallel Press in 2002. She has received a PA Council on the Arts grant in poetry and residency fellowships from VCCA and the Vermont Studio Center.