Poetry has been woven into the fabric of Winter Institute since the pandemic. When indie booksellers were forced to gather virtually, in 2021 and 2022, resulting in ABA\u2019s “Snow Days” retreat, the interludes between sessions featured pre-recorded videos of poets reading from their latest works. In 2023, when Winter Institute returned in person in Seattle, the event featured a poetry theatre with a 12-hour loop of pre-recorded video readings by 18 poets while, at the 2025 iteration in Denver, booksellers were treated to a pre-recorded video of U.S. poet laureate Ada Lim\u00f3n reading the title poem in her latest collection, Startlement.<\/p>\n
This year, in Pittsburgh, poetry will be an even more integral part of Winter Institute. Not only will the current U.S. poet laureate, Arthur Sze, be on hand to sign ARCs of his latest collection, Transient Worlds: On Translating Poetry (Copper Canyon, Apr.), at the Wednesday evening reception, but preceding the reception, there will be an hour-long poetry salon. The \u201cIndie Verse Salon\u201d will feature four poets reading from their work: Cameron Barnett (Murmur, August House), Jan Beatty (Dragstripping, Univ. of Pittsburgh Press), Samantha Corfman (Luxury, Blue Lace, University of Pittsburgh Press), and Jake Skeets (Horses: Poems, Milkweed Editions, Mar.). <\/p>\n
WI2026 will close with a poetic keynote, a conversation between poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil (Night Owl, Ecco) and Isaac Fitzgerald (American Rambler, Knopf, May).<\/p>\n
\u201cABA has many poets and poetry-lovers on staff,\u201d director of education Emily Nason told PW. \u201cWe’ve been trying to weave in some poetic aspects to the institutes for a while. WI2026 is all about celebration and joy\u2014the joy of bookselling, writing, and reading. What genre is more celebratory than poetry?” <\/p>\n
Nason added that a conversation last year with the University of Pittsburgh Press staff about the city\u2019s vibrant poetry scene led to the conceptualization of the WI2026 poetry salon. \u201cWe’re thrilled to celebrate the city’s rich literary landscape with these writers,” she said.<\/p>\n
A city of poets<\/p>\n
The Steel City does indeed teem with poets and poetry lovers, according to local literati, including local poet Michael Wurster.<\/p>\n
A towering figure in Pittsbugh\u2019s literary circles<\/a>, Wurster cofounded the Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange <\/a>in 1974 to promote poetry through public readings, workshops, and and other outreach. Wurster, who still is the driving force behind PPE, told PW how the launch of the International Poetry Forum <\/a>in 1966 paved the way for a widespread appreciation of poetry throughout the region.<\/p>\n \u201cPoets came from all over the world to Pittsburgh, hosted by the International Poetry Forum,\u201d he said. \u201cThey made it possible for poetry to be presented as normal, and not be considered as some weird thing.\u201d <\/p>\n The emergence of the Hemingway’s Summer Poetry Series, founded by two University of Pittsburgh English faculty members the same year that Wurster founded the Poetry Exchange, helped create a \u201creally great scene in the early to mid-70s,\u201d Wurster said, which continues today.<\/p>\n Hemingway\u2019s moved two years ago <\/a>from Hemingway’s Caf\u00e9 in Oakland to a barn at Hop Farm Brewing Co. in Lawrenceville. \u201cThe place is always packed during readings,\u201d which are held every week in summer, Wurster said. \u201cThey bring in poets from all over the country and fill this big space\u2014there must be 150 people at those readings.\u201d<\/p>\n Camille Rankine, who moved to Pittsburgh from New York City in 2022 to teach in the English department at Carnegie Mellon University agrees.<\/p>\n \u201cMoving to Pittsburgh, one of the things that I found is that this small city really punches above its weight,\u201d Rankine said. \u201cThe culture available here, the arts\u2014there’s a lot going on.\u201d Poetry readings range from \u201csmall events, like little salons, in people\u2019s living rooms, up to the International Poetry Forum,\u201d she said, noting that IPF events, which are held at the Carnegie Library, draw huge crowds and regularly sell out. \u201cIt’s a smaller scene than New York City,\u201d Rankine added, \u201cbut there’s a lot of interest and passion.\u201d<\/p>\n And of course there are many local bookstores that host poetry readings. Rankine has read at White Whale Bookstore <\/a>and also attended poetry readings there. Last spring, she read her poetry at City of Asylum\u2019s annual Jazz Poetry Month festival<\/a>, during which musicians collaborate with poets to create multidisciplinary performances.<\/p>\n