Pitt-Greensburg’s Written/Spoken Series welcomes award-winning and indie underground poets John Dorsey and Jason Baldinger Monday, March 4, at 7 p.m. in the Mary Lou Campana Chapel and Lecture Center. The reading is free and open to the public; a book sale, reception, and signing will follow the readings.
Pitt-Greensburg student writers Daniel Spanner and Rob Carlson will open the event with readings of their own works.
John Dorsey, who grew up in Greensburg and is a graduate of Hempfield Area Senior High School, has been writing poetry since the late 1980s and has been involved in the publishing community for more than two decades. He is the author of more than 50 books and chapbooks, most recently “Being the Fire” (Tangerine Press) and “Shoot the Messenger” (Red Flag Press), funded by Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s English Department. An 11-time Pushcart Prize nominee, his work has appeared in more than 2,000 magazines and anthologies from around the world. He has read or spoken at colleges and universities such as the University of Toledo, Assumption College, Cleveland State University, Seton Hill University, University of the Arts, Erie Community College, Southeast Missouri State University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Missouri-St. Louis, as well as other assorted venues covering 49 states.
For several years Dorsey served as a judge for the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo’s Art in Tarta Project, which chose poems to be presented on city transit buses. In 2006, he won the “Toledo City Paper’s” annual poetry and fiction competition and would go on to serve as a judge the following year before being named the city’s Best Literary Artist in their 2014 reader poll. In 2015, Dorsey was awarded a Visiting Artist Residency by the Osage Arts Community in Belle, MO, where he currently resides. In 2017 he received a two-year appointment to serve as Belle’s first city Poet Laureate from Mayor Steve Vogt and has gone on to found the city’s first literary publication, the “Gasconade Review,” which he edits with Jason Ryberg. He is a graduate of the University of Arts Writing for Film and Television program, completing his education there in 2002, and 2017 he served as the subject for a poetry documentary by NYC filmmaker Carson Parish.
Jason Baldinger is a poet from Pittsburgh and recently finished a stint as writer in residence at the Osage Arts Community. He is co-director of the acclaimed Bridge Series reading series and the author of several books, most recently “This Useless Beauty” (Alien Buddha Press), “The Ugly Side of the Lake” (Night Ballet Press) written with John Dorsey, and the chaplet “Fumbles Revelations” (Grackle and Crow). His work has been featured in the Low Ghost Anthology “Unconditional Surrender,” as well as many national and international magazines including “The Dope Fiend Daily,” “Outlaw Poetry,” “Uppagus,” “Lilliput Review,” “Rusty Truck,” “Dirtbag Review,” “Red Eft Review,” “In Between Hangovers,” “Your One Phone Call,” “Winedrunk Sidewalk,” “Anti-Heroin Chic,” “Nerve Cowboy,” and more.
Written/Spoken is a reading series that brings nationally-known poets and writers to the Pitt-Greensburg campus. Undergraduate student writers participate in readings and give performances of their own work. The series is sponsored by Pitt-Greensburg’s Creative & Professional Writing Program and the Office of Academic Affairs. For more information, please contact professor Lori Jakiela by phone at 724-836-7481 or email at loj@pitt.edu.