Authors

August Wilson

Became involved in theatre in the late 1960s when he co-founded the Black Horizons Theater, a community theatre located in Pittsburgh. First attracted wide critical attention with his Broadway debut, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984). His plays center on the struggles and identity of African Americans. They draw heavily on his own experience growing up in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. Jitney (1982), Fences (1987; Pulitzer Prize), Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1988), The Piano Lesson (1990; Pulitzer Prize), Two Trains Running (1992), Seven Guitars (1995), King Hedley II (2001), and Gem of the Ocean (2003) form a series of dramas that focuses on the major issues confronting African Americans during different decades of the 20th century. Continues a close alliance with the Pittsburgh Public Theater.

Annie Dillard

Born Annie Doak in 1945, spent her childhood in the affluent Pittsburgh neighborhood of Point Breeze in a family of eccentrics: father once quit his job to float down the Mississippi, mother would accost strangers on the street claiming Annie was their illegitimate daughter. Studied English, theology and creative writing at Hollins College in Roanoke, Va. and married her writing teacher, R.H.W. Dillard (10 years her senior) while just a sophomore. In 1971 a near-fatal bout of pneumonia prompted her to spend four years living in a cabin in the Virginia wilderness. The result of this self-imposed isolation was the critically acclaimed neo-naturalist masterpiece Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, which won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Literature (non-fiction). Married Gary Clevidence and moved to Cape Cod in 1980 while teaching at Wesleyan University. Published numerous essays and collections during this time, including Teaching a Stone to Talk, The Writing Life and the memoir An American Childhood about growing up in Pittsburgh. Married her third husband, writer Robert Richardson, Jr., in 1989. Published first novel, We The Living, in 1992 and has spent the last fifteen years teaching and writing poetry, essays and literary criticism. Has been hailed as “One of the most distinctive voices in American letters today.”

David McCullough

Author of some of the most popular and well-respected biographies including Pulitzer Prize-winning Truman (1992), John Adams (2001) and 1776 (2005). In addition, narrated several TV shows including Ken Burns' The Civil War and is host of The American Experience, both on PBS. Continues to maintain ties to Pittsburgh, often appearing at functions throughout the region.

Rachel Carson

After studying marine biology and zoology, worked for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries as a writer and bureaucrat, while at the same time writing popular science articles for magazines. In 1941 published Under the Sea-Wind, the first in a series of books about the ocean. Turned her attention to the "indiscriminate" use of pesticides, and 1962 book Silent Spring set off a national controversy in the U.S. and gave new life to the conservationist movement. Childhood home northeast of Pittsburgh in Springdale is open to the public as museum to her life and accomplishments.

Gertrude Stein

Travelled the the U.S. and Europe as a child, and studied under philosopher William James at Radcliffe College. Moved to France in 1904 and found herself in the center of a crowd of artists that included Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and Thornton Wilder. Although writing plays, prose and poetry for years, she was unknown as a writer until the 1933 publication of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, named after her companion of many years. Was known for using repetition in her writing including "There's no there there"; her often-quoted line "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose" is from Sacred Emily (1913). Her home on Beech Street in the Allegheny West section of Pittsburgh still stands, with a plaque honoring her many accomplishments.

Joseph Wambaugh

Former policeman who transformed the sub-genre of the police novel into serious literature of a hard-boiled nature. His first four books and his work on the Police Story television series in the 1970s set standards of realism, dialogue, and character development for subsequent writers.