By Victoria Manda
PAL Collaboration
We are excited to share that over the fall, the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project (WPWP) has been partnering with Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures (PAL). In collaboration with PAL, we are thrilled to invite the WPWP community to attend both the Words & Pictures and Ten Evenings series. As part of this partnership, WPWP fellows have facilitated community tabling activities during two Words & Pictures events before engaging with featured authors.
The month of September marked the beginning of this new collaboration and a season of shared learning, creativity, and connection. Through our participation in events featuring Robin Wall Kimmerer and Angie Thomas, WPWP kicked off the fall with moments that highlighted the power of story, imagination, and community.
Robin Wall Kimmerer and Bud Finds Her Gift
The partnership began with an event featuring Robin Wall Kimmerer, acclaimed author of Braiding Sweetgrass, who shared from her new picture book Bud Finds Her Gift at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall in Oakland. Before the event, WPWP fellows and friends hosted a family-friendly Words & Pictures table in collaboration with PAL.
The outdoor space filled with excitement as families, students, and educators stopped by to write six-word memoirs, use a vintage typewriter, explore children’s books, and create mini reflections inspired by Kimmerer’s themes of nature and kinship. The warm, sunny afternoon made for a joyful prelude to the evening’s talk, where Kimmerer reflected on Bud Finds Her Gift as an invitation for children—and all of us—to see our relationship with the natural world as reciprocal and creative.
The experience offered a moment of pause and appreciation for the ways stories can cultivate care, gratitude, and shared responsibility across generations.
Angie Thomas and Nic Blake and the Remarkables
On September 18, WPWP joined PAL once again for another Words & Pictures event at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall, this time celebrating Angie Thomas and the release of Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy, the newest addition to her fantasy series for young readers.
Outside the hall, WPWP Co-Directors of Youth Programs and Engagement Aimee Firmani (WPWP Fellow 2019), Jen Salvatore (WPWP Fellow 2024), and Tammy Rullo (WPWP Fellow 2024) created an energetic and welcoming space for families. Kids could make postcards, color bookmarks, design buttons, or respond to fun, creative writing prompts inspired by Thomas’s worlds of magic, bravery, and self-discovery. Nearby games and a food truck added to the lively atmosphere, inviting passersby to join the celebration of reading and imagination.
Inside, Thomas shared insights into her creative process, her commitment to empowering young readers, and how The Remarkables series allows her to explore Black identity and joy through fantasy. Dr. Khirsten L. Scott, Director of the WPWP, shared, “Angie Thomas reminded us that every young person deserves to see themselves as remarkable. Her words challenged us to keep making spaces where imagination is seen as essential to learning and liberation.”
The evening radiated joy and inspiration, leaving young readers and teachers alike eager to carry that creative energy back into their classrooms and writing communities.
Edited by Dr. Khirsten L. Scott and Junior Gonzalez.
Victoria Manda is an undergraduate student studying English at the University of Pittsburgh and an intern with the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project. She is an avid reader, creative writer, and devoted volleyball player and coach. When she isn’t working with WPWP or tucked away in the library, she can often be found at the Pittsburgh Elite Volleyball Association, coaching young girls in the sport she loves most. She also enjoys writing humorous stories and dreams of one day writing for television or film.