Pitt Poets to Take Part in Reading Featuring Work of Chinese Poet Huang Xiang

PITTSBURGH—Poets Lisa Pepper, Oliver Khan, and Sharon McDermott from the University of Pittsburgh Department of English will read English translations of Chinese poet Huang Xiang's work, which he will present in Chinese, at 3:30 p.m. March 18 at the Mattress Factory, 500 Sampsonia Way on Pittsburgh's North Side.

Pepper and Khan are Pitt Master of Fine Arts students in poetry, and McDermott is a visiting lecturer at Pitt who teaches poetry. The free public event is sponsored by Pitt's English department in cooperation with City of Asylum/Pittsburgh and the Mattress Factory.

Known as one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, Huang spent a number of years in jail performing hard labor for his advocacy of human rights in his poetry. He and his wife Zhang Ling, also a writer who was jailed in China, came to the United States in 1997 and are now legal refugees. Their story was featured in the PBS documentary A Well-Founded Fear.

Huang also is a master calligrapher and has painted his poetry in bold white Chinese characters on the outside of his North Side home. His work includes poetry on subjects ranging from nature to love.

The couple is living in Pittsburgh under the City of Asylum/Pittsburgh program, which provides temporary refuge to creative writers under threat in their home countries. Pittsburgh is the first U.S. city to join the new North American Network of Cities of Asylum.

The Mattress Factory is a museum of contemporary art that presents room-sized art environments created by in-residence artists. Located in the historic Mexican War Streets of Pittsburgh's North Side since 1977, the Mattress Factory is one of few museums of its kind anywhere.

For more information about the reading, call 412-624-6506 or 412-231-3169.

###

3/8/05/tmw