ALTOONA, Pa. — Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, professor of English and creative writing at Penn State Altoona, was a featured author at the first annual Pittsburgh International Literary Festival held in May.
Presented by City of Asylum Pittsburgh, LitFest was a 10-day event that brought together more than 30 speakers from around the world for live and virtual programs designed to build community around literary arts. Some of the topics included BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) representation among translators, linguistic inclusion of the LGBTQIA+ community, and the politics of publishing.
Jabbeh Wesley read from her newest collection, “Praise Song for My Children: New and Selected Poems,” and offered the brief talk “My Immigrant Experience: The Immigrant to America.”
Jabbeh Wesley was also recently selected by Cutthroat Magazine to be a judge in the 2021 Joy Harjo Poetry Contest.