Walk & Write: Manchester with Sarah Shotland

Join host Sherrie Flick as we explore the neighborhood of Manchester on foot, pen in hand, with guest prose writer Sarah Shotland. There will be walking, writing prompts, an opportunity to write, a cat cemetery, and live readings from Sarah as we explore the idea of inside/out.

About the Walk & Write Tour Series

Since 2021, local writer Sherrie Flick has led the popular Walk & Write Tour series for Shiftworks Community + Public Arts. The summer and fall of 2024 marks the fourth season of this successful program after three seasons of exploring Downtown Pittsburgh, Hazelwood, Morningside, the North Shore, and the South Side to name a few.

These hour-and-a-half tours traverse city neighborhoods and introduce tour-goers to various walking trails and footpaths. This season includes Flick working with guest writers Nancy Krygowski, Sarah Shotland, and Robert Yune, each exploring a different neighborhood and theme, such as noticing, inside/outside, the past isn’t the past, and immersion.

As participants walk these areas, they will have the opportunity to exercise their creative writing skills, responding to Flick’s writing prompts at each tour stop. The writing prompts are unique to each tour route and correspond with its surroundings. Each guest writer will read their work aloud during the program.

All writing abilities are welcome and no previous writing experience is necessary. Please bring paper and a writing implement; wear good walking shoes, and bring your curiosity to environments that may be new to you.

About Sarah Shotland

Sarah Shotland is the author of the novel Junkette and the nonfiction project Abolition is Everything. Her writing has been published in The Iowa Review, Creative Nonfiction, North American Review, and elsewhere. She co-founded Words Without Walls, which brought creative writing to jails and prisons from 2009-2022. She is Program Director of Madwomen in the Attic at Carlow University, where she teaches in the creative writing program.

Additional Information

This tour is appropriate for ages 16+. The route for this tour is completely flat.

Registrants should arrive by 6:50 PM and check-in with Shiftworks staff. The tour will begin promptly at 7:00 PM.

This tour will take place rain or shine. Please be prepared for any type of weather. If there is severe weather the day of the tour requiring cancellation, participants will be notified by email 2 - 4 hours before the start of the tour.

Parking and Transportation

Street parking is availaible within the vicinity of the meeting location. If taking public transportation, there are multiple stops within the vicinity that serve routes 17, 16, and 13. For more information, please visit the Pittsburgh Regional Transit webiste: https://www.rideprt.org/

Accessibility

This tour is accessible. Please contact Shiftworks directly at info@shiftworkspgh.org to request additional accessibility accommodations.

Photography, Videography, and Other Documentation

Participants should be aware that photography, videorecording, and/or other documentation of the event by Shiftworks, other attendees, or the media may take place during the event. Participants will have an opportunity to indicate if they choose to opt out of being included in event documentation, and our team will make reasonable efforts to accommodate these preferences.