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Jane McCafferty Receives Inaugural Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures Literary Citizenship Award

Professor Emerita Jane McCafferty, a member of our department from 1998 until her retirement in 2025, received the Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures inaugural Literary Citizenship Award at a recent PA&L gala. The Literary Citizenship Award recognizes “an individual whose work as an author, publisher, editor or other contributor to literary discourse resonates with the organization’s mission to connect celebrated authors with the community, elevate civic discourse, and inspire creativity and a passion for the literary arts.” 

McCafferty has had an impressive career as an author, editor and teacher. Working creatively in a number of genres, she is the author of two novels, two short story collections, and a volume of poetry, and regularly publishes work in literary journals including Story and Glimmer Train. In addition to these, she has taught creative nonfiction and literary journalism. She serves as the Director of the prestigious Drue Heinz Literature Prize, and continues teaching, even after her decades spent at the university.

McCafferty was introduced at the PA&L Off the Page gala by Pittsburgh author and editor Nancy Krygowski, who spoke effusively of the many accomplishments of an exceedingly humble recipient. “Jane never makes a big deal of the support she gives others. She engages with the community in acts of kindness and social justice, large and small – from tutoring schoolchildren to helping elders to write their life stories, to serving on MFA committees and teaching in prisons [through the Carnegie Mellon Prison Education Program]."

Jane McCafferty (on right) with former student Sarah Fleming Steinberg, MAPW '25

When accepting the award, speaking about how the support of a particular teacher led her to dedicate her life to literature, McCafferty remarked on the broader community in which she operates, stating, “I want to accept this award on behalf of all of us.” We recently sat down with Jane to hear more about her motivations and what she has been up to since retiring in 2025.

You’re being recognized as an exemplar of literary citizenship. Who showed the way for you, serving as an example of the importance of working to cultivate community?

So many people. Pittsburgh has a great literary community, and while I’m grateful to be honored, I see myself as just one among many, many good literary citizens who make this city vibrant. I salute all the teachers, writers, poets, tutors, bookstore owners, cultural programmers, people who run presses, people who run reading series, people who keep community alive with reading and writing groups – we are all part of a web that creates a culture, and that web continues to inspire me.

In a world where so much demands our attention, where many have lost the practice of reading regularly, what can we all do to strengthen an appreciation of literature?

I think book groups have been great and the more of those the better—people are often looking not just for literature, but for community. I think we still have a lot of good teachers who turn kids on to reading.

This might be wishful thinking, but I think the individual voice that you can trust is issuing forth from a real human – whether it be poet, fiction writer, or non fiction writer – is going to become more crucial the more AI takes over. The more we are bombarded by things we can’t trust, the more we’ll look to things we can. Reading is an intimate act, and I think people will continue to crave the connection with a real voice on the page.

That said, I’m trying to break my addiction to screens. I miss the mind I had before the I phone. Most of us are addicts and I wish we could all agree to some kind of sabbath where nobody uses screens of any kind once a week.

In your opinion, what unique facets about life in Pittsburgh make it a place with such a thriving literary community?

Several wonderful universities with really good writing programs: Â鶹¹ÙÍø, Pitt, Chatham, and others. People working outside of universities who reach out to young writers, such as the people at Write Pittsburgh. Really great bookstores like White Whale Bookstore. The unique offerings of City of Asylum.

What current projects or goals are you excited about right now?

I’m working on a novel that I drafted a handful of years ago, and hoping to complete it in a few months. I’m also continuing to work on stories. I write poems, but mostly as a way to stay in touch with poet friends. I’m excited to teach a summer course through the Madwomen in the Attic program called Strangers No More, where you have to engage a stranger each week and then write about the encounter.

What is a book you’ve read recently that you recommend?

The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller (novel)

Fight Night by Miriam Toews (novel)

Slaveroad by John Edgar Wideman (non-fiction)