“For years now I have been telling my hipper-than-thou out-of-town friends that Pittsburgh is this stealth-city which is somehow under the National Radar Cool-Detector, & that it is actually the shining PARIS OF APPALACHIA. And now I can attest that if you want to discover the glittering romance of dark, rainy, lamp-lit Paris Avenue Left Bank cafe nights & the salon glamour of Gertrude & Alice rolled into one, just harken down to that Moveable Feast called the Gist Street Reading Series, where all the new Hemingways & Fitzgeralds & Zeldas & Joyces of today & tomorrow are polishing their shiny new legends.”
–Chuck Kinder, author of Honeymooners and Last Mountain Dancer

“I grew up in a community of artists in Sonoma, California and my reading at Gist Street was maybe the closest thing I've felt to reading in my hometown. The place was so full of energy and emotion that the audience reactions were almost physically tangible. It was truly a joy.”  –Ada Limon, author of Lucky Wreck and This Big Fake World

“I completely enjoyed reading for the Gist Street Series. The setting—an artist's loft—was cozy and intimate, the kind of place you dream of for a reading.  And the audience was fully engaged.  It felt like people really were digging in to each word.  No poet could ask for more…. reading in your series was one of the highlights of my life as a poet.”
–Tim Seibles, author of Buffalo Head Solos and Hammerlock

“I have raved about the Gist Street reading series since returning home to Dayton.  What a wonderful experience. What makes Gist Street special:  an art studio setting that puts everyone in a creative mood, great food donated by staff and friends, soulful music, an appreciative and aware audience, and, of course, the generous and inspirational folks who put it all together for love of literature.” –Lucrecia Guerrero, author of Chasing Shadows

"The jewel in the iron crown of the three-river city." –Kirk Nesset, author of Paradise Road and St. X

“Gist Street had the largest, friendliest, crowd I've ever had at a reading. It is the best example I've seen of a small group of committed people creating and sustaining a literary community.” –Eric Baus, author of The To Sound

“Gist Street has turned into a Pittsburgh phenomenon. This reading series turns the image of the solitary, suffering artist on its head and puts in its place a community of artists and writers and readers that gets together a Friday every month to celebrate life. It’s not about suffering, indeed. We’ll take ice cream and wine and literature and laughter and a raffle with a scarf any day.” 
–Erin Flanagan, author of The Usual Mistakes

“I had a wonderful experience reading at Gist Street. I made the two-hour drive there in a blizzard, behind a salt truck, and expected a dozen or so brave indigenous people to show up. Shockingly, when I arrived the studio was already at full capacity, buzzing with conversation and food and wine. A fine, fine time. I've had few like it.”
–Kevin Moffett, author of Permanent Visitors

“Gist street was more that just fun it was really fun it was so fun I didn't even care when the train was 10 hours late to take me home. I didn't care when the river froze over my foot. I didn't freeze. My foot. I mean. I liked it. Everyone was friendly. Except that one guy. You know who you are.”
--Anthony McCann, author of Father of Noise and Moongarden

“The Gist Street Reading Series is the hottest reading series in Pennsylvania. A beacon for emerging writers and independent publishers, Sherrie Flick and the gang keep literature fun, build community, and nurture writers. We are blessed for their continued dedication to literature.” –Mary Matze, Publicist, Graywolf Press

“Somehow the Gist Street Reading Series does what hundreds of reading series across the country only wish they could do: bring together a very large and supportive audience, each member a lively, unpretentious fan of poetry and fiction.  It’s the friendliest, most delicious, and flat-out best venue in America for writers to present their work.” 
--John Dalton, author of Heaven Lake

“I loved reading at Gist Street: a crackling vibe, good food and drink, a functioning woodstove, a frigid night, a stupendous view out the windows—and I sold a whole bunch of books, saw some folks I hadn't seen in years, and met a few new to me. Bravo and Brava!”
--John Repp, author of The Fertile Crescent

“Oh, man, Gist Street is the place you've always wanted to be, it's the place you've dreamed about but hadn't known really existed -- it's the best crowds you'll ever read to, the best damn time you'll ever have reading.”
–Michael Byers, author of The Coast of Good Intentions and Long for This World

“I fondly remember Gist Street, one of the warmest and most responsive crowds I've ever read to. They even bought books! There's definitely magic in that air, and maybe a Cupid in the rafters: I read with Randy Mann and immediately fell in love with his work—as in, ‘What a piece of work is Randy Mann.’ His poetry's not bad, either.” –Tom House, author of The Beginning of Calamities

“Gist Street is the reading series that should be the model for every reading series."
--Jennifer Bannan, author of Inventing Victor

“The Gist Street Reading Series is deluxe, friendly, and discerning. Smart in every way.” –Scott Hightower, author of Part of the Bargain

“There are so many good things to say about reading at Gist Street. First, the venue is amazing! Second, and more importantly, the audience is engaged, smart, and lively. I felt a lot of energy from them. Thirdly, FOOD. It's the most inviting, invigorating, nourishing (in all senses of the word) place I'll ever read.” 
--Ladette Randolph, author of This is Not the Tropics, Associate Director, University of Nebraska Press

“What I appreciate about Gist Street is the informality and warmth of the space and the people. It's one of the most comfortable places I've read. It attracts a great crowd—the kind of people who'd be fun at a party.”  –Jim Daniels, author of Night with Drive-by Shooting Stars and In Line for the Exterminator

“Warm hosts, homey ambience—with homemade ice cream and cookies!—plus a diverse and responsive audience make this reading series one of the most exciting ones in the U.S.”
--Toi Derricotte, author of Tender and The Black Notebooks

“Gist Street was my favorite reading ever. Ever in the world!  Surely, the most attentive, generous, fun, classy, nattily dressed crowd in the history of poetry.   Everyone bought books! My god!  Okay I didn't move fast enough to sample the zucchini bread, but I hope to be back. And when I do I'll bring a rhubarb pie.”
--Joy Katz, author of Fabulae and The Garden Room

“Gist Streeters know how to listen!  The audience is warm and kind.  You could come there out of the rain, not knowing anyone, and they'd make you feel like a regular.  Probably bring you a slice of pie too.”
--Lois Williams, poet and non-fiction writer extraordinaire

“Tucked away inside the dark nooks of a warehouse is Pittsburgh's best-kept secret: the Gist Street Reading Series.  If you want your art without the pretension, your surroundings cozy without being claustrophobic, your hosts friendly rather than brooding, I urge you to check out the fiction and poetry readings at Gist Street.  It was a high point of my book tour!  Kudos to all involved.” 
--John McNally, author of The Book of Ralph and America’s Report Card

“There's an electricity in that giant loft full of artwork, poets, and enthusiasts that could power a whole city, but in the words of Joshua Beckman, it would be a waste.  Let's keep it our big secret that the best poetry reading venue in the country is Gist Street in Steel City, USA.”
–Matthew Zapruder, author of American Linden and The Pajamaist

“‘One of the best reading series in the entire country,’ sounds both hackneyed & vague, although Gist St. is indeed just that.  How 'bout ‘An ideal venue with an ideal audience!’  (You will recall I read in the middle of a snowstorm, and the room was full.  I was floored.)”  --G.C. Waldrep, author of Goldbeater’s Skin and Disclamor

“I can only add that Gist Street was one of the best venues for readings I have ever been a part of: informal but passionate, laid-back but at the heart of the literary arts. Really, a national treasure.”  –Bob Vivian, author of Cold Snap as Yearning and The Mover of Bones

“Gist Street is the best venue for poetry and fiction anywhere.  It is fun and funny, profound and prolific, winning and winsome.  I wish the whole world was like Gist Street.”    --Michael Simms, Executive Editor, Autumn House Press

“Gist Street is all fresh bread and homemade ice cream—it’s like reading in a railroad museum.  You keep thinking: there’s the sense of history here, the sound of traveling, the sense that whatever is read at Gist Street was made there.  And then we all drink wine.”  --Stacey Waite, author of Choke

“Forget Colbert's AmeriCone Dream. Forget New York Super Fudge Chunk. If Ben & Jerry ever discover the perfect flavor, they should name it Gist. Gist is pure bliss. Lusciously literary, warm and inviting, Gist is nirvana for anyone who loves words.”  --Lori Jakiela, author of Miss New York Has Everything: A Memoir

“Next to trading stories with Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and Mary Shelley in a chalet on Lake Geneva in 1816, reading at Gist Street is the most fun an author is (or should be) allowed to have.  It spoils you for reading anywhere else.”  --Greg Downs, author of Spit Baths

“The Gist Street reading series does Pittsburgh proud. It’s probably the friendliest, liveliest place I’ve ever read, and its reputation extends far beyond Pennsylvania.  This is a venue of national importance.” –Kevin Prufer, author of National Anthem and Fallen from a Chariot

"Reading at Gist Street is like reading in your best friend’s living room. The audiences are warm, responsive, intelligent and fun. I read at Gist Street with Ann Pancake (Read her new novel, Strange as This Weather Has Been!), and it felt almost as good as reading down home in the mountains. The Gist Street Reading Series is an invaluable contribution to the literary arts in this country." --Maggie Anderson author of Windfall: New and Selected Poems 

  "A bathtub full of beer and ice. A steaming brisket on a platter. A fiddler. A hundred thoughtful faces, all eager to listen as I approached the mike and cleared my throat and began to read while snow pelted the windows behind me. There was a certain intimacy, a down-home coziness to the evening. I don't know that a better reading experience can be found." --Benjamin Percy, author of The Language of Elk and Refresh, Refresh