JADED presents PONY UP, Year of the Fire Horse Celebration, June 20 in Lawrenceville.

JADED Pittsburgh, the city's first Asian American & Pacific Island (AAPI) artist collective, will present PONY UP, a concert in celebration of the Year of the Fire Horse, on June 20.

PONY UP is a festival along the Allegheny River ft. performances, live music, and AAPI vendors sharing art, food, & services.

JADED presents PONY UP to celebrate the Year of the Fire Horse. On the cusp of the summer solstice, we will harness the power of the sun to uncover our wildest and most unnameable desires. We seek to enliven ways before and beyond the forces of capitalism, fascism, and imperialism that have conspired to deaden our dreaming. What spiritual traditions and collective rituals can give us strength to return ourselves to ourselves? To dance, to scream, to nourish, to mourn, to ghost, to river, to attune to what has been attenuated. To take the reins and pony UP.

🐴🐴PERFORMER LINEUP🐴🐴
LEXCD
FORMOSA
Viii Dorsey
Philophilm
412 Step
Monkey Wenches LLC

We're also looking for volunteers, which includes a free ticket to the event. Help us make this party a reality! Sign up here.

Tickets are available online. The event will be held at Tree Pittsburgh,located at 32 62nd St in Lawrenceville (map). 

Author Kelly Yang in Pittsburgh October 22, part of Words & Pictures series.

Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures will present author Kelly Yang on October 22, part of its Words & Pictures series.

Mia Tang has a lot of secrets.

Number 1: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her immigrant parents clean the rooms, ten-year-old Mia manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel and tends to its guests.

Number 2: Her parents hide immigrants. And if the mean motel owner, Mr. Yao, finds out they’ve been letting them stay in the empty rooms for free, the Tangs will be doomed.

Number 3: She wants to be a writer. But how can she when her mom thinks she should stick to math because English is not her first language?

It will take all of Mia’s courage, kindness, and hard work to get through this year. Will she be able to hold on to her job, help the immigrants and guests, escape Mr. Yao, and pursue her writing dreams?

Kelly Yang is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of the Front Desk series, winner of the 2019 Asian Pacific American Award for Children’s Literature. Her books include Front Desk, Three Keys, Room to Dream, Parachutes, New From Here, and other middle grade and young adult novels. She was born in China and grew up in Los Angeles. She went to college at the age of 13 and graduated from UC Berkeley at the age of 17 and Harvard Law School at the age of 20. After law school, she founded The Kelly Yang Project, a writing and debating program for children in Asia. Prior to becoming a novelist, she wrote for many years for the South China Morning Post, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. She lives in Los Angeles with her family.

The talk starts at 6:00 pm and will be held at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall in Oakland (map). The event is free but registration is required.

Author R.F. Kuang returns to Pittsburgh, September 10, part of Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures "New & Noted" series.

Author R.F. Kuang will returns to Pittsburgh on September 10 as part of Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures "New & Noted" series.

College freshman Lily Chen is off to spend the summer in Taipei at an intensive language program like so many Chinese American students before her, hoping to connect with the culture she inherited but never fully understood. But a promising start quickly unravels. Her classes are grueling, her roommate is driving her insane, and a reckless trip to the hot springs with a guy she barely knows soon has her classmates viciously gossiping. She feels adrift, a foreigner in a country she thought would feel like home.

Then shocking news arrives: Lily’s grandfather has passed away. The loss forces her to grapple with now-unanswerable questions about her family history. As Lily grieves, she’s drawn into a journey of self-discovery—piecing together memories, stories, and silences over a series of hilarious and devastating attempts at connection.

Taipei Story asks: What if the diaspora fantasy of homecoming never comes true? What if learning a language can’t bring you any closer to the people you’re trying to reach? What if you search for your family’s history, but your family doesn’t want to share? What if you wait too long to ask the right questions? As Lily struggles for answers, her summer becomes a poignant search for understanding—of herself, her family, and the meaning of home.

The event starts at 7:00 pm and will be held at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall in Oakland (map). Tickets are available online and purchase includes a copy of Taipei Story. 

Reading & Conversation: M Lin "The Memory Museum" (with Robert Yune), May 16 at White Whale Bookstore.

White Whale Bookstore will present Reading & Conversation: M Lin "The Memory Museum" (with Robert Yune) on May 16.

It is our joy and honor at White Whale to celebrate debut authors! We are thrilled to welcome M Lin to White Whale to celebrate her debut, The Memory Museum, an expansive, unforgettable short story collection centering the lives and experiences of Chinese millennial women. Her story “Shangri-La” is set in Pittsburgh! M Lin will be joined in conversation by Robert Yune. 

“An astounding talent with an unforgettable voice. The Memory Museum is a book for the ages.”—R. O. Kwon, author of Exhibit

Stretching from the present to the future, from China to America and beyond, M Lin’s piercing debut collection depicts characters finding beauty amidst the disorientation of migration, the contradictions of living between cultures, the perverse realities of race and class, and the delicate dance between survival and resistance. In “Scenes from Childhood,” an elderly woman in a dystopian reality is visited by forgotten memories of her grandfather’s village. In “Magic, or Something Less Assuring,” a fraying couple goes on a divorce honeymoon in Morocco to surprising results. “You Won’t Read This in the News” imagines four migrant workers and petty thieves who forge an unshakable connection across one desperate night. A filmmaker thwarted by censorship untangles her fraught relationship to motherhood and artmaking in “Tough Egg.” And in a newly instated Memory Museum generations into the future, two sensory architects weave a moving tapestry of love and radical hope. Brimming with joy, insight, and emotional power, The Memory Museum unveils M Lin as an irresistible new talent with fearless political and stylistic imagination.

The event runs from 7 to 8:00 pm both in-store and online; both options require registration. The bookstore is located at 4754 Liberty Ave. in Bloomfield (map).

2024 film Didi (弟弟) returns to Pittsburgh, May 13.

The 2024 Sean Wang film Didi (弟弟) will return to Pittsburgh at the Kamin Science Center's Rangos Giant Cinema on May 13.

Sean Wang makes his directorial debut with “Didi,” a film for anyone who’s ever been a teenager. Set in 2008, this film follows the summer of a 13-year-old Taiwanese-American boy as he navigates life as a first generation American, changing friendships, and the dawn of social media. Don’t miss this 2024 Sundance Film Festival winning feature when it comes to the Rangos Giant Cinema on Wed., May 13 at 7 p.m.

It previously played here in August and September 2024. The Kamin Science Center, formerly known as the Carnegie Science Center, is located at 1 Allegheny Ave. on the North Shore (map).

2018 movie Crazy Rich Asians in Pittsburgh, from May 8.

The 2018 movie Crazy Rich Asians will play in Pittsburgh from May 8.

Rachel Chu is happy to accompany her longtime boyfriend, Nick, to his best friend's wedding in Singapore. She's also surprised to learn that Nick's family is extremely wealthy, and he's considered one of the country's most eligible bachelors. Thrust into the spotlight, Rachel must now contend with jealous socialites, quirky relatives and something far, far worse -- Nick's disapproving mother.

It is scheduled to play locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and AMC Westmoreland in Greensburg, and tickets are available online.

Dozens of "teen time" events at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh branches for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May.

The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has planned lots of "teen time" creativity events for many of its branches for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month in May 2026, featuring programs on Japanese book binding, shadow puppets, ceramics, Korean schoolyard games, and paper folding.

Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Celebration, May 9 at Kamin Science Center.

via Pittsburgh Magazine

The Kamin Science Center, formerly known as the Carnegie Science Center, will host an "Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Celebration" on May 9.

Carnegie Museums is thrilled to honor Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month. Come celebrate and be immersed in these cultures through vibrant dances, hands-on activities, music, martial arts demonstrations, and more performed by our community partners! All presentations are included with general admission to Kamin Science Center.

Schedule of Events

• 11 a.m.–3 p.m. – Tabling from community partners
• 11 a.m.–3 p.m. – Enjoy the Chinatown Inn model in the Miniature Railroad & Village® and learn about Pittsburgh’s historic Chinatown
• 10:30–10:45 a.m. – Storytime Under the Stars; Buhl Planetarium
• 11–11:30 a.m. – Storytime Under the Stars, Role Models that Look Like Me, book reading by author Jasmine Cho; Buhl Planetarium
• 11:30 a.m.–12:45 p.m. – Cultural performances by community partners
• 1–2 p.m. – The Last Mayor of Chinatown documentary and panel discussion; Rangos Giant Cinema
• 2:30–3pm – Performance by Pittsburgh Taiko

The celebration runs from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm and is free with Science Center admission. The Kamin Science Center is located at 1 Allegheny Ave. on the North Shore (map).

2024 film Didi (弟弟) returns to Pittsburgh, May 13.

The 2024 Sean Wang film Didi (弟弟) will return to Pittsburgh at the Kamin Science Center's Rangos Giant Cinema on May 13.

Sean Wang makes his directorial debut with “Didi,” a film for anyone who’s ever been a teenager. Set in 2008, this film follows the summer of a 13-year-old Taiwanese-American boy as he navigates life as a first generation American, changing friendships, and the dawn of social media. Don’t miss this 2024 Sundance Film Festival winning feature when it comes to the Rangos Giant Cinema on Wed., May 13 at 7 p.m.

It previously played here in August and September 2024. The Kamin Science Center, formerly known as the Carnegie Science Center, is located at 1 Allegheny Ave. on the North Shore (map).

2023 film Past Lives in Pittsburgh, May 3 and 6.

The 2023 Celine Song film Past Lives will return to Pittsburgh May 3 and 6.

Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one fateful week as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life, in this heartrending modern romance.

It plays locally, so far, at the AMC Loews Waterfront and AMC Westmoreland in Greensburg, and tickets are available online.

2018 movie Crazy Rich Asians in Pittsburgh, from May 8.

The 2018 movie Crazy Rich Asians will play in Pittsburgh from May 8.

Rachel Chu is happy to accompany her longtime boyfriend, Nick, to his best friend's wedding in Singapore. She's also surprised to learn that Nick's family is extremely wealthy, and he's considered one of the country's most eligible bachelors. Thrust into the spotlight, Rachel must now contend with jealous socialites, quirky relatives and something far, far worse -- Nick's disapproving mother.

It is scheduled to play locally, so far, at the AMC Loews Waterfront and AMC Westmoreland in Greensburg, and tickets are available online.

Numerous book discussion events scheduled at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh branches for AANHPI Heritage Month in May.

The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has scheduled 19 book discussion and book club events across its branches for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May 2026. Books are available for checkout through the library's catalog and are available in audio or ebook formats. Links to each item in the catalog are available below.

2022 film Everything Everywhere All at Once in Pittsburgh, from May 1.

The 2022 film Everything Everywhere All at Once will return to Pittsburgh from May 1.

Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels, the film is a hilarious and big-hearted sci-fi action adventure about an exhausted Chinese American woman (Michelle Yeoh) who can't seem to finish her taxes.

It plays locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and the AMC Westmoreland in Greensburg, and tickets are available online.

Reading & Conversation: M Lin "The Memory Museum" (with Robert Yune), May 16 at White Whale Bookstore.

White Whale Bookstore will present Reading & Conversation: M Lin "The Memory Museum" (with Robert Yune) on May 16.

It is our joy and honor at White Whale to celebrate debut authors! We are thrilled to welcome M Lin to White Whale to celebrate her debut, The Memory Museum, an expansive, unforgettable short story collection centering the lives and experiences of Chinese millennial women. Her story “Shangri-La” is set in Pittsburgh! M Lin will be joined in conversation by Robert Yune. 

“An astounding talent with an unforgettable voice. The Memory Museum is a book for the ages.”—R. O. Kwon, author of Exhibit

Stretching from the present to the future, from China to America and beyond, M Lin’s piercing debut collection depicts characters finding beauty amidst the disorientation of migration, the contradictions of living between cultures, the perverse realities of race and class, and the delicate dance between survival and resistance. In “Scenes from Childhood,” an elderly woman in a dystopian reality is visited by forgotten memories of her grandfather’s village. In “Magic, or Something Less Assuring,” a fraying couple goes on a divorce honeymoon in Morocco to surprising results. “You Won’t Read This in the News” imagines four migrant workers and petty thieves who forge an unshakable connection across one desperate night. A filmmaker thwarted by censorship untangles her fraught relationship to motherhood and artmaking in “Tough Egg.” And in a newly instated Memory Museum generations into the future, two sensory architects weave a moving tapestry of love and radical hope. Brimming with joy, insight, and emotional power, The Memory Museum unveils M Lin as an irresistible new talent with fearless political and stylistic imagination.

The event runs from 7 to 8:00 pm both in-store and online; both options require registration. The bookstore is located at 4754 Liberty Ave. in Bloomfield (map).

2026 cherry blossom viewing event at North Park cancelled due to weather, tree removal.

Photo by MRM Photography, shared by Pittsburgh Sakura Project.

The Pittsburgh Sakura Project's annual hanami blossom-viewing event, scheduled this year for April 18, has been cancelled due to a recent cold spell damaging buds and a series of tree removals due to a playground expansion project. From an April 3 Facebook post:

Sadly, we must announce that we are not expecting many cherry blossoms this year. Cold weather at just at the wrong time damaged buds on healthy trees. Other trees received major pruning this winter to control the black knot fungus. Those trees are putting energy into making leaves, not flowers. Some dying trees (mostly due to black knot fungus) have been removed, and a whole grove of healthy Pink Flair cherries has been cut down for what looks like a project to redevelop the playground.

Accordingly, our Hanami Event, scheduled for April 18, 2 - 4 pm at Harmony Shelter, will change purpose to an information session.

PGHwrites: Jade Song’s “I Love You Don’t Die” (Book Launch), April 6 at City of Asylum and online.

City of Asylum will present a book launch event with Jade Song's I Love You Don't Die on April 6, part of its PGHwrites series.

Though many of us are still reeling from her explosive debut novel, Chlorine, a force like Jade Song cannot be stopped. We are thrilled to welcome Pittsburgh-native Jade back to City of Asylum for the launch of her sophomore novel, I Love You Don’t Die, a coming-of-age for a new generation, in the vein of Sally Rooney and Ottessa Moshfegh.

Jade’s new work introduces us to a macabre young woman named Vicky. For as far back as she can remember, Vicky has been fascinated and obsessed with death as the only inevitable thing in life. From living above a Chinatown funeral parlor to working at a celebrity start-up for bespoke urns, she has surrounded herself with death—in her home, in her work, and in her ever-growing collection of zhizha, paper creations meant to be burned for the dead. When it comes to life and the living, however, she struggles to have meaningful connections—or find any meaning at all.

That changes when a dating app leads her into a throuple with an artist and a labor organizer, who offer exactly the kind of love she needs. For some time, it’s perfect, but no one understands better than Vicky that all things must end. With everything beginning to feel hollow and temporary, Vicky must decide how to keep moving forward. To try and hold on to what she has, or to once again do what she does best: destroy.

Please join Jade and program moderator Marina Fang after the reading for a public reception celebrating this hometown writing phenom!

You can purchase a copy of Jade’s book, I Love You Don’t Die, at City of Asylum Bookstore.

About the Author:

Jade Song is a writer, filmmaker, and artist whose first novel, Chlorine, was lauded as “visionary and disturbing,” selected as a New York Times Editor’s Choice, awarded the Alex Award and the Writer’s Center First Novel Prize, and translated into multiple languages. Jade’s short story collection, Ox Ghost Snake Demon, is forthcoming in early 2027. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Jade has taught writing at organizations like Tin House, Morbid Anatomy, and Lighthouse Writers Workshop; she has received support from the Vermont Studio Center and the Black List, which selected her adapted screenplay of Chlorine for its annual Writers Lab.

The event is moderated by Marina Fang.

The book launch event runs from 7:00 to 8:30 pm at Alphabet City on the North Side (map) and online; it's free, but registration is required.

ScottyCon 2026, the student-run anime and games convention at Carnegie Mellon University, March 28.

ScottyCon 2026, the student-run anime and games convention at Carnegie Mellon University, will be held on March 28.

Welcome to our sixth year of ScottyCon! We hope you enjoy CMU's one and only (and therefore best) anime and video gaming convention! We'll have a blast of events this year, ranging from panels, masquerade, artist alley, and much more.

Events include 14 panels, Artist Alley, game vendors, karaoke at night, a Masquerade, a manga library, and a performance from guest of honor Phoebe Chan, and more. ScottyCon runs from 11:00 am to 9:00 pm in the Jared L. Cohon University Center (map) and tickets are available online through March 25 (and at the door on the 28th).

2025 Amy Wang film Slanted stays in Pittsburgh through March 25.

The 2025 Amy Wang film Slanted, which opened in Pittsburgh on March 12, will remain here through March 25.

As a senior in high school, Joan Huang idolizes winning Prom Queen as the embodiment of popularity, beauty and the ultimate form of acceptance into American life. In her relentless pursuit for the crown, she undergoes an experimental racial transformation to become White and win Prom Queen. However, what she thought was a dream come true soon reveals itself to be an emotional and physical nightmare. "Slanted" offers a searing and unapologetically satirical view on race and the uncomfortable journey of learning to love.

It plays locally now at the AMC Loews Waterfront and the Cinemark theater in Robinson through the 19th, and the AMC Loews Waterfront after that, and tickets are available online.

Chinese Culture Summer Camp with Yanlai Dance Academy, August 3 - 7 and August 17 - 21.

Yanlai Dance Academy in the North Hills will host two sessions of Chinese Culture Summer Camp for kids ages 5 - 11. One session will span from August 3 through 7, another from August 17 through 21, and both run 9:30 am to 3:30 pm. The camps "include Chinese folk dance, paper crafts, art and more!"

Those interested in registering should contact PACCL.edu at gmail.com. Yanlai Dance Academy is a dance school in the North Hills that has long specialized in traditional and contemporary Chinese dances for all ages, as well hosting as Kpop sessions and adult dance troupes. It is located at 2260 Babcock Blvd. (map).

AAPI Heritage Night, Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, June 10.

June 10 is AAPI Heritage Night with the Pittsburgh Pirates versus the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Experience a celebration of AAPI pride and Pirates baseball at PNC Park on June 10 as the Pirates take on the Los Angeles Dodgers!

Join us for a game filled with excitement as we honor the AAPI community in Pittsburgh and beyond. This ticket package includes an exclusive co-branded Pirates AAPI themed jersey and loaded value to use on concessions and merchandise during the game. A portion of each ticket purchased through this offer will benefit a local AAPI charity.

As with previous years, there will likely be local Asian and Asian-American associations organizing their own groups. The Dodgers currently feature several of the game's best Asian players, including Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, and Hyeseong Kim.