Community engagement and social justice
Literary arts, including poetry, creative writing, fiction, and non-fiction
Live performance, including puppetry, theater, dance, music, and spoken word poetry, etc.
Pittsburgh Creative Corps Artist Directory
Lori Jakiela
Primary Discipline
Artistic Practice
Writing / literary arts
Audio / sound recording
Actress Kristen Bell reading Lori Jakiela’s essay, “The Plain Unmarked Box Arrived,” for the New York Times/Modern Love Podcast
Lori Jakiela reading her essay, “The Plain Unmarked Box Arrived,” for the Listen to Your Mother series.
Lori Jakiela featured in “People Who’ve Written Books Around Here,” for Nebby: Rick Sebak’s Tales of Greater Pittsburgh, WQED Pittsburgh.
Lori Jakiela reading her essay, “The Devil’s Haircut,” during a Roadside Press event.
An illustration of Lori Jakiela by New Yorker cartoonist Bob Eckstein from the 2024 Erma Bombeck Writers Conference.
About the Artist
Lori Jakiela is the author of eight books, including most recently an essay collection, ALL SKATE: TRUE TALES FROM MIDDLE LIFE (Roadside Press, 2025), and THEY WRITE YOUR NAME ON A GRAIN OF RICE: ON CANCER, LOVE, AND LIVING EVEN SO (Atticus Books, 2024). She specializes in teaching multi-genre writing workshops that help people tell the stories they need to tell. She teaches workshops to beginning and advanced writers, to specialized groups (veterans, people in the adoption triad, and more), and to anyone who’d like to explore their own stories on the page. She directs the undergraduate writing program at Pitt-Greensburg and teaches in the doctoral program in creative writing at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
Photo by Phelan Newman
Web
Accreditations, Certifications, and/or Awards
- MFA, University of Pittsburgh, 1994;
- Saroyan Award, Stanford University, 2016;
- Wicked Woman Prize, Brickhouse Press, 2021;
- Multiple Pushcart Nominations, 2016-2024;
- Fellowships/Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Bennington Writers Conference, 1994-1998
Provides Fabrication Services to Other Artists
No
Teaching Artist
Yes, ages 12 and up
Joined the Directory
June 2025
Related
PROJECT
Pittsburgh Creative Corps
Designed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pittsburgh Creative Corps initiative engages artists and creative workers to activate the public realm while providing economic opportunity.
“I've seen the power of story—of shared experience. I've seen how it connects us in this life. Writing is a powerful act. It says, I was here. Maybe that mattered. Maybe you feel that way too. Story makes the world less lonely. It makes change—and connection—possible.”
Lori Jakiela
Contact the Artist
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Related
PROJECT
Pittsburgh Creative Corps
Designed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pittsburgh Creative Corps initiative engages artists and creative workers to activate the public realm while providing economic opportunity.
