Did you know that George A. Romero’s 1968 cult film Night of the Living Dead was filmed in Pittsburgh? Get ready for Halloween by learning more about the connections between the Rust Belt, zombies, and labor strikes. This presentation will feature clips from the film, an overview of Hugh S. Manon’s article “Living Dead Spaces: The Desire for the Local in the Films of George Romero,” and a contemporary poetic take on the Rust Belt zombie genre. Allison Pitinii Davis is the author of Line Study of a Motel Clerk (Baobab, 2017), a finalist for the Ohioana Book Award and the National Jewish Book Award in Poetry. Her work has appeared in Best American PoetryPOETS.orgThe New Republic, and elsewhere. She serves as the Interim Writing Center Coordinator at Bethany College.

To promote the program, Library staff produced a short film, a tribute to Romero’s Pittsburgh Zombie, titled, They’re Coming to Get You Wheeling! The 6 min. film was written and produced by Library programming director Seán Duffy, with photography by Don Feenerty and Jared Thompson and editing and effects by Library staff member Erin Rothenbuehler. It stars Brigitte Mazure, Ron Scott, Bob Villamagna, and Elmer Murphy as the terrifying Clown Zombie. The world premiere will be Tuesday, Oct. 19 at 7 pm on the Lunch With Books Facebook and YouTube channels. The film can be watched at any time after that on the LWB YouTube channel at: tiny.cc/LWB-YouTube