Meet the Team

Mary Monaghan

Director, Public Services, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Mary Monaghan has been a librarian for over 30 years and has been lucky enough to spend most of her career at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. She is thrilled to be part of the planning for the Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books and looks forward to sharing this wonderful celebration of books and reading with the community in 2024.

Guided by our mission of literacy and learning and our dedication to patron-focused services and programs, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is a destination space for information, technology, community building, social connection
and fun.

Appleseed Events

Amanda Becker

Mei-Ling Blackstone

“Events are like appleseeds. Though they may seem insignificant, when cared for properly, they provide plenty of fruit!”

Amanda Becker founded Appleseed Events LLC to connect people through meaningful events. Appleseed Events works with charitable and corporate clients to produce festivals, grand openings, fundraisers, etc.. Her vision for this business is to help people using her God-given gifts, managing the event details so that the client organization can focus on building relationships. Visit Appleseed Events’ website to learn more about them.

Mindful Kreative

Annie Lewis

Miranda Brazinski

Jensen Troy

Mindful Kreative is a full-service marketing and communications agency. Since inception in 2002, Mindful Kreative has been committed to helping clients build and defend strong, engaging brands and reputations. Learn more about Mindful Kreative, a certified women business enterprise, by visiting MindfulKreative.com.

Marshall Cohen

Founder

A Pittsburgh native and graduate of the Pittsburgh Public Schools, is our festival founder. Marshall moved back to Pittsburgh in 2018 and was surprised there was no free, community-wide, book festival. Wanting Pittsburgh to have a festival, he approached authors, poets, booksellers, publishers, libraries, government officials and potential sponsors. Marshall is a retired public affairs executive with over 50 years experience in advocacy, communications, and legislative and public policy strategies. He has attended many book festivals throughout the United States.