Allison Amend

In 2013, University of Pittsburgh student Alex Rowan passed away at just 23 years old. To honor her love for writing, the Alexandra L. Rowan Foundation is holding its fourth Annual Creative Writing Festival with guest author Allison Amend, a former visiting assistant professor at Pitt, who is speaking tonight at the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium. Amend is the author of the Independent Publisher’s Award-winning short-story collection Things That Pass for Love. The rest of the festival will continue into Friday, with Amend judging writing entries in three categories — fiction, non-fiction and poetry — and a fund awarded to a student for a writing-related internship. -LO