Our Response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak

As a precaution to help limit the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) and care for our community, Just Buffalo Literary Center has postponed a number of events, and we will follow the guidance of Buffalo Public Schools in terms of Just Buffalo Writing Center programming.

Learn More

Our History

Over the last 45 years, Just Buffalo has hosted, organized or co-sponsored more than 2,000 events, bringing the world’s greatest writers to Western New York. Check out some of the highlights from each decade.

 

40 Years of Buffalo History - 1970s - Just Buffalo Literary Center

THE 1970s

From Diane DiPrima to Robert Creeley, find out how it all began back in the Seventies.

 

 

40 Years of Buffalo History - 1980s - Just Buffalo Literary Center

The 1980s

From Leslie Fiedler to Victor Hernandez Cruz, find out what was happening with Just Buffalo back in the Eighties.

 

 

40 Years of Buffalo History - 1990s - Just Buffalo Literary Center

THE 1990s

Allen Ginsberg, Lucille Clifton, Amiri Baraka—and that was only the beginning. Check out what happened in the Nineties.​

 

 

40 Years of Buffalo History - 2000s - Just Buffalo Literary Center

THE 2000s

From David Sedaris to the birth of BABEL, Just Buffalo broke new ground for literary programming during the first decade of the new century.​

 

 

40 Years of Buffalo History - 2010s - Just Buffalo Literary Center

THE 2010s

From Zadie Smith to Patti Smith, Just Buffalo now fosters a vibrant cultural scene as one of the nation’s top literary centers.

 

 

JB 40 Stories - Just Buffalo Literary Center

40 Stories

From long-time friends and partners reminiscing about the early days to young students just discovering their voices through our education programs, 40 Stories brings the history of Just Buffalo out of the archive and into our community.

 

About Just Buffalo Literary Center

Our Staff & Board of Directors

Our Newsletters & Annual Reports

JB40 STORIES COLLECTION

When Just Buffalo Literary Center’s founder, Debora Ott, first heard this poem as a teenager in New York City, it inspired her to come to the University at Buffalo to study with its author, Robert Creeley. UB’s English Department was legendary, attracting incredible poets and writers to both its faculty and its student body. Born in 1975 out of that intense period of innovation in the literary arts, Just Buffalo created a new niche, inviting writers out of academia and into the heart of the community.