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.

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BABEL Tickets on Sale!

Anthony Doerr - Babel 2022-2023 - Just Buffalo Literary Center
Isabel Wilkerson - Babel 2022-2023 - Just Buffalo Literary Center
Silo City Reading Series Ten Years of Poems in Grain Silos

TEN YEARS OF POEMS IN GRAIN SILOS (AN ANTHOLOGY)

The Silo City Reading Series began as a book release party and grew into a multidisciplinary summer art event featuring national and local artists performing poetry and music inside the Marine A grain silo.

This limited-edition anthology, designed by Joel Brenden, features a poem from each poet who has read in those historic grain silos over the past ten years, including such literary luminaries as Ocean Vuong, Maggie Smith, Jericho Brown, Morgan Parker, Hanif Abdurraqib, Vievee Francis, and a slew of others.

LIT CITY: On The Move

LIT CITY: On The Move is a public art collaboration between Just Buffalo Literary Center and the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) that brings poems by local writers to bus shelters, rail stations, and buses throughout the city of Buffalo.

Reading Park - Downtown Buffalo Public Library - Just Buffalo Literary Center

Dream Delivery Service 2022:
Reading Park

During May and June 2022, visiting poet Mathias Svalina ran his DREAM DELIVERY SERVICE throughout Buffalo, New York. Each morning, Svalina rose early to bicycle around Buffalo, delivering unique dream poems to subscribers. In addition to delivering dreams, Svalina took up a weekly residency in Buffalo’s Reading Park at the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library in downtown Buffalo, during which the public was invited to invent and write dreams with Svalina for the Reading Park’s landscape.

A selection of those dreams have now become a part of an interactive literary installation.

Upcoming Workshops & Literary Events

November 2022
Buffalo Writes with Julio Montalvo Valentin
  • On Schedule

Buffalo Writes with Julio Montalvo Valentin

Join us for a drop-in writing time facilitated by established writers from Just Buffalo. During this writing session, you will be offered generative writing prompts and tips, with the opportunity to share your work. Come and write among fellow writers and creatives in the heart of downtown at Just Buffalo Literary Center. ...
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Just Buffalo Literary Center
468 Washington St., 2nd Floor, Buffalo, NY
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December 2022
Fake Records, Real Feelings with Ariel Aberg-Riger
  • On Schedule

Fake Records, Real Feelings with Ariel Aberg-Riger

Can poetry be an object? Can art be a sound? Can you write a story through a song list? In this workshop, we’re going to back our way into building a narrative by creating fake records. We’ll get inspired by real albums and cover art, and then cut, glue, collage, paint, and write our own fictional albums. You’ll invent a band, name their album and all the songs inside (from hit single to b-side tracks), design a cardboard record and album cover sleeve, and see what true feelings emerge… ...
Tuesday, December 6, 2022
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Just Buffalo Writing Center
468 Washington Street, 2nd Floor, Buffalo, NY 14203
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Poetry & Performance with Youth Ambassador Liam
  • On Schedule

Poetry and Performance with JBWC Youth Ambassador, Liam

An introduction to the relationships between poetry and performance. We will discuss what separates performance poetry from standard poetics, how to approach writing for performance and specific performance techniques. ...
Thursday, December 8, 2022
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Just Buffalo Writing Center
468 Washington Street, 2nd Floor, Buffalo, NY 14203
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Open Share on December 13, 2022 at the Just Buffalo Writing Center
  • On Schedule

Open Share

Open Share is a time for you to share any of your creations/thoughts with peers. Poems, stories, comics, video games, drawings: we want to hear all about what you are making, whether you share your piece or just tell us your plans. Are you currently inspired by something (music, art, books, film, recent experiences)? You’re also invited to share your inspirations with us! ...
Tuesday, December 13, 2022
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Just Buffalo Writing Center
468 Washington Street, 2nd Floor, Buffalo, NY 14203
Get Tickets Now View Event
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About Just Buffalo

Support Just Buffalo

Make an Online Donation

From the BABEL series to the Writing Center, everything that we do depends on your help. Show your support for Just Buffalo and the literary arts today.

Become a Member

Join Just Buffalo Literary Center today and save on select events, participate in members-only groups and contests, and get a 10% discount at Talking Leaves Books.

Volunteer

Want to give the gift of your time? Just Buffalo reviews volunteer applications on a rolling basis, with interviews in August and December for the following season.

  • On November 11, 2022 the BABEL season continued at Kleinhans Music Hall with the brilliant author & journalist Omar El Akkad. Thank you to everyone who came out and made the evening so special. Big thank you to El Akkad who left us in awe over the powerful and unsettling stories he shared of the human experience. Photographs by Pat Cray and Nancy J. Parisi

    Author ImageNoah Falck
    11 November, 2022

  • Omar El Akkad is an Egyptian-born author and journalist. He has reported on current events in places all over the world, including Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan. This Thursday, November 10th, he will be participating in the BABEL author series at Kleinhans Music Hall. His featured book, What Strange Paradise, tells the story of 9-year-old Amir, an immigrant boy who washed up on a small island after the overcrowded ship he left home on tragically sank. Through his novel, El Akkad depicts the unfortunate harshness of the immigrant process, and the world at large, through the eyes of a child. Below is a list of local organizations that strive to make the immigrant experience in WNY a little easier.

    Author ImageNoah Falck
    08 November, 2022

  • We can't wait to welcome you to BABEL on Thursday, November 10th, for an evening with novelist & journalist Omar El Akkad. Here, you'll find FAQs for event attendance, whether in-person or virtual.

    Author ImageMeghan Pipe
    07 November, 2022

  • We can't wait to welcome you to BABEL on Friday, October 14th, for an evening with environmental & climate change journalist Elizabeth Kolbert. Here, you'll find FAQs for event attendance, whether in-person or virtual.

    Author ImageMeghan Pipe
    11 October, 2022

  • Environmental journalist Elizabeth Kolbert visits Buffalo on Friday, October 14th for a BABEL author talk at Kleinhans Music Hall. Kolbert's research and writing on species extinction is fascinating, terrifying, and absolutely necessary as we face the realities of climate change. But how do we move forward with this knowledge? How do we turn away from despair and toward action? Look to the people in our own Buffalo & Western New York community working towards environmental justice!

    Author ImageMeghan Pipe
    06 October, 2022

  • Local bookstores are more than a business—they are tiny pockets of culture, reflecting the neighborhoods they reside in and acting as places of true community and artistic exchange. Bookstores are where we go to find the next book that will rock our world or change our perspective, and they are great places to find like-minded bibliophiles to connect with. But don’t take our word for it—we asked Buffalo's booksellers why it's important to support indie bookstores, and here’s what some them had to say!

    Author ImageMeghan Pipe
    11 September, 2022