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

Every year, we hold a summer gathering for alum and current writers of Just Buffalo’s Writing Center. This year, Fitz Books welcomed our crew on their whimsical back patio. We ate, we caught up, we traded prompts and wrote, and, new this year, we piloted a game we’re calling Musical Notebooks that, while involving no music or notebooks, was a blast!

For the past year, JBWC writers, along with young artists from Buffalo Center for Art and Technology, Squeaky Wheel Film and Media Art Center and the Buffalo Public Schools, have been taking part in a community arts collaboration inspired by artist LeRoi Johnson’s exhibit currently on view at Burchfield Penney Art Center, LeRoi: Living in Color.

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.

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!

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!