Presenting a selection of pieces from Blood Rummage by 2023 JBWC Youth Fellow Jonah Ruddock, who explores how a microplastic traverses a wilderness of waste and decay. "Remember: everything is touching everything else, and everyone is lying to you."
JBWC Fellow Jonah Ruddock has been busy this month working on his Fellow project: a micro-chapbook about microplastics, which he hopes to turn into a zine. Why microplastics?
Presenting Bringing Buffalo Back: The Return of the Labor Movement written by 2022 JBWC Youth Fellow Liam Cobb.
A conversation about writing, disability studies, and the politics of legibility with Youth Fellow Angelina Tang & project mentor Jessica Lowell Mason I want you, dear reader, to better understand those who perceive the world differently from you, and kindly be able to ask them, “So, what do you think?” - Angelina Tang “Is the way this narrative is constructed helping or harming those within the community being represented?” This is a question I think we, as writers, especially of fiction but within any genre, should be asking ourselves. - Jessica Lowell Mason
Presenting an excerpt of Autumn Flowers written by 2022 JBWC Youth Fellow Angelina Tang. Autumn Flowers is a story about being human. It is the journey of a girl who rises above her suffering and embraces herself, learning to accept her past and future; at the same time, it is an exploration of Chinese culture, flower language, and the effects of a schizophrenia diagnosis.
We are thrilled to announce the 2022 Just Buffalo Writing Center Youth Fellows, selected by novelist and final judge Gabriel Bump: Liam Cobb of Buffalo, NY and Angelina Tang of East Amherst, NY. Congratulations, Liam & Angelina!
Presenting a selection of three poems by 2021 JBWC Youth Fellow Sophie Zhu. Says Sophie, "I hope you keep three phrases in mind while reading these poems: the act of being human, a video game of syllables, Wolfgang Tillmans, and your people."
Presenting The Inbetween, a chapbook of poetry and art by 2021 JBWC Youth Fellow Millie Rae Rodriguez-Spencer. "Not only was this my first completed project," says Millie Rae, "but an enriching introduction to the Buffalo literary and poetry community that in turn ignited my passion for creating art again."
We are so excited to announce the 2021 Just Buffalo Writing Center Youth Fellows: Millie Rodriguez-Spencer and Sophie Zhu! “These are two prolific writers with strong voices attuned to an informed listening and responsibility to community,” said final judge Christina Vega-Westhoff.
"Families hide their ghosts." In this short story by 2020 Just Buffalo Writing Center Youth Fellow Fiona Stewart, a family's unspoken truths come to haunt teenager Jesse Kim as she hides a truth of her own.