For more than a century, Western New York has been home to some of the most significant and innovative writers. LIT CITY is a public art initiative which highlights Buffalo’s renowned literary legacy.
LIT CITY: “Spirit of Inspiration”
The “Spirit of Inspiration” sculpture, designed by internationally acclaimed artist Olalekan Jeyifous, is inspired by the life and legacy of poet Lucille Clifton. It is a lasting tribute to all readers, writers, and creators who enrich our lives and communities. The sculpture was dedicated as a gift to the City of Buffalo’s public art collection on Thursday, June 22, 2023. It is the fifth and final piece in the Buffalo Renaissance Foundation’s “Spirit of Buffalo” series.
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.
LIT CITY: The Literary Corridor of Buffalo
On June 7, 2016, Mayor Byron Brown designated Washington Street, beginning at Lafayette Square and continuing past Just Buffalo Literary Center and the Western New York Book Arts Center to the dig Innovation Center hub at Virginia Street, as The Literary Corridor of Buffalo.
Learn more about the impressive poets, novelists, and playwrights represented in the LIT CITY banners.
LIT CITY Voices
Just Buffalo Literary Center proudly presents LIT CITY VOICES—a video poem series showcasing the voices and landscapes of Buffalo.
Featuring Carl Dennis, Sage Enderton, Eric Gansworth, Jorge Guitart, Joe Hall, Zanaya Hussain, Laura Marris, Janet McNally, Kristianne Meal, Sherry Robbins, Annette Daniels Taylor, Rachelle Toarmino, Julio Montalvo Valentín, Nina Vega-Westhoff, Eve Williams, and Brandon Williamson.
LIT CITY Sidewalk Poems
We are celebrating the literary arts in Buffalo with poems under your feet. Look for spray-chalked poetry on sidewalks all over the city.
LIT CITY: Dream Delivery Service
During May and through June 8, 2022, visiting poet Mathias Svalina will run his DREAM DELIVERY SERVICE throughout Buffalo, New York, rising early each morning to bicycle around Buffalo delivering a unique dream poem for each subscriber. In addition to delivering dreams, Svalina will take up a weekly residency in Buffalo’s Reading Park at the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library in downtown Buffalo, with the public invited to invent and write dreams with Svalina for the Reading Park’s landscape, which will become part of an interactive literary installation.