We are thrilled to announce the nine artists, organizations, and community groups receiving a total of $15,000 to support events aligned with this year's Civil Writes Project, celebrating Black writers and seeking pathways toward justice through the literary arts.
"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.
Teaching artist Albert Abonado sets the table for an exploration of food as rich material for poems in Eat This Poem on March 20. Albert took the time to chat with us ahead of the workshop about the uses of food in favorite poems & movies; the themes of his poetry collection, JAW; and sustaining a sense of community in Zoom world.
JBWC Youth Ambassador Emma DeRose was invited to share her poem "a letter to sensitive girls" at Erie County's Women's History Month kickoff celebration on March 3, hosted by the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library.
Call for Young Writers Calling all young poets, storytellers, songwriters, and citizens (ages 12-19)! What brings you relief—if even for a moment—during these difficult times? Whether in the form of a poem, spoken word piece, speech, essay, or original song, Ujima Company, Just Buffalo Writing Center, and Squeaky Wheel invite you to take part in Water in the Desert, a multimedia exploration of the concept of “hope in a time of despair.”
"Buffalo is often called the 'City of Good Neighbors' because it is a city that's home to a large refugee and immigrant population. As Buffalonians we pride ourselves on this flourishing diversity. But with xenophobia and hate crimes on the rise, sometimes the message behind being a 'City of Good Neighbors' is forgotten. Through this summer fellowship at the Just Buffalo Writing Center I interviewed three different immigrants who call America home, and offer readers a snapshot of their lives. My hope is that by sharing these narratives, we can learn how each of our experiences intertwine and that human empathy ties people from all varying backgrounds together. These profiles act as a response to the question, 'What makes being the “City of Good Neighbors” so wonderful?'"
We were thrilled to spend time catching up with poet & JBWC alum Hannah Nathanson, who recently released her first chapbook, Alternative Universes, with Bone & Ink Press. (Hooray, Hannah!) Hannah graduated from City Honors in 2018; she now studies English, global culture, and creative writing at Binghamton University. She will also be leading a workshop at as a teaching artist at JBWC—later this month, on geography and ghosts.
Poet, founding editor-in-chief of Peach Mag, and Just Buffalo teaching artist Rachelle Toarmino is author of the poetry collection That Ex, recently published by Big Lucks Books. Rachelle took the time to chat with us about That Ex, the experience of releasing a book during a pandemic, and the creative ways she’s connecting with readers despite it all—like hosting Buffalo’s first-ever drive-in poetry reading to launch That Ex on Friday, Aug. 7.
Check out this digital chapbook made to commemorate the 2020 Just Buffalo Writing Center SHOWCASE featuring Angel Barber, Bushraa Choudhury, Taylor Yarns, and Zanaya Hussain.
We've missed you this spring—missed sharing the excitement, the conversations, the gathering of a community to celebrate and be inspired by literature, all the things that together make BABEL the landmark literary event that it is. To give you an update, Artistic & Associate Executive Director Barbara Cole has been in close contact with our Spring 2020 BABEL authors and their agents, working to reschedule their events for a time when in-person events are again possible.