Poet & Translator
Just Buffalo teaching artist Christina Vega-Westhoff is a poet, translator, and aerialist. She is the author of Suelo Tide Cement, winner of the 2017 Nightboat Prize for Poetry. Vega-Westhoff also works as a teaching artist with the Geneseo Migrant Center and Young Audiences of Western New York and as a movement instructor with The Bird’s Nest Circus Arts. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, most recently BAX 2018: Best American Experimental Writing and Words Without Borders. She holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Arizona and a BA in English and Latin American Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She choreographs and performs interdisciplinary works independently and for festivals and theatre, dance, and circus companies.
“Fragments make lyrics make a narrative make an epic. Suelo Tide Cement is a path-breaking book that must invent its own language, its own form, its own approach to poetry in order to come into an off-centered world.”
—Kazim Ali
“Suelo Tide Cement is a beautiful earthworks meditation, a precise choreography, an offering embroidered with urgency and profound care.”
—Laynie Browne
“In soil, tide, and cement, Vega-Westhoff brings to life the decompositions that define the soul in the cosmologies of capitalism, as well the older rites by which a poet might trip up a cosmology in its own contradictions.”
Upcoming Workshops & Events
Writing Center Workshop
Tuesday, July 12, 2016“Led By A Word” Taught by: Christina Vega-Westhoff, poet & translator Where: Just Buffalo Writing Center 468 Washington Street @ Mohawk, 2nd Floor Buffalo, NY 14203 Date: July 12 & 14, 2016 Time: 4:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
More InfoWriting Center Workshop
Tuesday, September 6, 2016“Ekphrastic Writing with Buffalo Architecture” Taught by: Christina Vega-Westhoff, poet & translator Where: Just Buffalo Writing Center 468 Washington Street @ Mohawk, 2nd Floor Buffalo, NY 14203 Date: September 6 & 8, 2016 Time: 4:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
More InfoWriting Center Workshop
Tuesday, January 31, 2017Things Presented to the Mind: Curating Collaboration Between Object and Poem Taught by: Christina Vega-Westhoff, poet & translator Where: Just Buffalo Writing Center 468 Washington Street @ Mohawk, 2nd Floor Buffalo, NY 14203 Dates: January 31 & February 2, 2017 Time: 4:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
More InfoWriting Center Workshop
Tuesday, February 7, 2017Things Presented to the Mind: Curating Collaboration Between Object and Poem continued Taught by: Christina Vega-Westhoff, poet & translator Where: Just Buffalo Writing Center 468 Washington Street @ Mohawk, 2nd Floor Buffalo, NY 14203 Dates: February 7 & February 9, 2017 Time: 4:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
More InfoString & Word Workshop
Tuesday, January 30, 2018Led by: Nina Vega-Westhoff, poet & translator Where: Just Buffalo Writing Center 468 Washington Street @ Mohawk, 2nd Floor Buffalo, NY 14203 Dates: January 30 & February 1, 2018 Time: 4:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
More InfoEssay Press Reading
Saturday, March 24, 2018Where: Sugar City 1239 Niagara Street Buffalo, New York 14213 Date: March 24, 2018 Time: 7:00-9:00 p.m.
More Info“Suelo Tide Cement” Book Launch
Saturday, April 21, 2018Where: The Bird’s Nest 64 Fillmore Ave. Buffalo, NY 14210 Date: April 21, 2018 Time: 8-9:30 p.m.
More InfoString & Word Workshop
Tuesday, May 1, 2018Led by: Nina Vega-Westhoff, poet & translator Where: Just Buffalo Writing Center 468 Washington Street @ Mohawk, 2nd Floor Buffalo, NY 14203 Dates: May 1 & 3, 2018 Time: 4:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
More InfoSpeak Easy: Nina Vega-Westhoff
Wednesday, August 15, 2018Where: Buffalo Distilling 860 Seneca St Buffalo, NY 14210 Date: August 15, 2018 Time: 7:00 p.m.
More InfoEvoking Silence
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Where:
Just Buffalo Writing Center
468 Washington Street, 2nd Floor
Buffalo, NY 14203
Dates: May 7 & 9, 2019
Time: 4:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
Register for Free
Poetic Intervening/Act/Intention
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Instructor: Christina Vega-Westhoff
Where:
Just Buffalo Writing Center
468 Washington Street
Buffalo, NY 14203
Dates: October 22 & 24, 2019
Time: 4:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
no registration required
Mapping Home + Future
Tuesday, March 3, 2020
Where:
Just Buffalo Writing Center
468 Washington Street
Buffalo, NY 14203
When:
Tuesday, March 3, 2020 @ 4:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 5, 2020 @ 4:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
No registration required. This workshop is FREE, aimed at young students aged 12–18.
Poetreeing
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Where:
Online Workshop
When:
Tuesday, May 5, 2020 @ 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.
To register – email Writing Center Coordinator, Robin Jordan at rjordan@justbuffalo.org.
This workshop is FREE, aimed at young students aged 12–18, and limited to 8 participants.
Letter-Writing Poems (Youth)
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Time: 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.
TO REGISTER:
Email Writing Center Coordinator Robin Jordan at rjordan@justbuffalo.org.
This workshop is FREE, aimed at young students aged 12–18, and limited to 8 participants.
Ekphrastic Writing Inspired by Swoon: Seven Contemplations
Saturday, December 12, 2020
Where:
FREE Virtual Event
presented in collaboration by Albright-Knox Art Gallery & Just Buffalo Literary Center
When:
Saturday, October 10, 2020 @ 1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 14, 2020 @ 1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m. (sold out)
Saturday, December 12, 2020 @ 1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m.
Writing with the Equinox (Youth)
Tuesday, March 16, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Tuesday, March 16, 2021
Time: 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.
TO REGISTER:
Email the Writing Center at jbwc@justbuffalo.org.
This workshop is FREE, aimed at young students aged 12–18, and limited to 8 participants.
Teachers ARE Writers (03.25.2021)
Thursday, March 25, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Thursday, March 25, 2021
Time: 6:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m
TO REGISTER:
Email Education Director Noah Falck at nfalck@justbuffalo.org.
This workshop is FREE, aimed at educators, and limited to 10 participants.
No other workshops or events currently scheduled. Check back soon for more details.
Free Tutoring & Workshops
Just Buffalo's Writing Center is dedicated to helping young and emerging writers ages 12–19 cultivate their writing skills.
