Since 1982, Just Buffalo Literary Center has led the way for literary arts education in Western New York. The Just Buffalo Writing Center (JBWC) has long been a gathering place designed to aid young and emerging writers ages 12–18 in the cultivation of their writing skills, as well as adult writers of all ages and skill levels. But the JBWC is also a great resource for encouraging and supporting the teachers and schools in our community.
Imagine All The People: Getting to Know Your Characters (Adult)
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Teaching Artist:
Janet McNally, author of Girls in the Moon and The Looking Glass (both from HarperCollins)
Dates:
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Tuesday, November 10, 2020
Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Time:
6:30 p.m.–8:00 p.m. EST
Or, the Whale: Moby Dick Book Discussion & Writing Group (Adult)
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Teaching Artist:
Sherry Robbins, Just Buffalo Literary Legacy Award winner and author of Or, the Whale and Under World.
Dates:
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Wednesday, November 4, 2020
Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Time:
6:30 p.m.–8:00 p.m. EST
Finding Your Creative Center through Flash Memoir (Adult)
Sunday, October 25, 2020
Teaching Artist:
Joanna Penn Cooper, author of The Itinerant Girl’s Guide to Self-Hypnosis (Brooklyn Arts Press), What Is a Domicile (Noctuary Press), and Crown (Ravenna Press), as well as several chapbooks.
Dates:
Sunday, October 25, 2020
Sunday, November 1, 2020
Sunday, November 8, 2020
Sunday, November 15, 2020
Sunday, November 22, 2020
Time:
3:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m. EST
Screenwriting: From Idea to Reality (Adult)
Thursday, October 29, 2020
Teaching Artist:
Gabriel Bump, author of Everywhere You Don’t Belong and The New Naturals
Dates:
Thursday, October 29, 2020
Thursday, November 5, 2020
Thursday, November 12, 2020
Thursday, November 19, 2020
Time:
6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m. EST
Story Craft 2020 (Adult)
Monday, November 2, 2020
Teaching Artist:
Gary Earl Ross, award-winning playwright, novelist, and short story writer
Dates:
Monday, November 2, 2020
Monday, November 9, 2020
Monday, November 16, 2020
Time:
7:00 p.m.–8:30 p.m. EST
Going Off the Page: Storytelling Techniques (Adult)
Saturday, November 7, 2020
Teaching Artist:
Tim Wendel, author of 13 books including Cancer Crossings: A Brother, His Doctors and the Quest to Cure Childhood Leukemia, and Summer of ’68: The Season When Baseball, and America, Changed Forever
Dates:
Saturday, November 7, 2020
Time:
1:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. EST
Finish It: Finding Your Way to the End (Adult)
Saturday, November 14, 2020
Teaching Artist:
Sarah Campbell, writer, learning designer & creator of “Finish It” workshops
Dates:
Saturday, November 14, 2020
Time:
1:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m. EST
Writing Workshop with GLYS of WNY (Youth)
Monday, January 11, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Monday, January 11, 2021
Time: 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.
TO REGISTER:
Email Teaching Artist Richie Wills at rwills@justbuffalo.org.
This workshop is FREE, aimed at young students aged 12–18, and limited to 8 participants.
Travelogues, Real and Imagined (Youth)
Tuesday, January 26, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Tuesday, January 26, 2021
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.
Open Workshop (Youth)
Thursday, January 28, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Thursday, January 28, 2021
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 10 participants.
Rebus Poetry (Youth)
Tuesday, February 2, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Tuesday, February 2, 2021
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.
Open Workshop (Youth)
Thursday, February 4, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Thursday, February 4, 2021
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 10 participants.
Poets As Bandleader (Youth)
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Tuesday, February 9, 2021
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.
Sound and Nonsense: Acoustic Play as Entry into a Poem (Youth)
Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Tuesday, February 16, 2021
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.
Six Ways to Start (Youth)
Tuesday, February 23, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2021
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.
One-Sentence Story (Youth)
Tuesday, March 2, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Tuesday, March 2, 2021
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.
Songwriting Can Be Simple, C’mon! (Youth)
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Tuesday, March 9, 2021
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.
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 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.
A Poem is Worth a Thousand Pictures (Youth)
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Tuesday, March 23, 2021
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.
Hunger and Heart (Youth)
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Tuesday, March 30, 2021
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.
Fictitious Beasts: Animal Points of View in Eco-fiction (Youth)
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Tuesday, April 6, 2021
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.
Color and Light: Making Pictures Speak (Youth)
Tuesday, April 13, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Tuesday, April 13, 2021
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.
Adaptation Comix (Youth)
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Tuesday, April 20, 2021
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.
Dance Challenge Writing (Youth)
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Tuesday, April 27, 2021
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.
Futurism Now: Limitless Hope through Speculative Fiction (Youth)
Tuesday, May 4, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Tuesday, May 4, 2021
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.
Go Ahead, Try One: Finding Stories through Food (Youth)
Tuesday, May 11, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Tuesday, May 11, 2021
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.
The Voices We Return To (Youth)
Tuesday, May 18, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Tuesday, May 18, 2021
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.
Visual Storytelling 101 (Youth)
Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Where: Online Workshop
Date: Tuesday, May 25, 2021
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.
Adult Writing Workshops
Our programs are designed for any level of writer, from beginner to advanced. Taught by established writers, hone your craft in a relaxed, nonjudgmental atmosphere.
Youth Writing Workshops
All youth writing workshops are FREE, aimed at young writers aged 12–18, currently virtual, and limited to 8 participants.
About the Writing Center
The Just Buffalo Writing Center provides access to writing workshops, literary events, and one-on-one assistance with all kinds of writing.
In-School Programming & Field Trips
One of Just Buffalo’s greatest strengths is our ability to reach students of all ages and abilities—gifted and talented, at-risk, or special needs—and we’re proud to work with public, private, Catholic, and charter schools, as well as community centers throughout Western New York.
Teacher Workshops
We believe that teachers are the most passionate, dedicated, and creative people on the planet, and we want to support their creativity. That’s why we created Teachers Are Writers: Writing Without The Curriculum—a happy hour-style writing workshop for teachers that meets monthly at the JBWC.
Wordplay: Student Anthology
Check out the best works written by Just Buffalo Writing Center students from over the years in our annual anthology of student writing.
Made-to-Order Poems
Order a poem on a topic of your choosing and support Buffalo’s next generation of literary voices. All poems are written by students of the Just Buffalo Writing Center.
Our Teaching Artists
Just Buffalo’s teaching artists represent the best of Western New York’s literary presence, from poetry and fiction to playwriting, non-fiction and beyond.
Become a Teaching Artist
Are you interested in becoming a Just Buffalo teaching artist? Find out what it takes to get involved in our creative writing workshops.
Volunteer
Want to help guide young writers? Sign up to work with teens 12–18 on writing and more during open hours at the JBWC.
Donate
We believe in the power of the literary arts to change individual lives and communities. Help us put that vision into action.
Where?
Just Buffalo Writing Center
468 Washington Street, 2nd Floor
Buffalo, NY 14203
When?
Tuesdays, Wednesdays*, & Thursdays | 3:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.
Youth Writing Workshops begin at 4:30 p.m.
*Wednesdays are open workshops.
Who?
All workshops are FREE, aimed at young writers aged 12–18, and limited to 12 participants.