Buffalo Area Poetry & Literature Calendar (week of May 19 to May 25)
Monday, May 19, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.: The Woven Event: Tell, Write, Share.
The Woven Event is a collaboration by the facilitators of 3 local poetry workshops to provide a single experience building on each of their strengths.
Tell: Josh Maroney's Poetry in Our Lives (45 minutes, fifteen minute break)
Write: Ben Brindise’s hosts a Flash Fiction Writing Workshop (45 minutes, fifteen minute break).
Share: last segment, Joel Lesses will facilitate spontaneous discussion through the lens of poetry in the ‘no mic, no list, no podium’ format.
This is a hybrid event, contact joel@educationtrainingcenterinc.com for the Zoom link. The Woven Event will be held at Inspiration Point Bookstore at 483 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo.
Tuesday, May 20, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.: Tuesday Night Open Mic Series at the Em Tea Coffeecup Café. All are welcome whether new to poetry or a long-time member of the community. 80 Oakgrove Ave., Buffalo, NY. Free and open to the public.
Tuesday, May 20, 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.: Buffalo, Books & Beer presents Will Bardenwerper, author of HOMESTAND. Author, former college ballplayer, and Army veteran Bardenwerper will discuss his new book HOMESTAND, a memoir about a season embedded as a writer with the minor-league Batavia (N.Y.) Muckdogs. The book is a subtle meditation on small-town America besieged by broader economic forces. Professional baseball had been played in Batavia for more than a century before Major League Baseball shut down the Muckdogs, along with 41 other minor-league teams, in a cost-cutting move in 2020.
Like so many Rustbelt cities and towns, Batavia’s industrial base had been hollowed out by global capitalism. Rather than mourn and accept the Muckdogs as another casualty, fans, businesses, and a retired pro hockey tough guy turned team owner, banded together to revive baseball in the city.
Bardenwerper shows that baseball matters because it knits the community. Most of the action in HOMESTAND takes place in the stands and in other shared spaces such as barrooms, diners, local shops, and living rooms. It’s a world of hot dogs, popcorn, beer, and memorable characters living full, rich lives in a region most of America may dismiss as flyover country.
The Washington Post has called HOMESTAND “A romantic look at the magic of small-town baseball…”
Bardenwerper has contributed to The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Harper’s Magazine. He is the author of The Prisoner in His Palace: Saddam Hussein, His American Guards, and What History Leaves Unsaid. He served as an Airborne Ranger-qualified infantry officer in Iraq and was awarded a Combat Infantry Badge and a Bronze Star. He received a B.A. from Princeton University and an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University. He lives in Pittsburgh.
Bardenwerper’s talk will be hosted free of charge at The Place, a historic Elmwood Village tavern. Food and drink will be available for purchase. Copies of HOMESTAND will be available for sale courtesy of Talking Leaves Books, a cosponsor of the event. Event address: The Place, 229 Lexington Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222.
Wednesday, May 21, 7 p.m.: Talking Leaves Books and Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center present novelists Carolyn Korsmeyer, Elizabeth Costello and K.E. Semmel in conversation about their new books.
After a career as a university professor teaching and publishing in philosophy, Carolyn Korsmeyer turned her hand to fiction. Her previous two novels include a historical narrative and a contemporary mystery set at the last millennium. RIDDLE OF SPIRIT AND BONE features the spiritualist movement of the nineteenth century, a topic that blends philosophy with fiction by prompting reflection on belief and knowledge, illusion, delusion, certainty, and doubt.
Elizabeth Costello has lived in Turkey, Spain, Mexico, France, and in several American cities. Her previous publications include the poetry chapbook RELIC and her collaborators include dancers, poets, and musicians. The Good War is her debut novel.
K.E. Semmel is a writer and translator. His latest novel is The Book of Losman. Semmel's fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Ontario Review, Lithub, The Writer's Chronicle, Huff Post, the Southern Review, Washington Post, and elsewhere. His translations include novels by, among others, Naja Marie Aidt, Karin Fossum, Simon Fruelund, and Jussi Adler Olsen. He is a former Literary Translation Fellow from the National Endowment for the Arts. Find him online at kesemmel.com.
This event is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase and signing. Please purchase your book from Talking Leaves to best support this event.
Event address: Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, 341 Delaware Ave., Buffalo, NY 14202.
Thursday, May 22, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.: Kenmore Village Improvement Society presents an Open Mic Poetry Night hosted by Geoffrey Gatza and featuring Buffalo-based poet and Earth's Daughters co-editor ryki zuckerman. Free and open to the public. 7 Warren Ave., Kenmore, N.Y.
Friday, May 23, 8:30 pm.: Ground & Sky Poetry open Mic at Caffe Aroma hosted by Joel Lesses. 957 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo. Free and open to the public.