Buffalo Area Poetry & Literature Calendar (week of Feb. 25-March 2)

Tuesday, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.: Open mic at Cucina, a restaurant inside Hotel Richardson. Sara Ali and Meg Specksgoor are the co-hosts of this weekly series featuring poetry, music and  comedy. Hotel Richardson, 444 Forest Ave., Buffalo. Register with the venue via jkonze@douglasdev.com

Thursday, 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.: Buffalo Futures presents a Black Love Poetry Slam in celebration of the last day of Black History Month. Buffalo Iron Works, 49 Illinois St., Buffalo. Tickets $23.18, available from Eventbrite

Friday, 6 p.m.: The Subversive Theatre Collective presents Manny Fried Day in Buffalo, a celebration of the life and legacy of Buffalo's celebrated labor leader and writer featuring a performance of excerpts of Fried's 2007 one-man play Boilermakers and Martinis by Keith Elkins.

Emanuel "Manny" Fried (1913 – 2011) was a Buffalo-based actor, union organizer and prolific playwright who stood up to McCarthyism and served as an outspoken champion of the working class. He was the author of seven plays and two memoirs, and taught at Buffalo State University for over three decades.

Eugene V. Debs Hall, 40 Clark St., Buffalo. Free and open to the public. Cash bar.