Western New York’s literary community will gather on Wednesday, September 4 at WNY Book Arts Center to present the Buffalo installment of Writers for Migrant Justice, a national series of benefit readings to raise money for Immigrant Families Together. Nearly 50 readings have been organized nationwide to benefit this organization and its efforts in paying bonds, legal fees, and relocation costs to release and protect detained migrants; providing medical needs, food, transportation, clothing, blankets, car seats, diapers, and more for families who have been released; offering temporary housing stipends to refugees who have been released but have no family in the U.S.; and much, much more. This event is sponsored by WNY Book Arts Center, Peach Mag, Coffin Bell Journal, and Ghost City Press.
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Gist:
When: Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Where: WNY Book Arts Center (468 Washington St.)
Open mic: Sign-up 7pm (or reserve ahead of time), readings 7:30pm
Book fair: Featuring local literary journals, presses, bookshops, organizations, collectives, and more
Admission: $1-5 (pay-what-you-can) suggested donation
Goal: Raise $500 for Immigrant Families Together
Get Involved
Open mic: Open mic slots are first come, first serve, and set times are three minutes max. You may reserve a slot ahead of time by contacting Justin at karcher.justin19@gmail.com.
Book fair and basket raffle: The organizers welcome all local literary journals, presses, bookshops, organizations, and collectives to reserve vendor space or donate to a basket raffle. Available tables are limited and can be reserved for $20 per three feet. The organizers are also asking vendors to donate 10 percent of sales from the night to the cause. To reserve table space, contact Rachelle at peachmgzn@gmail.com.
About the Sponsors
Located in the heart of downtown Buffalo, the WNY Book Arts Center is a community print shop and studio for letterpress, screen printing, book binding, paper making, calligraphy, origami, and more. Book Arts is an educational nonprofit organization and a working museum dedicated to preserving the book arts through collaboration and innovation, bridging antique equipment and processes with modern artmaking techniques, and celebrating the heritage of Buffalo’s printing industry.
Peach Mag is a grassroots, independent, and volunteer-run literary publishing collective. Its flagship publication is its website, where a new creative writing or visual art feature is published every Tuesday and Friday. The editors also produce in-print anthologies, present a seasonal reading series, sponsor an annual poetry award with nationally celebrated guest judges, and host an annual apprenticeship program for emerging teen editors. Founded by three friends in Buffalo during the summer of 2016, and currently powered by a team of editors based in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, New York City, Baltimore, and Toronto.
Coffin Bell Journal publishes dark literature for dark times. A literary journal based in Buffalo, New York, Coffin Bell produces four quarterly online issues per year featuring flash fiction, short stories, poetry, art, creative nonfiction, and short criticism, and one annual print anthology featuring highlights from the previous year. Coffin Bell seeks to break down the barriers for new writers by offering free submissions year-round and publishing emerging voices alongside veteran writers, and seeks to provide a platform for marginalized voices. Not just traditional horror, each issue brims with work which uses the conventions of the genre to say something new about the world, and features diverse literary art seen through a dark lens.
Ghost City Press (est. 2013) is based in Syracuse, NY. Its goal is to provide a platform for the exhibition of work by new and emerging writers and artists in the online literary community. The press and its monthly review publish writers who understand the complexities of the world we live in and who reflect this in their work.
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