Poet Diana Cao is the featured Teaching Artist for this week’s Just Buffalo Literary Center TEACHERS ARE WRITERS Series.

Five events this week in the Buffalo literary community.

Tuesday, Dec. 16, 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.

Wednesday, Dec. 17, 6 p.m to 7 p.m.:Wednesday Night Live Caffe At Amy’s Workshop Series with poet and spoke word artist Deia Elwadi. Caffe at Amy’s, 3234 Main St., Buffalo. Free and open to the public.

Wednesday, Dec. 17, 7:30 p.m.: The Screening Room Series reading co-hosted by Kevin Koch and Ida Goeckel presents a special, holiday-themed 0pen mic with no featured reader. Reading slots available. The Screening Room Cinema Café, 880 Alberta Drive, Amherst. $4.

Thursday, Dec. 18, 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.: TEACHERS ARE WRITERS, with award-winning poet and author Diana Cao. (Online via Zoom, visit justbuffalo.org for additional information.)

In collaboration with the Western New York Network of English Teachers and the Buffalo State English Education program, Just Buffalo Literary Center offers a workshop series for school teachers and educators so they will have the opportunity to explore their own creative work, engage in ongoing conversations about process, and grow as writers. This workshop is FREE and aimed at teachers. CTLE credit is available through the Buffalo State English Education program.BPS teachers can register on PGS; non-BPS teachers register by emailing Molly Eldridge at MEldridge@buffaloschools.org. Just Buffalo Writing Center, 468 Washington Street, 2nd Floor, in Buffalo.

About the teaching artist

Diana Cao is a writer whose poetry and fiction have appeared in Ploughshares, The Threepenny Review, The Yale Review, and elsewhere. Her debut collection, Slipstream, winner of the Berkshire Prize, is forthcoming from Tupelo Press in 2026. She is also the author of Relational (Sixth Finch, 2024).

She was Just Buffalo Literary Center’s 2024 Poetry Fellow, selected by Megan Fernandes, and the winner of the 2025 Kenyon Review Short Fiction Contest. She has received support from MacDowell, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and International Literary Seminars.

Sunday, Dec. 21, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.: Beats, Brews and Prose, an open mic poetry and prose series hosted by Juniper, Fawn, Rose, and Morticia on the third Sunday of each month at Eugene V. Debs Hall, 483 Peckham St. in Buffalo.