Burning Books’s heARTburn Civic Arts meet-up returns and Em Tea Coffeecup Café and Pure Ink Poetry celebrate a joint anniversary event this week.

Tuesday, Jan. 27, 7 p.m. to 8:45 pm: Burning Books presents 2026’s first heARTburn Civic Arts meet-up, curated and hosted by Robin Jordan and featuring poet/teacher Joe Hall and researcher/journalist Derek Seidman.

Robin Jordan will moderate a conversation about the intersection of poetry, research, and activism with Joe Hall and Derek Seidman. Following the discussion, Hall will lead a generative writing exercise.

Masks required. For those without them, they will be available at the door.

About the artists:

Joe Hall was first taught poetry by Lucille Clifton, Jeffrey Coleman, and two decades of bad jobs. He has taught community-based poetry workshops for teachers, teens, and workers, and currently helps organize The Palestine Series, a Buffalo-based reading group on Palestine. His next book, Buffalo Free Rapid Transit, is the sequel to the critically acclaimed Fugue & Strike (2023), which Current Affairs calls “a remarkable poetic project, unlike anything else in literature today.”

Derek Seidman is a researcher and award-winning journalist focused on corporate power, labor, climate and militarism. He’s a regular contributor to the independent new site Truthout and the former research director of and a current contributing writer to the corporate watchdog group LittleSis. His writings have also appeared in Jacobin, In These Times, Washington Post and elsewhere, and his research has been cited widely across major press. He has a PhD in History from Brown University and has taught dozens of college courses on U.S. social movements. He’s based in Buffalo, where he also organizes with Jewish Voices for Peace and the Democratic Socialists of America.

Location: Burning Books, 420 Connecticut St., Buffalo, NY. Free and open to the public.

Wednesday, Jan. 28, 7 p.m.: Em Tea Coffeecup Café, the first venue in Buffalo to present spoken word poetry and host poetry slam events, and Pure Ink Poetry jointly present the 26th anniversary celebration for Em Tea Coffeecup Café and the 14th anniversary of Pure Ink Poetry with a poetry slam and open mic hosted by Brandon Williamson, the founder of pure Ink Poetry. Pure Ink Poetry Slam is always an open slam without specific themes or requirements other than the general rules of slam. Sign up begins at 6:30 p.m. Open mic and slam starts at 7 p.m. $5 for slammers, $10 for spectators. Cash prize for the first , second, and third place winners. Visit the website www.pureinkpoetry.com for more information.

Location: Em Tea Coffeecup Café, 80 Oakgrove Ave., Buffalo, NY.