Eight events this week in the Buffalo literary community.

Tuesday, July 29, 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, July 30, 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.: Writing Workshop with City of Buffalo Poet Laureate Aitina Aitina Fareed-Cooke. Free and open to attend. Funding is made possible through Arts Services Inc.’s Creative Impact Fund thanks to a New York State Senate Initiative supported by the NYS Legislature and the Office of the Governor, and administered by the New York State Council on the Arts. Event location. The Caffe at Amy’s, 3234 Main St, Buffalo, NY 14214.

Thursday, July 31, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.: POP-UP Productions Presents: An Open Mic Poetry Night featuring Bronx, NY-based spoken word artist Lyrical Faith.

Lyrical Faith is a Black American educator, activist and international award-winning spoken word poet from The Bronx, NY. She has been featured at prominent venues such as the World Famous Apollo Theatre as well as colleges, and universities across the country and globally. She is a three-time Women of the World Poetry Slam finalist, a two-time Bronx Poet Laureate finalist, the 2015 Syracuse University Poet of the Year, and the Inaugural UMass Amherst W.E.B. DuBois Center Poet-In-Residence. She is the co-producer of the annual regional youth poetry slam in Western Massachusetts, founder of the annual Black Artistic Freedom Conference at UMass Amherst and head coach of the first ever undergraduate Poetry Slam Team at UMass Amherst.

She’s a graduate of the Public Relations program at Syracuse University, a Masters degree recipient from NYU Steinhardt, and a current Social Justice Education PhD student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, studying the intersections of arts and activism through Critical Hip-Hop Pedagogy. Her work has been featured on NPR, iHeartRadio, Button Poetry, Write About Now Poetry, Huffington Post Black Voices, and News 12 The Bronx.

Suggested Donation: $5

EM Tea Coffee Cup Café
80 Oakgrove Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14208

Friday, Aug. 1, 7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.: Buffalo Infringement Festival 2025 presents Carnivorous Fog, word antics, poetry, and other earthly delights with Joe Todaro, Jamie Kubala, and Paula Wachowiak. Event is free and books by authors will be available. Westside Stories Bookstore, 398 Grant St., Buffalo.

Friday, Aug. 1, 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.: Buffalo Infringement Festival 2025 presents poetry and spoken word performance by MCVendetta (aka Janna Willoughby). Eugene V. Debs Hall, 483 Peckham St. in Buffalo. Free and open to the public. Performance will repeated Saturday, Aug. 2, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Rust Belt Books, 415 Grant Street, Buffalo. Free and open to the public.

Saturday, Aug. 2, 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.: The Buffalo Infringement Festival 2025 presents Flash Features, an afternoon of flash fiction writing hosted by Variety Pack editor J.B. Stone featuring readings by Ben Brindise, Justin Karcher, John Chrostek, Axel Kolcow, and himself. Rust Belt Books, 415 Grant Street, Buffalo. Free and open to the public. 

Saturday, Aug. 2, 7 p.m.: Foundlings Press presents: The Life and Poetry of Frank Stanford: A conversation between biographer James McWilliams, author of The Life and Poetry of Frank Stanford (University of Arkansas Press, 2025) and critic and scholar Leo Lensing, author of Subiaco’s Unofficial Poet Laureate: A Memoir of Frank Stanford in High School (Foundlings Press, 2023). Foundlings Press’s co-founder and editor Aidan Ryan will moderate the discussion and serve as host of the event. Books by both authors will be available.

Fitz Books, 1462 Main Street, Buffalo. Free and open to the public.

Sunday, Aug. 3, 5 p.m.: Book release reading and celebration for HAPPY AS THE WORLD BLEEDS/BOHHEMIAN FOLK VAMPYRE by Buffalo-based poet Juniper Thunders, with special guest poet Justin Karcher. Steward & Specter Bookshop, 2940 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14217. Thunder’s book will be available for purchase.