Monday, March 31, 7:30 pm.: Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center and Talking Leaves Books present a conversation between Omar El Akkad and John Freeman. They’ll be discussing El Akkad’s urgent and deeply personal new memoir, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This (Alfred A. Knopf, 2025).

On October 25, 2023, after just three weeks of the bombardment of Gaza, Omar El Akkad put out a tweet: “One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” This tweet has been viewed more than 10 million times.

As an immigrant who came to the West, El Akkad believed that it promised freedom. A place of justice for all. But in the past twenty years, reporting on the War on Terror, Ferguson, climate change, Black Lives Matter protests, and more, and watching the unmitigated slaughter in Gaza, El Akkad has come to the conclusion that much of what the West promises is a lie. That there will always be entire groups of human beings it has never intended to treat as fully human—not just Arabs or Muslims or immigrants, but whoever falls outside the boundaries of privilege. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This is a chronicle of that painful realization, a moral grappling with what it means, as a citizen of the U.S., as a father, to carve out some sense of possibility in a time of carnage.

John Freeman is the founder of the literary annual Freeman’s, which has been a finalist for the National magazine award for fiction, and the author and editor of a dozen books, including the poetry collections Maps (Copper Canyon Press, 2017), The Park (Copper Canyon Press, 2020), and Wind, Trees (Copper Canyon Press, 2022). His nonfiction books include The Tyranny of E-mail: The Four-Thousand Year Journey to Your Inbox (Scribner. 2009), How to Read a Novelist (FSG Originals, 2013), and Dictionary of the Undoing (MCD x FSG Originals, 2019). With the poet Tracy K Smith, he co-edited the anthology There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love (Vintage, 2021). Freeman was the editor of Granta magazine from 2009 to 2013, the executive editor of LitHub (2014 to 2020), and served six years on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. He lives in New York City, where he is an executive editor at Alfred A. Knopf, an artist-in-residence at New York University, and from where he hosts the California Book Club, a monthly zoom discussion of a new classic in Golden State literature, sponsored by Alta Magazine.

Omar El Akkad is an award-winning author and journalist. He was born in Egypt, grew up in Qatar, moved to Canada as a teenager and now lives in the United States. The start of his journalism career coincided with the start of the war on terror, and over the following decade he reported from Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and many other locations around the world. His work earned a National Newspaper Award for Investigative Journalism and the Goff Penny Award for young journalists.
His fiction and non-fiction writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, Guernica, GQ, and many other newspapers and magazines.

El Akkad’s debut novel, American War (Alfred A. Knopf, 2017) was an international bestseller and has been translated into thirteen languages. It is set in the United States in the near future, ravaged by climate change and disease, in which the Second Civil War has broken out over the use of fossil fuels. American War won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers’ Award, the Oregon Book Award for fiction, the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize, and has been nominated for more than ten other awards. It was listed as one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, Washington Post, GQ, NPR, and Esquire, and was selected by the BBC as one of 100 novels that changed our world.

El Akkad’s second novel What Strange Paradise (Penguin Random House, 2021) centers on a young boy from Syria who has survived the sinking of a ship that was carrying him and other refugees, and his developing bond with a teenage girl who resides on the island where he washed up after the shipwreck, and expands to encompass issues raised by global refugee and migrant crisis, climate change, political polarization and instabilities, and how empathy and hope can persist in the face of indifference and despair. What Strange Paradise was the recipient of Canada’s Giller Prize for Fiction in 2021.

Asbury Hall, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, 341 Delaware Ave., Buffalo.
Free and open to the public.

Tuesday, April 1, 3:30 p.m: Just Buffalo Writer’s Center’s BABEL Student Reading Group meets to discuss upcoming BABEL author James McBride’s book The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, facilitated by retired English teacher Kerry Reynolds. The JBWC Creative Writing Programs for Youth are FREE and aimed at young students aged 12–18. This youth writing workshop is in person only. Just Buffalo Literary Center, 468 Washington St., 2nd floor. ACCESSIBILITY NOTE: If you have any questions/issues accessing this or any JBWC event, contact justbuffalo.org.


Tuesday, April 1, 5:30 pm: Artist’s Talk by Andres Serrano. As part of the Catalyst Visiting Artist Series, Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center will welcome celebrated artist Andres Serrano to give a talk at Asbury Hall on Tuesday, April 1st at 5:30 PM. Andres Serrano has charted a historically significant career as an artist and photographer. Much of his work delves into taboo subjects and darker aspects of society. The controversy these subjects have routinely been met with has never deterred Serrano, now decades deep into a productive and provocative practice. Other bodies of work frankly depict unlikely or uncommon subjects, where the technical grace of Serrano’s photography grants the subjects dignity and representation. Please join us to hear Andres speak about his career and work, followed by a question and answer period.

Asbury Hall, 341 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY.

Tuesday, April 1, 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, April 2, 7:30 p.m.: CFI Literary Café Series reading hosted by poet Ryki Zuckerman and featuring poets Charles Case and Sam Magavern at the Center for Inquiry, 1310 Sweet Home Rd. in Amherst. The event free and open to the public.

Wednesday, April 2, 9 p.m.: Poetry Night at Caffe Aroma, biweekly open mic reading series hosted by Ben Brindise and Justin Karcher. 957 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo. Free and open to the public.

Thursday, April 3, 7 p.m: The Canisius University Contemporary Writers Series presents an evening with City of Buffalo Poet Laureate Aitina Fareed-Cooke.

Aitina Fareed-Cooke was born and raised in Buffalo and earned a BA in English and MA in education from Buffalo State University. She is a multifaceted artist—wife, mother, creative arts strategist, national recording artist, and Buffalo’s current poet laureate. She founded Get Fokus’d Productions, an award-winning media arts company dedicated to collaborating with emerging and professional artists to produce “human-first” narratives through digital storytelling. Among her awards are 43 North’s Ignite Buffalo People’s Choice Award, Buffalo State University’s Young Alumnus Achievement Award, a Citizens Bank Community Champion award, and the Arts Services Inc. Trailblazer of the Arts Award.

Grupp Fireside Lounge, Canisius University, 2001 Main St., Buffalo. Free and open to the public .

Thursday, April 3, 8 p.m.: Buffalo State Performing Arts Center and Funtime Productions present An Evening with David Sedaris.

Sedaris, America’s best-selling humorist and social satirist, returns to Buffalo State Performing Arts Center following publication of his most recent book of short stories, Happy Go Lucky, and his first ever children’s book, Pretty Ugly. In his customary sartorial and humorous manner, David will make you laugh and think in equal measures, with all new, unpublished stories and commentary. As always, the reading will be accompanied by a pre and post-show book signing.

Admission: $58 / $50. Buffalo State Performing Arts Center, Rockwell Hall, Buffalo State University. Visit buffalostatepac.org for additional ticket information.

Saturday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Western New York Book Arts Center presents its 2025 Edible Book Festival.

This unique family friendly event invites community members of all skill levels and ages to create and exhibit 100% Edible Books. The books are exhibited, documented, judged and eaten, and prizes are awarded. Festivities include basket raffles, literary vendors and hands-on bookmaking and printmaking workshops in our studio. The Edible Book Festival is fun for readers and eaters of all ages. Everyone can partake in eating the exhibits after judging.
Registration is now open to enter a 100% edible & handmade Edible Book into Book Arts’ Festival. We have two age categories, ‘Youth & Family’ and ‘Adult’. Edible Book creations will be ranked by local celebrity judges and the winning artists/chefs will be awarded with prizes & giveaways. Admission to the event is $5 ($3 for members of Book Arts). Children under 5 are free. Edible Book submission fee $8 for Non-Book Arts Member, $5 for Book Arts Member. Those who submit an Edible Book to the contest receive two free admissions. Proceeds from ticket sales, entry fees, and basket raffles go towards ongoing programming at the WNY Book Arts Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. For more information, visit wnybookarts.org/edible-book-festival There is no age limitation to enter. Registration of Edible Books will be accepted until Friday, April 4th at 9 p.m. Visit wnybookarts.org for additional information. Western New York Book Arts Center, 468 Washington St., Buffalo.

Saturday, Noon to 2 p.m.: The International Open Poetry Reading Series presents a reading of excerpts of poet David Landrey’s Consciousness Suite featuring an ensemble of actors and vocal performers including John Vines, Verneice Turner, Perry Nicholas and Celeste Lawson.

David Landrey is the author of Consciousness Suite, (Spuyten Duyvil, 2008), Psyche & Ares, (Fairfield Press 2016), Intermezzi To Divorce Poems and Dinner Table Scenes, (Jensen Daniels 2002), and other books.

A former student of Charles Olson at the University of Buffalo in the early 1960’s and Fulbright teaching scholar in Turkey, he taught literature and American postmodern poetry at SUNY Buffalo State University for over 35 years. His immersive style of teaching, focused primarily on Nineteenth Century and Post-Modern American Literature and letters, inspired his students to live in and through the works he introduced them to and taught; not just as works of art to be analyzed, but dimensions of consciousness required to be explored, opening minds and hearts to alternative and deeply humanist modes of understanding and navigating the myriad passages and experiences of life.

Doors open at noon for a reception and social hour. Reading begins at 1 p.m. at the Centro Culturale Italiano di Buffalo, 2351 Delaware Avenue Buffalo, NY. Admission is $5.00 for non-members. Free for members.

Saturday, April 5, 7 p.m. : Squeaky Wheel is proud to present a poetry reading by Carolina Ebeid and Joe Hall as part of the public programs accompanying our exhibition, The Image in its Absence which features an installation by Ebeid. Special thanks you to Judith Goldman and Laura Marris. This program is funded by Teiger Foundation, and co-sponsored by the Poetics Program at University at Buffalo.

Attendees: Squeaky Wheel is located in Suite 310 of Tri-Main Center. Take the elevator to the third floor, and head left. Please note that you cannot enter Tri-Main Center after 7:30 pm. Click here to see parking, transportation, and accessibility information.

Biographies of the artists

Carolina Ebeid is a multimedia poet. She is the author of You Ask Me to Talk About the Interior (Noemi Press, 2016) and the chapbook Dauerwunder: a brief record of facts (Albion Books, 2023). Her next book Hide is forthcoming from Graywolf Press in winter of 2026. Her work has been supported by the Stadler Center for Poetry at Bucknell University, CantoMundo, the NEA, and a residency fellowship from the Lannan Foundation. She is the current Bonderman Assistant Professor of poetry at Brown University. A longtime editor, she currently edits poetry at The Rumpus, as well as the multimedia zine Visible Binary. Carolina grew up in West New York, New Jersey in a Cuban and Palestinian family.

Joe Hall is a Buffalo-based writer and researcher. His six books of poetry include Fugue & Strike (Black Ocean 2023) and People Finder, Buffalo (Cloak 2024).Current Affairs on Fugue & Strike: “a remarkable poetic project, unlike anything else in literature today.” Hall has performed and delivered talks nationally at bars, squats, universities, and rivers. Protean, The Cleveland Review of Books, Eighteen-Century Fiction, Poetry Daily, Fence Digital, mercury firs, dollar bills, and an NFTA bus shelter have all featured his writing. He has taught community-based writing workshops for teachers, teens, and workers. Community Mausoleum recently featured his essay  “PEN America: Cultural Imperialism’s Avant-Garde.” Find more at http://joehalljoehall.com.

Special thanks you to Judith Goldman and Laura Marris. This program is funded by Teiger Foundation, and co-sponsored by the Poetics Program at University at Buffalo. Free or suggested donation.