Tuesday, Oct. 29, 6 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, 7 p.m.: Ground and Sky Poetry Roundtable, informal reading and poetry discussion group led by Joel Lesses. Format is ‘no mic, no list, no podium,’ but an organic discussion of life and poetry. Inspiration Point, 483 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo. Free and open to the public. Program also available via Zoom. Contact http://www.educationtrainingcenterinc.com/ for the link.

Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.: CFI Literary Café Series reading hosted by poet Ryki Zuckerman and featuring poets Robert Borgatti and Dwane Wilder.

Robert Borgatti is a retired professor from SUNY Niagara where he served as coordinator of the Digital Media and Animation programs. In addition to being one of the co-founders and co-editors of Slipstream, he is a documentary filmmaker. Two of his films, in/word/out and Fading in the Mist, aired nationally on PBS and he is currently producing a new documentary, America’s Stairway, which is slated for broadcast in early 2026. His poems have been published in various journals, including Blank Gun Silencer, Misnomer, Nomad, Reflections, and the Buffalo News.

Dwain Wilder has out two collections of poetry: Under the Only Moon (Foothills Publishing, 2011), and a self-published chapbook, What the Eye Knows. He has served as co-editor of several anthologies, Liberty’s Vigil, the Occupy Anthology; 99 Poets for the 99%, Vigil for the Marcellus Shale, and Civilization in Crisis: Poetic Responses. He has also published his poems in several small press journals. However, he regards poetry as principally an oral art. Dwain is a graduate of Yale University and also studied physics. He served as editor of the Rochester Zen Center’s quarterly Zen Bow for seven years and for six years as editor of The Banner, a weekly newsletter for grass roots activists working in responses to climate change and its driving forces, and in environmental justice. He currently leads a team of librarians for a small international group of scientists, economists and bio-diversity specialists concentrating on climate change. He is an activist and has manned the picket lines and been jailed with other picketers. After careers as a research technologist and a software developer, he is now a luthier, building musical instruments and teaching the art to students and apprentices.
Center for Inquiry, 1310 Sweet Home Rd., Amherst. Free and open to the public.

Thursday, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.: TEACHERS ARE WRITERS: 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. Just Buffalo Writing Center, 468 Washington Street, 2nd Floor, in Buffalo.

Thursday, 7 p.m.: Fitz Books presents an author talk by K.E. Semmel, speaking on his new novel The Book of Losman (Santa Fe Writer’s Project, 2024). K.E. Semmel is a writer and translator. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Ontario Review, Lithub, The Millions, HuffPost, Electric Literature, The Writer’s Chronicle, The Southern Review, Washington Post, and elsewhere. The Book of Losman (SFWP) is his debut novel. Fitz Books & Waffles, 431 Ellicott St., Buffalo.

Saturday, 1 p.m to 2:30 p.m.: November International Open Poetry Reading at the Centro Culturale Italiano di Buffalo (Italian Cultural Center) hosted by Perry Nicholas and Verneice Turner. Share a poem or two with theme of “gratitude” and/or an international theme. The poems can be original or one of your favorites. There will be a sign-up sheet at the door. There will be an hour of socializing and refreshments at noon in the Café. The reading is in the facility’s auditorium. The event is free to members and $5 for non-members. Feel free to speak to one of the event volunteers about becoming a member. Centro Culturale Italiano di Buffalo, 2351 Delaware Ave., Buffalo, NY.